Adobe acrobat 7.0.5 sdk User Manual

Creating PDF Documents

The Macintosh version of Distiller supports Apple events. Apple events can be used from 
external applications written in programming languages such as C or from AppleScript. 
Because AppleScript is more straightforward, using it is the recommended way to use 
Apple events with Distiller.

Distiller supports the following Apple events:

●

The 

Distill

 command distills one or more PostScript language files, creating a PDF 

file for each.

●

The 

run

 command launches Distiller.

●

The 

quit

 command quits Distiller.

For Windows, you can automate Distiller under Microsoft Windows through the 
Automation interface also known as OLE Automation (commonly referred to as ActiveX or 
COM). The Automation interface makes it easy to create and control a Distiller from any 
programming language that supports Automation. Distiller supports programming 
environments written for the following languages:

●

Visual Basic 

●

Visual C++ with and without MFC

Distiller exposes one interface: 

PdfDistiller

. This interface provides methods and 

properties to invoke Distiller and to customize Distiller properties. For example, you can:

●

Specify that a particular settings file be used rather than the default settings file

●

Apply security to the generated PDF file

●

Specify whether to spool the job or execute it immediately

You can also use the Distiller API to check the status and errors associated with a Distiller 
job. 

As it processes each job, Distiller fires several events to notify you of its progress. These 
events can be accessed using the 

PdfDistiller

 interface.

In addition, certain features of Distiller can be controlled directly through the PostScript 
language file (see 

). Authoring 

applications that control Distiller should also provide an interface to their users to allow 
control of font embedding and image compression as well as downsampling in the PDF file.

For more information, see the Acrobat  Distiller API Reference.