[scribus] modifying sla directly WAS Schedule for next major release.

[John Culleton]

On Monday 01 December 2008 06:42:48 pm Jeffrey Silverman wrote:
> If nothing else, the .sla file format used by 1.3.5 will still
> likely be readable by whatever is the next stable release. So from
> that POV -- being able to open the file in the next Scribus version
> -- you should be okay.
>
> I have used 1.3.5. and 1.3.3.X and I far prefer to use 1.3.5. BUT
> it definitely has problems, so save your work OFTEN. But it *is*
> usable.
>
> Let us hear a story on how it turns out. Even if it is a boring
> story. Throw in some references to Angelina Jolie or something to
> spice it up.
>
> later...
>


How about a stripper?  An .sla file is pretty unreadable as is. But 
with a simple Gvim command I took a book cover template and revealed 
its sexy inner secrets. The Gvim command:
:%s/" /" \r/g

This yields a file that looks like this (extract):
---------------------------------------------------------
PAGEHEIGHT="666" 
PAGEWIDTH="918" 
PAGEYPOS="20" 
HorizontalGuides="441 477 663 " 
MNAM="Normal" 
PAGEXPOS="100" 
NumHGuides="3" 
VerticalGuides="" 
BORDERLEFT="27" 
/>
 </DOCUMENT>
</SCRIBUSUTF8NEW>
---------------------------------------
Now this can be edited pretty easily by hand or by program (think sed) 
to change page dimensions,  guide locations and so on.  Of course 
dimensions need to be expressed in points. This example is 1.3.3.12 
based as I recall so it is readable by both 1.3.3.x and 1.3.5 etc. 

Why is this useful? Well dimensions of a book spine are calculated 
based on number of pages and pages per inch plus a factor for the 
thickness of the cover itself.  Hand calculation can be error prone. 
A program which takes in the raw data (pages, pages per inch, page 
size etc.) can spit out a template with the correct dimensions and 
spine guides, similar to what LSI template maker provides but without 
the LSI-specific trimming around the edges.  

I'll let you know how it all comes out, if it does. 



-- 
John Culleton
Resources for every author and publisher:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/shortlist.pdf
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/packagers.pdf
http://www.creativemindspress.com/newbiefaq.htm
http://www.gropenassoc.com/TopLevelPages/reference%20desk.htm