First Steps in Variable Data Printing with PostScript is a primer in how to take a database full of client information and turn it into a very large amount of printed paper. If you are a PostScript programmer faced with the task of producing a variable data print run for your company’s monthly billing, shareholder reports, or eviction notices, this book will start you out on the right path.
This book does not step you through the details of how to set blocks of text with embedded data or place a particular image on the page based on the client’s zip code. Rather, this book shows you how to approach these task, answering such questions as: should formatting decisions be made at the host computer that’s generating the PostScript code or should the PostScript itself make the formatting and placement decisions? What is the proper use of PostScript forms in a variable data layout? How do you isolate errors so that a syntax error doesn’t kill the entire million-page print run?
This book is intended for PostScript programmers; you should have at least basic PostScript skills, about the equivalent of having taken Acumen Training’s PostScript Foundations course. At a minimum, you should be comfortable with printing text, placing images, drawing line art, as well as how PostScript approaches conditional execution, loops, and defining variables and procedures.
This book does not step you through the details of how to set blocks of text with embedded data or place a particular image on the page based on the client’s zip code. Rather, this book shows you how to approach these task, answering such questions as: should formatting decisions be made at the host computer that’s generating the PostScript code or should the PostScript itself make the formatting and placement decisions? What is the proper use of PostScript forms in a variable data layout? How do you isolate errors so that a syntax error doesn’t kill the entire million-page print run?
This book is intended for PostScript programmers; you should have at least basic PostScript skills, about the equivalent of having taken Acumen Training’s PostScript Foundations course. At a minimum, you should be comfortable with printing text, placing images, drawing line art, as well as how PostScript approaches conditional execution, loops, and defining variables and procedures.
