Through the years, I have tried to make my AeB software (AcroTeX eDucation Bundle---see this Adobe Flash Animation, a shameless advertisement) compatible with pdftex and dvipdfm; however, during that time, I've developed a number of techniques that require the use of Acrobat and distiller. Therefore, I have set off in a new direction and will be publishing a new line of LaTeX packages, ones that require the use of Acrobat. I will, however, continue to develop the original AeB, never fear!
The AeB Pro Bundle: I am happy to announce the AeB Pro Bundle. AeB Pro is primarily aimded at user of Acrobat Pro 7.0 or later. Features are
- AeB Central (this can be used by non-distiller users)
- Complete support for set up the initial view of the document
- Extensive support for document actions: document level JS, set document actions (willSave, didSave, etc.) and open document actions.
- Complete support for page actions
- Complete support for full screen mode, and all the current transition effects through version 8.
- Methods to easily attach documents
- Document assembly methods, methods used immediately following distillation
- Methods for linking to attachments and launching attachments
- Support for creating PDF Packages.
- Initializing fields using unicode.
- Basic support for layers, rollovers and animations.
Download aebpro.zip, which includes documentation. The documentation, aebpro_man.pdf can also be viewed online. AeB Pro assumes you are using the latest version of the AcroTeX eDucaiton Bundle (AeB). You can go to the package web page, AcroTeX eDucation Bundle, or download the zip files acrotex_pack.zip or acrotex.zip. The former zip file contains only the package files and the new examples, the latter zip file is the full distribution.
New (07/06/08) The new aebpro.zip has minor changes in support of the AcroFLeX Graphing Bundle.
You can find some demo files on this page below.
Below are some of the demo files that illustrate the capabilities of AeB Pro. Some files are best viewed outside a browser:
- aebpro_ex1.pdf: Illustrates the document and page open/close actions and fullscreen support of AeB Pro.
- aebpro_ex2.pdf: Demonstrates the features of the pro option of the web package, including enhanced control over the layout of section headings and the title page.
- aebpro_ex3.pdf: Highlights the attachments options and the doc assembly methods.
- aebpro_ex4.pdf: A discussion of layers, rollovers and animation.
- aebpro_ex5.pdf: Linking to attachments: The \ahyperref, \ahyperlink and the \ahyperextract commands.
- aebpro_ex6.pdf: Learn how to create a PDF Package out of your attachments.
- (New) aebpro_ex8.pdf: Demonstrates how to create form fields using unicode string values: initialize the value of a text field, create buttons with unicoding as a button caption, define a combo box with unicode strings.
Other members of the AeB Pro Family are listed below.
These packages require Acrobat 7.0 or later, the aebXMP package requires Acrobat 8 Pro. All packages, except the AeB Slicing batch sequence require the AeB (AcroTeX eDucation Bundle). Pick it up at the AeB headquarters.
The following are also members of the of the AeB Pro Family:
- rmannot (07/06/08) Acrobat version 9 introduces the rich media annotation, in which SWF, FLV and MP3 files are played. This package provides support for this new annotation. See the rmannot home page for more details..
- AcroFLeX (07/06/08) An application of the rmannot package, this package is a graphing package. Users can interactively enter functions and have them graphed. A link system is also created to pre-populate the AcroFLeX graphing screen. Details of this package may be found at the AcroFLeX home page.
- Opacity_Pro (12/29/07) The opacity_pro Package offers support for transparency (Chapter 7 of the PDF Reference) for those who use Distiller, version 6.0 or later to produce a PDF. The download is opacity_pro.zip. There are four sample files:
- oppro_tst.pdf: General demo file with minimal packages (does not require AeB, for example)
- oppro_tst1.pdf: Uses some web features (get the latest acrotex_pack.zip) and graphicx package.
- oppro_tst2.pdf: Demos transparent color boxes and uses PStricks to draw circles with a transparent fillin. This file contains a patch to pstricks-add that enables the fillstyle=transparent for distiller users.
- oppro_tst_tk.pdf: Demonstrates "text knockout" and transparent verbatim text.
The documentation is opacity_pro_man.pdf, it is included in the .zip file.
- GraphicxSP (09/01/07) GraphicxSP is an extension of the graphicx package. GraphicxSP embeds the graphic in the PDF document once, and allows the document author to use and re-use that same graphic without significantly increasing the file size. Additionally, GraphicxSP supports Adobe transparency imaging model.
GraphicxSP is useful for repeated graphics like backgrounds, watermarks, company/universit logos and so on. The graphics produced by GraphicxSP appears to be clearer at high zoom factors than the same graphic produced by the classic Graphic package.
This major package has it s own page, see the GraphicxSP Package home page.