Berlin - callas software, market leader for automated PDF quality control and archival solutions, today releases an update for its pdfChip product line. pdfChip converts HTML into good, standards-compliant PDF documents. The pdfChip 1.1 update adds a number of features that were identified in projects customers realized with pdfChip, especially when it was used to create long, dynamic documents.

Making integration easier

Using pdfChip to convert an HTML template to a good PDF file is straightforward and easy. pdfChip 1.1 focuses on making integration of the tool in a larger project just as easy by adding a number of features.

First of all, pdfChip 1.1 lets you control the maximum number of pages in the generated PDF file. That makes it e.g. possible to create single page PDF files in just one go instead of one PDF file with many pages. Since the destination PDF can now be defined in the Javascript code it is possible to start a new PDF whenever needed.

During development it can be critical to understand what errors occur and how to adjust the HTML template. In pdfChip 1.1 error reporting, specifically for Javascript and when placing bar codes, has been improved in order to make it easier to develop complex PDF publishing applications.

pdfChip 1.1 also allows for passing command-line variables straight to the HTML template, where Javascript can pick it up and use it to shape the resulting PDF file. The ability to pass this kind of small information to an HTML template adds even more flexibility to PDF publishing; compared to what was already possible with the highly dynamic HTML/Javascript architecture.

Long, dynamic PDF documents

Long documents, that need to include lists of references such as a list of figures, list of tables or simply a table of contents, were a challenge in pdfChip 1.0. In pdfChip 1.1, callas implemented the new concept of a “list collector”.

This new feature allows content to be marked using simple CSS and stores information about this content in a JSON (Javascript data) file. This information can then be used to automatically create a table of content with page numbers for the generated PDF document for example.

Advanced templates

pdfChip 1.1 also adds support for the Device-N color space. Device-N is an advanced PDF color space that is essential for content where a number of different spot colors or a combination of CMYK and spot colors is used for page objects like images or vector graphics.

Lastly in pdfChip 1.1 placing of PDF files has been improved. Therefore pdfChip provides information about PDF files that are placed in the HTML template, e.g. about their trimbox or bleedbox. This information can then be used in Javascript to modify the placement.

Flavors

Because of the wide variety of workflows in which pdfChip can be integrated, a number of different flavors of the product have been created. The following is an overview of the different flavors and their limitations.

Availability and price*

callas pdfChip 1.1 is immediately available. The following list gives the price for each product flavor:

• pdfChip S: € 5000
• pdfChip M: € 10 000
• pdfChip L: € 15 000
• pdfChip XL (Enterprise): € 25 000

pdfChip 1.1 is a free update for customers using pdfChip 1.0.