DONE: Using AHK and PDFTK to combine daily pdf's

[schnarkle]

Hello,

I need to come up with a way of combining daily extracted pdfs in the proper order but am having problems with the number of different publications.

Our naming convention is :

pub  date     section
--------------------  
MM_111412_A01.pdf
MM_111412_A02.pdf
MM_111412_B01.pdf
MC_111412_A01.pdf
WR_111412_A01.pdf

I can do this for one pub easily i.e.

Code: Autohotkey [Select]

1. SetWorkingDir, %A_ScriptDir%
2. pub = MM
3.  
4. dest = D:\DATA\archives\hot\
5. formattime, date, MMddyy, MMddyy
6.  
7. filename1 = %pub%_%date%_*.pdf
8.  
9. ifexist %filename1%
10. Runwait %comspec% /c pdftk %filename1% cat output %dest%EA_%date%.pdf

But with 7 different pubs, some of which may or may not appear on a daily basis, I am stuck.

Here's what I came up with but it is not getting every pub and some pages are repeating.  I am trying but am an amateur N00B
Also, the pub order is as seen top to bottom.

Code: Autohotkey [Select]

1. SetWorkingDir, %A_ScriptDir%
2. pub = MM
3. pub2 = MC
4. pub3 = FE
5. pub4 = CS
6. pub5 = RE
7. pub6 = VL
8. pub7 = WR
9.  
10. dest = D:\DATA\archives\hot\
11. formattime, date, MMddyy, MMddyy
12.  
13. filename1 = %pub%_%date%_*.pdf
14. filename2 = %pub2%_%date%_*.pdf
15. filename3 = %pub3%_%date%_*.pdf
16. filename4 = %pub4%_%date%_*.pdf
17. filename5 = %pub5%_%date%_*.pdf
18. filename6 = %pub6%_%date%_*.pdf
19. filename7 = %pub7%_%date%_*.pdf
20.  
21. FileList =
22. Loop, *_%date%_*.pdf
23. {
24.  FileList = %FileList%%A_LoopFileName%`n
25.  
26.  Runwait %comspec% /c pdftk %filename1% %A_LoopFileName% cat output MTR_%date%.pdf
27. }

Can anyone help?

[Target]

I assume you're trying to do this in AHK?

you need 2 nested loops, something like this

[Select]

pub = MM,MC,FE,CS,RE,VL,WR

loop, parse, pub, CSV
{
    Loop, %a_loopfield%_%date%_*.pdf
        Runwait %comspec% /c pdftk %filename1% %A_LoopFileName% cat output MTR_%date%.pdf
}

[skwire]

You can pass multiple PDF filenames at one time to pdftk.  This should work:

Code: Autohotkey [Select]

1. ; Environment.
2. SetWorkingDir, % A_ScriptDir
3.  
4. ; Variables.
5. FormatTime, myDate, A_Now, MMddyy ; Format today's date.
6. myPubOrder := "MM,MC,FE,CS,RE,VL,WR"
7.  
8. ; Maintain publication order as per request.
9. Loop, Parse, myPubOrder, `,
10. {
11.     ; Create a space-delimited list of PDF filenames.
12.     Loop, % A_LoopField . "_" . myDate . "_*.pdf"
13.     {
14.         myString .= A_LoopFileName . " "
15.     }
16. }
17. ; Pass full list of PDFs to pdftk and output to new file.
18. RunWait %comspec% /c pdftk.exe %myString% cat output MTR_%myDate%.pdf

[schnarkle]

Good grief you guys make it look so easy!

Thank you so much that was driving me nuts!

 

[skwire]

Good grief you guys make it look so easy!
Thank you so much that was driving me nuts!

-schnarkle (November 15, 2012, 10:36 AM)

You're very welcome.  I'm glad we were able to help out.     I'm going to mark this thread as done and move it.