GDI Print Directives

This section contains properties which define how a newly created document can be overlaid using an existing PDF file.

Name	Values	Description	PDFXv3
Enabled	Boolean	Enables or disables overlay feature of the PDFX. If this flag is False, all other properties from this section will be ignored. Default = False	Enable
OverlayFile	String	Specifies a file with which the newly created PDF will be overlayed. The value should be a fully-qualified path name for the PDF file. Default = empty string.	File
OverlayPassword	String	If the file specified by the OverlayFile property is encrypted with a valid user password, OverlayPassword must contain a valid password for the file. Default = empty string.	Password
AsForeground	Boolean	Defines where overlay pages should be located. Background is the default unless specified. Default = False	Fore- ground
Repeat	Specifies the repeat option for overlaying. Default = 0 (NoRepeat).		Overlay- Repeat
	0 (NoRepeat)	Do not Repeat: begin at the start of the overlay file and apply each corresponding page from this file to the corresponding page number in the newly generated PDF file. Should the newly created file have a greater number of pages than available in the overlay file, no overlay is applied to the remaining pages created in the newly generated PDF document.
	1 (RepeatLastPage)	Apply the PDF overlay file pages to the corresponding pages on the newly generated PDF file - should the newly created file have a greater number of pages - apply the last page of the overlay file to all remaining pages. If the overlay file is a single page, this will be placed on all of the generated files pages by default.
	2 (RepeatContinuous)	Begin at the start of the overlay file and apply each corresponding page from this file to the corresponding page number in the generated PDF file. Should the newly created file have a greater number of pages than available in the overlay file, start at the beginning of the Overlay file and begin the process again, applying the first page in the Overlay PDF file to the next page in the generated output PDF document in the sequence, then page 2 of the overlay file to the next generated PDF document page and so on until the generated document is completed. If the overlay file is a single page - this will be placed on all of the generated files pages by default.
AlignH	0 (Left) 1 (Center) 2 (Right)	Specifies the horizontal alignment for the overlay pages relative to the new document's pages. Default = 1 (Center)	HAlign
AlignV	0 (Top) 1 (Middle) 2 (Bottom)	Specifies the vertical alignment for the overlay pages relative to the new document's pages. Default = 1 (Middle)	VAlign
Fit	Boolean	'Fits' the OverlayFile pages to match that of the host page. Default = False	(same)
KeepAspect	Boolean	The OverlayFile pages' proportions should be retained when using other options. Default = False	(same)

Comments

Overlays automatically disable the PDF/A feature.

In order for the fit and alignment options to be effective, the overlay has to be generated on a page size smaller than the target page.

On the other hand, if, for example, one was going to use an overlay consisting of just a logo, on different page sizes, it might be possible/practical assuming that you always wanted it in one of the four corners (or center) of the target page, regardless of the size differences. If you really want to have precise positional control of overlays, especially for logos, then what you want is not really this kind of overlay, but the kind referenced by the OVERLAY= printer init command, in which you essentially specify the GDI directives, including //IMAGE, to effectively generate the overlay anew for each document. Also see Watermarks.

Compatibility

PDFXv3, v5 and v9 support the same features here, but the property names have changed. The old PDFXv3 names will be automatically converted to the PDFXv5+ equivalents when applicable, but not vice versa.

Example

//PDFX,Overlay.Enabled,True

//PDFX,Overlay.OverlayFile,"c:\vm\miame\dsk99\908067\overlay1.pdf"