Label templates

Creating a label for a CD or DVD requires 4 steps:

Copy or create a DVD-shaped background image to a JPEG file
Add fixed text to the image
Add user-specified text to the image
mask, scale and copnvert the image to PDF format

This document addresses steps 2 and 3.

What is a template?

Where are templates stored?

Standard CSB templates will be in /srv/local/backup/labels/, at least for now. Programs and scripts should use the variable $tpdir to refer to the template directory, and should allow $tpdir to be specified on the command line.

Template files should have the extension .tpl, eg, xtalarchive.tpl.

What is the format of template files?

Template files specify what text will be printed on a label, and where it will be printed.

A label is 732 pixels in diameter, with a 140-pixel unprintable hub space in the center. There are 150 pixels/inch.

In the template file, coordinates are specified in pixels, offset from the UL corner of a square enclosing the DVD. Font sizes are in points.

Template files contains a series of IDs. Each ID contains an (optional) label field and an (optional) specification field for a user-supplied value. Each line specifies one field. The format is:

ID pos type size color font max content

ID -- internal identifier to match label with specification fields.
pos -- position of the start of this field as an x,y pair with no embedded spaces.
size -- Fontisze in points. Normal printing is 12-point.
color -- Color, eg, red, darkred, plum, etc. Colors must be recognized by ImageMagick.
font -- name of font. Currently ignored.
type -- LABEL or SPEC or DSPEC or PROG
max -- Maximum characters per line for a SPEC or DSPEC field. For LABEL, this should be set to 0.
flag -- (0 = ignore) (1 = content must be only one word) (-M = if content > max chars, split to allow up to M lines).
content -- If this is a LABEL, everything form here to the end of the line will be printed on the DVD at the specified location. If this is a SPEC, everything from here to the end of the line will be treated as an example of what might go here. It may be displayed by application programs, but will not be printed on the label. If this is a DSPEC, this will be printed on the label IFF the user does not provide another value. For PROG, content will be generated by a program or script.

Example

A possible template for xtal archives.

title1 300,70 14 blue times LABEL 0 0 Yale University	Headline to go in the top center of the disc
title2 218,100 14 blue times LABEL 0 0 Center for Structural Biology
Project 200,130 14 darkred times SPEC 25 1 Ribosome	No fieldname is printed for this -- only the user-supplied single word.
facility 125,185 12 blue times LABEL 0 0 Collected at:	These 2 lines result in something like `Collected at: CSB Core`
facility 125,300 12 darkred times SPEC 15 0 BNL
comment 500,130 12 darkred times SPEC 120 -4 free-corm comments	Up to four lines of comments can be printed here.

What uses template files?

Last Modified: Thursday, 09-Mar-2006 15:46:44 EST

RC Home | Search | Table of Contents | General Information

Richards Center (www.rc.yale.edu) at Yale University (www.yale.edu)
Contact: webmaster_at_ben^rc^yale^edu