Printer Test Tools
PDF 1.7 InteropAnalyzer Plus
Now
Updated to Support PDF 1.7, Acrobat 8
and Functional Tests for New Features
QualityLogic’s PDF 1.7 InteropAnalyzer Plus is a revolutionary test tool that verifies interoperability with PDF files. The latest version supports PDF 1.7 and adds new functional test cases for features introduced in PDF 1.6 and 1.7.
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PDF is a universal, non-proprietary method of exchanging documents. Millions of PDF documents are accessible from the web, and over a half billion Adobe Readers have been downloaded from Adobe’s web site. PDF is used for everything from product specifications on the web to magazine layouts for the publishing industry. PDF interpreters have found their way to hard copy devices, accelerating the printing process by eliminating the transform between PDF and other printer languages in the printer driver.
Numerous Adobe and non-Adobe products can produce PDF files in seven different versions of the PDF file format. The application that created the document, the PDF producer configuration options, and editing of the PDF document can all influence the ultimate composition of the PDF file. This creates an almost infinite number of permutations that may need to be tested.
If you develop software or hardware to read and interpret PDF files, the testing challenge is immense. You can meet this challenge with the PDF 1.7 InteropAnalyzer Plus, a test suite that validates your device’s ability to handle PDFs as they are currently used in the business environment, as well as those created using the latest releases of popular applications.
Thorough Interoperability Testing
The PDF 1.7 InteropAnalyzer Plus has three distinct test suites. The Functional Test Suite tests the new features in PDF 1.6 and 1.7 in a similar manner to how QualityLogic’s traditional FTS products test a printer language or file format. The Installed Base Test Suite is a statistical sampling of PDF files from the Internet, representing the installed base of PDF files your customers will most likely use with your products. The Current Release Test Suite consists of custom-developed test pages using the latest PDF producer and creator applications, representing the PDF files your devices are likely to see in the general business environment over the next 12 to 18 months.
Functional Test Suite
The new Functional Test Suite tests the majority of new operators introduced by PDF v1.6 and 1.7 specifications including:
- 3D Presentation (1.7)
- Dimensions Intents of markup annotations (1.7)
- TaggedPDF (1.7)
- Table Summaries (1.7)
- Background Page Artifacts (1.7)
- Pagination Artifacts (1.7)
- Portable Collections (1.7)
- AES Encryption (1.6)
- NChannel (1.6)
- OpenType (1.6)
- Markup Annotations (1.6)
- 3D Artwork (1.6)
- User Properties (1.6)
This set of PDF tests was developed using QualityLogic’s FTS testing methodology.
Installed Base Test Suite
To find real-world PDF files, we used a popular search engine’s ability to find PDF files. Using a database of popular search terms, we searched for PDF files using 625 distinct topics, enabling us to identify over 12,000 PDF files from 8,000 unique web sites.
These files were run though a custom Adobe Acrobat Pre-Flight Profile, which identified 180 key characteristics in each file. These characteristics are grouped as follows:
- Annotations
- ColorSpace
- Compression
- Document Properties (orientation, pages, producer, creator, version, etc.)
- Font
- Forms
- Halftone
- Image
- Miscellaneous
- Rendering
- Transparency
- Errors
-
The Pre-Flight Profile results were analyzed and placed into a database that is included with the product. This database can be used to run a statistics report about PDF files in the real world, to download files of interest from the Internet, and to select specific files for testing with your device. View statistics for all 12,000+ Installed Base Test Suite files.
Recommended Subset
To speed testing, the Recommended Subset of the Installed Base Test Suite contains the widest range of attributes–unique producers, creators, PDF version numbers, and the characteristics described above–in the smallest set of files. This suite gives you a reasonable representation of the real world while maximizing the diversity of key characteristics.
Current Release Test Suite
Of course, the real world does not always contain the latest PDF technology. There are few Acrobat 1.7 files on the web, and many current versions of creators and producers have not entered the mainstream yet. The Current Release Test Suite fills the gap between what is in the real world now and the capabilities of newer PDF producers and creators.
QualityLogic developed custom test pages using the Adobe Creative Suite and other popular applications with the specific intent of exercising a wide variety of PDF key characteristics. These test pages were then used to create PDF files using a variety of PDF producers and a wide range of configuration settings. These files contain a much more diverse set of PDF usage for things like transparency than are represented in the Installed Base Test Suite.
View a list of Current Release Test Suite Producers and Creators.
Eighty source documents from 15 creators were used to create more than 350 files included in the Current Release Suite. These source files are now available so you can:
- Generate new test files using new producers (i.e., pre-release version
of Adobe Acrobat 7.0 or other producers not supported by QualityLogic's
PDF InteropAnalyzer).
- Isolate problems identified with specific PDF files in the Current Release Suite, allowing you rebuild PDF test files using altered producer settings to help isolate problems.
The Current Release Suite now includes a number of Targeted Test Files - files developed to mechanically exercise specific PDF characteristics, such as bit depth, color spaces, layering and annotations.
Four-up reference hardcopy output is also available for all current release files.
Query Builder
The PDF InteropAnalyzer’s SQL database contains the key characteristics for Installed Base and Current Release PDF test files. The Query Builder is a non-programmatic way to query this database for files with specific characteristics, allowing addition of an open-ended number of test suites. You can create your own Test Sets with the click of a button. Just specify the characteristics you want the files to contain or omit and the Query builder will identify the specific files that meet that criteria. Once a Test Set is identified, you can:
- Generate an analysis report
- Run a smallest set analysis
- Download needed files from the Internet
- Copy the test files to a designated directory
- Generate a file list for batch or automation processes
After selecting the files you want to run, you can produce an analysis report with a variety of options.
The
example in the screen shot at right looks for files that are PDF version
1.5 and have transparencies, are fewer than 100 pages, and are either
decoded with CCITT Fax or DCT.
In
the Current Release Suite, you can also tag files based on their file
naming convention.
After
selecting the files you want to run, you can produce an analysis report
with a variety of options.
Job Manager
The PDF InteropAnalyzer Job Manager (JobMan) utility makes it easy to send files to your printer. JobMan supports USB, TCP/IP, IEEE 1284 and serial I/O operations and allows you to select test files and send them to the device, simply and easily.
Deliverables
- Database and Test Files for Current Release Test Suite
- Database of statistics and URLs for Install Base Test Suite
- Free Installed Base download service
- User’s Guide
- Test Specification
Contact QualityLogic today to find out more! Call 800-436-6292 ext. 103 or 805-531-9030 ext. 103, or send an email to tools@qualitylogic.com.
Specifications are subject to change without notice.