All plugins and renderers can be started without Python. The Python installation is checked only when Python is really needed (i.e. when a script starts with #!py). If the installation is missing, Python scripts return the error 1. For the first Python script, a corresponding warning message is also shown. The following Python versions are expected:

By the way, you can have any other, even newer Python version(s) installed. These versions are ignored by the priint:comet plug-ins and by comet_pdf.

Please note: In contrast to v4.x, v5.0 requires the Python version 3.12.

Because this file contains entries from our bug tracking system, the content of this file is partly in German.

The table describes the features and bug fixes of the priint:comet pdf renderer 5.0.

Revision    Case Description

v4.3 R36169

15.02.2025

 Python improvements

New functions:

v5.0 R36072

03.02.2025

 Python improvements

New functions:

v5.0 R36001

23.01.2025

 comet.getVersionMajor and comet.getVersionMinor return str instead of int

The Python functions comet.getVersionMajor and comet.getVersionMinor return str instead of int.

[Fixed]
TW 3291530 - Python Debugging Configuration

Unfortunately, I cannot start the Python debugging of comet_pdf. I always get the message that the (correctly installed) debugpy module could not be found.

The error has been fixed and the debugger can now be started. Information on the Python debugger can be found here.

TW 3290207 - comet.file.downloadWebImages wrong result entries on failed downloads

The Python function comet.file.downloadWebImages returns a list of results containing error codes.
When an invalid URL has been provided, the resulting error code is still 0 (success).

[Fixed]
TW 3290251 - Python - wrong parameter in comet.CFrame.setBarcode

The Python function comet.CFrame.setBarcode has multiple problems:

  • The 'options' parameter expects a str but raises an error saying it expects list[str].
  • Even when the 'options' parameter is correctly passed, the function raises an error.
  • The default values for parameters width, height, offsetX and offsetY do not seem to work.

[Fixed]

v5.0 R35824

05.12.2024

 Python improvements

General improvements:

  • Omitting a return value from the main function now no longer causes an error, but a warning is put into the logfile and a return value of 0 is assumed.
  • CProduct.getAttribute now supports the constants.kProductProductOriginals constants, returning a list of built page items.
  • CProduct can now be tested for equality against other products.
  • product.create now has an ID parameter to directly initialize the product ID.

New classes:

New functions:
Faster logfile writing

We managed to refactor logfile writing, resulting in greatly improved performance.

v5.0 R35572

16.10.2024

 First Release of v5.0

We are pleased to present the First release of version 5 of comet_pdf here.

Accessibility Structure

Comet_pdf now support the Accessibilty Structure (PDF/UA) of PDF. See here for more information.

Python improvements

General improvements:

  • All plug-ins now use Python 3.12. For more information see here.
  • Debugging is now available. For more information see here.
  • Performance improvements of up to several hundred percent when running many scripts.
  • Support for serial placeholders.
  • Improved documentation - Added dark mode, improved readability, added several examples, restructuring.
  • CPageItem.getType can now return whether a pageitem is a text on a path.
  • CFrame.setImage has new constants for image placement (backwards compatible).

Breaking changes:

See porting guide for more information.

  • Constants moved from comet module to comet.constants module.
  • prefs.setPanelEnabled has been deprecated.
  • CGroup.getGroup has been removed.

New modules:

New classes:

New functions:
Articles Script Support

TW 3052499

For the accessibility structure of the final PDFs we also need to have script support of the articles structure of the documents. The following functions are available now for this purpose:

Alternative Text for Frames

TW 3045637

In InDesign®, an 'Alt Text' can be defined for a frame via the Object Export Options ... -> Object Export Options dialog. This definition is inserted into the accessibility structure of the PDF in PDF export. We now also support this in cScript and in comet_pdf.

TW 3168605

In InDesign®, an 'Alt Text' can be defined for a frame via the Apparently the function server::load_placeholder_str replaces ALL unknown <tags> with empty strings in comet_pdf v5.0. However, only the KNOWN tags should be replaced. This error does not occur in v4.3 and the InDesign plugins v5.0.

The problem is solved now.