D.I.Y. Apps: Part III The PDF Manager

(Reproduced from The Furtive Penguin )

Of the many tools which can be used to create and manipulate PDF files on a Linux system pdftk is probably the most powerful and useful. It can:-

Merge PDF Documents

Split PDF Pages into a New Document

Rotate PDF Pages or Documents

Decrypt Input as Necessary (Password Required)

Encrypt Output as Desired

Fill PDF Forms with FDF Data or XFDF Data and/or Flatten Forms

Apply a Background Watermark or a Foreground Stamp

Report on PDF Metrics such as Metadata, Bookmarks, and Page Labels

Update PDF Metadata

Attach Files to PDF Pages or the PDF Document

Unpack PDF Attachments

Burst a PDF Document int

o Single Pages

Uncompress and Re-Compress Page Streams

Repair Corrupted PDF (Where Possible)

This is quite an impressive feature set but of course, as supplied, it is a command line tool. A GUI frontend is available for it but you will need to install the Lazarus Pascal compiler before it will run. PDFTK-GUI is available here and the Lazarus compiler together with instructions for installing on Ububtu can be found here. This is quite an overhead just to run one GUI front-end so I am offering an alternative script. The script allows you to access much of the functionality of pdftk without mastering the command line syntax. Just for good measure pdftotext is included as well.

In order to use the script you will need to install the following packages:-pdftk, poppler-utils (or xpdf-utils).Both packages are available from the Debian/Ububtu repositories. Once installed I suggest that you create a PDF directory in your home folder and store both the script and your collection of PDF's there.This script could be easily adapted for use with 'Dialog'. Anyone wishing to do so could usefully consult the previous two articles in this series. There are examples and plenty of code to cannibalize in Parts 1 and 2.

The obligatory screenshots are included below:-

The PDFManager Script (Available here)

PDFTK-GUI

Whichever you decide to install...have fun!

D.I.Y Apps Part IV Project Manager 2

( Reproduced from The Furtive Penguin )

Get the Script here.

This is the latest in a series of articles designed to encourage people to make their own apps on Linux. It is hoped that either:-

a) The script will be useful to someone as it stands, or:-

b) The code can be cannibalized and put to better use by anyone wishing to experiment and customize.

The script makes use of a few simple functions followed by a menu which is defined using the case/esac statement. In this sense it is not dissimilar from the last script in this series although, of course, it serves a completely different purpose. In Part II of this series I posted a script designed to serve a similar end but it was somewhat buggy and offered considerably less functionality. The current revision offers the following options:-

0 Create Project Folder

1 List Folder Contents

2 Open Folder

3 Open Files For Editing (Gedit)

4 Open Files For Editing (OpenOffice)

5 Open Files For Editing (Bluefish)

6 Backup

7 Backup Individual File (You will need to enter the full path for both target and destination)

8 Encrypt Folder

9 Decrypt folder

Most of these are self-explanatory and the overall purpose of the script is fairly clear. It is designed to allow convenient grouping of associated files in 'project' folders. New folders can be created and files can be accessed with a variety of applications dependent upon their type and file extension. There is also provision for backup ( both of the entire folder and individual files ) and encryption. You will need to install 'ccrypt' and 'bluefish' to take advantage of options 5,8 and 9. The best fun you can have with it tho, is to modify it to suit your own individual requirements. Enjoy!

(If you wish to create a launcher for this script simply right-click on the desktop and select 'Create Launcher' from the context menu. Give it a name and supply the path to the script. YOU MUST also check the 'Run In Terminal' box. Click on the 'No Icon' button and you will be presented with a selection of icons. Choose one and click 'OK'. The icon will appear on your desktop. Drag it onto your top Desktop toolbar. Subsequently all you will need to do is click on the icon on your toolbar and a terminal with the 'Project Manager2' menu will appear on your desktop.)

Get the script here.