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Attached is an example from my Perl-based library (PDF::Builder) to create a number of splines using Bezier curves. It used to work fine in the free downloadable Acrobat Reader (which automatically updates), but now it blows up at the first curve. It still displays fine in other PDF Readers, such as the one in the Firefox browser. Any ideas? I use curves to create arcs and circles/ellipses in other examples, and they still work OK.
Okaaaaaay, I think I found the problem and have fixed it. PDF::Builder was not building a proper graphics dash (d) operation under some circumstances. FYI, this led to a d operation given a dash pattern array with a ridiculously large first element (actually an array address, not a valid "on" value!) and a 0 "off" value. Most PDF Readers, and apparently older AAR releases, either ignored this bogus value or clamped it to a reasonable integer value (resulting in effectively a solid line). Recent
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Hi Phil28073338r0c0,
Thank you for reaching out.
We have checked the file that you shared. There seems to be some issue with the file, as we cannot open it.
Could you please let us know how you are creating the PDF? Do you also experience issues with other files, or mainly with this one?
Share the Acrobat Reader and OS version on the machine.
Thanks,
Meenakshi
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It works fine for me just clicking the "preview" link in my post, as well as with the Firefox (et al.) PDF readers. Just Adobe Acrobat Reader fails on the first page second line third example (the first non-trivial one with a curve). I'm on Windows 10, and Reader is the free download Adobe Reader "Continuous Release | Version 2023.006.20320 | 64-bit". The PDF was created with PDF::Builder, a Perl library, using examples/Bspline.pl (grab a copy of the full install image from GitHub or CPAN.org to get the examples, or you should be able to d/l the single Bspline.pl file).
What are you using, and where does it fail to load? Yes, I experience problems with some other PDFs (I have 4 other tickets open... they may need to be moved to "Adobe Reader" forum).
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Hi Phil28073338r0c0,
Thank you for your patience, and sorry about the delayed response.
We have tried it on both Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Reader. Would you mind sharing the sample file again via the link?
You may share the file using the steps suggested under Share an anonymous or public link to file in the following help document: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/sharing-pdfs.html.
Please also share the screen recording of the workflow and where the issue occurs for a better understanding.
Thanks,
Meenakshi
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When you say you tried it on AP and AR, do you mean that it failed to display for you too, or that it displayed OK? Can I share documents other than PDF with the document-share facility you linked to? I have PNG screen saves of Bspline.GIMP.png (it worked, loaded into GIMP) and Bspline.AAR.png (failed to load, with error dialog). Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download version) is the only PDF reader that it's failed on, and that was only fairly recently (some time in 2023). Anyway, the "GIMP" version is the full, expected first page (of four), while the "AAR" version is the partial first page, with error dialog, using Acrobat Reader.
BTW, the Bspline.pdf displays OK in this forum's "preview" mode -- I don't know who is doing the rendering for it: Acrobat or my browser (Firefox) or something on your server.
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Hi Phil28073338r0c0,
Sorry about the delay in response.
You may also share the other format file using the steps suggested in that help link.
We have checked the screenshot. It would be helpful if you could share the files used to create the PDF.
As the issue occurs with particular PDFs created from a third-party tool, not much can be done from our end. We can try creating the PDF using Acrobat.
Thanks,
Meenakshi
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I was hoping that you would have tools to examine the PDF file and either tell me how it does not meet the PDF spec, or that it does meet the spec, but AAR has a bug. It's got to be one or the other.
If you want to recreate it, first install the Perl language. On a Windows system, I suggest Strawberry Perl (say, around 5.32 or later). That's what I use. Then you need to install PDF::Builder library, which comes either as a pre-packaged installable at cpan.org, or source at GitHub (PhilterPaper/Perl-PDF-Builder). Instructions are in README.md. The program used to produce the PDF is examples/Bspline.pl, run as "perl examples/Bspline.pl". You should end up with the same PDF as I supplied. Note that if you are not at least somewhat familiar with the Perl language, you probably can't do much to replicate the code's result using Acrobat or the like. "bspline" is part of the PDF::Builder library, found in lib/PDF/Builder/Content.pm.
By default, the PDF should be uncompressed.
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Okaaaaaay, I think I found the problem and have fixed it. PDF::Builder was not building a proper graphics dash (d) operation under some circumstances. FYI, this led to a d operation given a dash pattern array with a ridiculously large first element (actually an array address, not a valid "on" value!) and a 0 "off" value. Most PDF Readers, and apparently older AAR releases, either ignored this bogus value or clamped it to a reasonable integer value (resulting in effectively a solid line). Recent AAR releases went belly-up when they saw such a value.
My bad. My apologies for sending you off on a wild goose chase, but I just happened to produce a version of Bspline.pdf (during some other tests) that worked with AAR, while an older copy didn't work. I compared them in detail and found the bad d operations, which I have now fixed. I'll close this now.