pgbconstruct

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; and to Harlequin MultiRIP but not Harlequin Core.

filename headerdict setup pgbconstruct pgbname

or

filename plugdict headerdict setup pgbconstruct pgbname

constructs a pagebuffer file in the pagebuffer directory by merging the contents of the dictionary headerdict with a pagebuffer header constructed by producing a blank page according to the named setup, the string setup, (or the current page setup if setup is an empty string) and then substituting the header in place of the beginning of the file named by filename. The file is then moved to the pagebuffer directory and listed in the Active Queue. The previous pagebuffer is deleted from the pagebuffer directory.

The reference to a “current page setup” if setup is an empty string means the page setup used to start the job in which the call to pgbconstruct occurs.

This procedure is unsuitable for use in an asynchronous action because it changes the page parameters and RIPs a page. All usage in combination with Harlequin Parallel Pages counts as in an asynchronous action. See pgbprepareasync for an equivalent procedure for use in an asynchronous action.

The headerdict must contain at least those keys which define the size of the raster, and so on. (Allow sufficient white space in the header to enable later modification by user entries in the Info dialog box: see the notes following the example header in the example in Pagebuffer file headers.) If TrimStart and TrimEnd are not set in the dictionary operand, they are set explicitly to 0 (zero) and the last band respectively.

The resultant pagebuffer name is returned as the string pgbname.

Some of the header fields are interrelated:

if MaxBand is not explicitly given, it is computed from ImageHeight and BandHeight
BytesInLine from ColorType, ColorBits and ImageWidth
BytesInBand from BandHeight and BytesInLine
and DataWidth from BytesInLine

Therefore it is normally sufficient to set just ImageWidth, ImageHeight, BandHeight, and possibly ColorType and ColorBits (though the page setup normally provides these) to derive the related values. Normally XResolution and YResolution are needed. (In version 9 headers and earlier, HeaderSize is also required.) Set other fields as required: for example, JobName.

An optional dictionary plugdict may be included before headerdict. This plugdict should contain plugin parameters, as described in Plugin parameters. If plugdict is present then its contents are merged into the plugin-specific dictionary in the pagebuffer header in the same way that headerdict is merged into the standard pagebuffer header dictionary.

Example:

TEXT

            (%os%externalbands)
            <<
              /ImageWidth 1388
              /ImageHeight 1928
              /BandHeight 196
              /XResolution 100
              /YResolution 100
            >>
            (None-300dpi)
        pgbconstruct => (00005000.PGB)