cpdfSetInitialView

Latest Version: 2.0.0
Release Date: 14 Aug 2023
Platform: Windows x64
Function: GUI to set PDF initial view using Coherent PDF Command Line Tools (cpdf)
Project Site: https://sourceforge.net/projects/cpdfsetinitialview/
Developer: David King (dking02)
IDE: Delphi 10.2 (Tokyo)
License: GNU General Public License (GPL), version 3
Dependencies: cpdf version 2.6 (Jul 2023) or later; installed PDF viewer

Description

This project provides a free and open-source (FOSS) GUI application for setting the initial view property of a PDF file using the Coherent PDF Command Line Tools (cpdf) on Windows x64.

The GUI allows for easy selection of source PDF file and initial view settings, formulates the required cpdf commands, and then executes the cpdf command line program to output the source PDF with the updated initial view settings. The GUI also supports viewing the source and output PDF files and reporting information about the files.

The GUI relies on cpdf, a powerful cross-platform command line PDF tool, to apply the initial view updates to the PDF file. cpdf is available in a free Community Release for personal, non-commercial use. Commercial use of cpdf requires the purchase of a license from Coherent Graphics Ltd.

For my other free GUI PDF tools on SourceForge, see PDFtk Builder Enhanced, PDFtk Bookmarks Editor, and gsSetInitialView.

Usage

(1) Select the source PDF by dragging and dropping the file onto the GUI form or by clicking on the "Source PDF Document" button,
(2) Select the desired initial view settings on the GUI form, and
(3) Click the "Update PDF" button to output the source PDF document with the new initial view settings to the selected output file.

By default, the program updates the source PDF file with the new initial view settings; however, any output PDF file (new or existing) can be chosen. Users can immediately check the results by opening the output file in a PDF viewer from the GUI and undo the change if desired.

By default, only the most frequently used initial view settings are displayed in the GUI. To display all available settings, check the "Show all options" box. When this option is left unchecked, the existing values of the additional settings are not affected when the new initial view is applied in the output file.

How a PDF reader handles the initial view property of a PDF file is highly dependent on the capabilities of the PDF reader being used and the viewing preferences the user may have configured in the reader. Some lightweight PDF readers do not support all initial view settings. Other readers may allow the user to override or ignore initial view settings.

Additional information on operation of the program is provided in the cpdfSetInitialView User Manual (.pdf) that is included with the program.

Getting Started

The cpdfSetInitialView GUI is distributed as a portable application for Windows only and is licensed under terms of the GNU GPL, version 3.

The free, fully functional Community Release of the cpdf command line tool is available for personal, non-commercial use on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. The license can be viewed at the Community Release website. Only the Windows 64-bit version is applicable to this project.

Three download files are available. Only files 1 and 3 are required to run the program.

(1) cpdfSetInitialView executable and documentation (see file 3 for cpdf executable)
cpdfSetInitialView-2.0.0-portable.zip

(2) cpdfSetInitialView source code (Delphi 10.2)
cpdfSetInitialView-2.0.0-source.zip

(3) cpdf binaries (Community Release)
cpdf-binaries-master.zip

Download file 1 (cpdfSetInitialView-2.0.0-portable.zip) and extract its contents to a folder of your choice.

Download file 3 (cpdf-binaries-master.zip), extract (drag) the cpdf.exe file from the Windows64bit subfolder and copy it to same folder where you extracted the cpdfSetInitialView files.

Launch cpdfSetInitialView by double-clicking its .exe file (cpdfSetInitialView.exe) or a shortcut to the file. The .exe file is not code-signed so Windows will flag it as risky the first time it is run.

Documentation

The distribution includes a User Manual (.pdf) which can be accessed directly from the cpdfSetInitialView \docs subfolder or opened from the Help menu within the program. The program's commented default configuration (.ini) file is located in the program folder and can be edited with a text editor if needed. It can also be accessed directly from the File menu of the program. The program must be exited and restarted to reload the .ini file if the file has been modified.

Acknowledgements

• John Whitington, Coherent Graphics Ltd. (UK) - developer of Coherent PDF Command Line Tools (cpdf)
• Embarcadero, Inc. - for free license of Delphi 10.2 (Tokyo) Starter Edition used to develop this Windows application

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Version History

1.0.0, 02 Jun 2021

• Preliminary version based on cpdf version 2.3 (Oct 2019). Released in source code form only as part of gsSetInitialView v1.0.0
• Executable not released pending update of cpdf to add support for remaining initial view settings (ref. cpdf issue #215)

2.0.0, 14 Aug 2023

• Initial release of cpdf-based GUI with binaries. Requires cpdf v2.6 (Jul 2023) or later.
• Add support for custom zoom and NonFullScreenPageMode initial view settings
• Add cpdf -info and -page-info reports for source and output PDF files
• Identify version of cpdf being used by the program in the Help>About message to support version check by user
• New cpdfSetInitialView user manual and separate SourceForge project created
• This release was developed in Delphi 10.2 and tested on Windows 10 and Windows 11 Pro 22H2 x64 using Notepad and Adobe Reader v11.0.23 as .txt and .pdf file viewers.