Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!skdutta
From: skdutta@cs.tamu.edu (Saumen K Dutta)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: PostScript page counter?
Message-ID: <6988@helios.TAMU.EDU>
Date: 30 Jul 90 21:23:06 GMT
References: <1990Jul26.173633.13911@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> <1990Jul30.153325.15342@zoo.toronto.edu> <1990Jul30.181713.29483@phri.nyu.edu>
Sender: usenet@helios.TAMU.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Texas A&M University
Lines: 33

tdd@convex.cl.msu.edu (Thomas D. Davis) wants:
>> software that will read a PostScript file and do nothing more
>> than determine the number of pages it will print.

henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) says:
> Basically, it can't be done [...] read the printer's page count before
> and after, and subtract -- *it* knows how many pages it printed.

roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes:
>   An alternative approach
>is to simply look for a "%Pages" line in the PS file and use the number
>therein.  The vast majority of PS-producing programs know how many pages
>they intend to print (and indeed will print), and are well-behaved enough
>to supply this count for people to use as a PS comment.
>
>	Of course, if you go this route, you have to understand that the
>%Pages line might be missing, or wrong (either through accident or
>mailicious intent by somebody trying to avoid paying per-page printing
>charges).  Use it at your own peril.


If you think there could be problems with the %Pages in postscript
file due no non-conformance of standards or suspecting malicious
intent you could also check up for the control character ^L in the
postscript file which is usually used for pagebreak



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