Attachments

Using attachments, you can embed files, sound, and movies inside a PDF document.

Note: To utilize the attachment feature, you must have Adobe Acrobat 6 or later.

File Attachments

This feature lets you attach and embed files inside a PDF document. The attached files can be text files, HTML files, Microsoft Word files, or even Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. For all attachments, you should set the action_item keyword to attachment. The action_name keyword specifies a unique name for the attachment and also serves as a tooltip when you pause the mouse over the attachment.

When you create a file attachment, you must set the action_type keyword to file_attachment. The action_spec keyword specifies the file specification for the attachment. The software defines a rectangular region with a sticky note icon, so that you can double-click the icon to view the attached file. When you double-click the icon, the application associated with the attachment’s extension (mime-type) displays the attachment. The viewer application may post a warning dialog message about potentially unsafe attachments.

Note: If a file specification begins with a number, you need to precede the number with forward slashes or two backslashes. For example, action_spec = "d:\anystreet\\2004table.htm" or action_spec = "d:/anystreet/2004table.htm".

The size of the sticky note icon remains the same size even if the view's zoom factor is greater than 100%. You can scale down the size of the icon by setting the zoom factor less than 100%. This behavior could be a cue to you that the icon is not part of the drawing.

The following table displays the required/default values for the action keywords when you create a file attachment.

Keyword	Value	Default Value
action_item	ATTACHMENT	Required
action_name	Unique name for the attachment.	This value is required and is used as the tooltip when you pause the mouse over the icon.
action_type	FILE_ATTACHMENT	Required
action_spec	File specification	Required
action_range	ELEMENT_RANGE \| CELL_RANGE	ELEMENT_RANGE
action_instance	SINGLE_INSTANCE	SINGLE_INSTANCE

Example:

! Attach an HTML file, and create a bookmark to it.
!
if ((sheet_name eq "AR1") and (color eq 7) and (weight eq 2)) then
! File Attachment
   action_item = attachment 	
   action_name = "Base Slab Dimensions" 	
   action_type = FILE_ATTACHMENT
   action_spec = "c:\manhole\slab.htm"

   action_item = bookmark
   action_name = "Base Slab Dimensions"
   action_type = AREA_OF_INTEREST
   action_spec = "./attachments"
endif

The design script example above creates the following file attachment and bookmark.

Movie and Sound Attachments

This feature lets you attach and embed movie and sound files inside a PDF document. For all attachments, you should set the action_item keyword to attachment. The action_name keyword specifies a unique name for the attachment and also serves as a tooltip. The tooltip displays when you pause the mouse over the attachment.

When you create a sound attachment, you must set the action_type keyword to sound_attachment. For movie attachments, you set the action_type keyword to movie_attachment.

The action_spec keyword specifies the file specification for the sound or movie file. The software defines a rectangular region with an icon, so that you can double-click the icon to play the attached file. Double-clicking the icon brings up an external multimedia application to play the movie or sound clip. Acrobat viewer invokes the external application based on the mime-type associated with the attachment’s file extension. The Acrobat viewer application may post a warning dialog message about potentially unsafe attachments.

Note: If a file specification begins with a number, you need to precede the number with forward slashes or two backslashes. For example, action_spec = "d:\anystreet\\2004sound.wav" or action_spec = "d:/anystreet/2004sound.wav".

The following table displays the required/default values for the action keywords when you create a movie/sound attachment.

Keyword	Value	Default Value
action_item	ATTACHMENT	Required
action_name	Unique name for attachment.	This value is required and is used as the tooltip when you pause the mouse over the icon.
action_type	MOVIE_ATTACHMENT / SOUND_ATTACHMENT	Required
action_spec	Movie / sound file specification	Required
action_range	ELEMENT_RANGE \| CELL_RANGE	ELEMENT_RANGE
action_instance	SINGLE_INSTANCE	SINGLE_INSTANCE

Example:

! Attach a sound file, and create a bookmark to it.
!
if ((type eq line) and (color eq 8) and (weight eq 2)) then
! Sound Attachment
   action_item = attachment 	
   action_name = "Sound Clip" 
   action_type = SOUND_ATTACHMENT
   action_spec = "d:\manhole\dave.wav"

! Create a bookmark to the sound file.
   action_item = bookmark
   action_name = "Play sound clip"
   action_type = AREA_OF_INTEREST
   action_spec = "./Sound Attachments"
endif

The design script example above creates the following Sound attachment and bookmark.