[scribus] How to print guides, empty image frames and other internal indications ?

[Mike Sleger]

On Sep 1, 2011, at 6:58 AM, a.l.e wrote:

> salü greg
> 
>>>> I am currently designing a page layout with Scribus, having to
>>>> decide how to arrange my elements, etc.
>>>> 
>>>> I'd like to print the page as I see it within Scribus (so that I
>>>> can print it in A3, discuss and annotate it), that is, including
>>>> the guides and the frames (even though they may be empty for now).
>>>> 
>>>> I did not find any way of doing this; did I just miss it or is it
>>>> difficult/impossible ?
>>> 
>>> ... this is a typical task for a script :-)
>>> 
>>> the script below will add a layer and draw on it a rectangle with
>>> the page margins and vertical / horizontal lines for the guides...
>>> 
>>> 
>> The empty image frames might be a bit trickier. You could always
>> create a dummy image that says "image missing" inside it to import to
>> empty frames. It might be simpler to just give those empty frames a
>> border and/or fill color to mark off the space they take up.
> 
> ... mmm not tricky at all... even quite easy... if i can detect that an
> image frame is empty...
> 
> lemmetry...
> 
> a.l.e

This is the approach I would take with a script, in case it helps spark some other ideas for you.

- Create a layer in the document for all the non-printing items (if the layer doesn't already exist).  If the layer already exists and is not empty, delete everything on the layer (perhaps with a user confirmation dialog).

- On this layer, add lines for all margins and guides.  Also loop through all frames and draw a rectangle shape for each frame (shouldn't matter if it's empty or not).  Each component would be represented in a different color, same as the on-screen display in Scribus.

The data on this layer is "static", meaning it won't automatically reflect changes to the document (such as moving guides or frames on the page).  So the script gets re-run as needed, which is why the layer gets cleared if it already exists.  A GUI could also allow the user to select (through checkboxes) which components to include on the layer (margins, guides, frames).