PDFlib 8 Windows COM/.NET Tutorial

11.6 Block Properties
PPS and the Block Plugin support general properties which can be assigned to any type
of Block. In addition there are properties which are specific to the Block types Textline,
Textflow, Image, and PDF.
Properties support the same data types as option lists except handles and action
lists. The names of Block properties are generally identical to options for fit_image( )
(e.g., fitmethod, charspacing). In these cases the behavior is exactly the same as the one
documented for the respective option.
11.6.1 Administrative Properties
Administrative properties apply to all Block types. Required entries will automatically
be generated by the Block Plugin. Table 11.4 lists the administrative Block properties.
Table 11.4 Administrative properties
keyword
Description
Locked
Name
Subtype
textflow
Type
possible values and explanation
(String) Human-readable description of the Block’s function, coded in PDFDocEncoding or Unicode (in the
latter case starting with a BOM). This property is for user information only, and will be ignored by PPS.
(Boolean) If true, the Block and its properties can not be edited with the Block Plugin. This property will
be ignored by PPS. Default: false
(String; required) Name of the Block. Block names must be unique within a page, but not within a document.
The three characters []/ are not allowed in Block names. Block names are restricted to a maximum
of 125 characters.
(Keyword; required) Depending on the Block type, one of Text, Image, or PDF. Note that Textline and
Textflow Blocks both have Subtype Text, but are distinguished by the textflow property.
(Boolean) Controls single- or multiline processing. This property is not available explicitly in the user interface
of the Block Plugin, but will be mapped to Textline or Textflow Blocks, respectively (Default:
false):
false Textline Block: text spans a single line and will be processed with fit_textline( ).
true
Textflow Block: text can span multiple lines and will be processed with fit_textflow( ). In
addition to the standard text properties Textflow-related properties can be specified (see
Table 11.9).
(Keyword; required) Always Block
300 Chapter 11: PPS and the PDFlib Block Plugin (Edition for COM, .NET, and REALbasic)