[XeTeX] XeTeX wish list ...

[Jonathan Kew]

On 14/08/2023 16:01, Philip Taylor (RHUoL) wrote:
> I do not know whether there is such a thing, but if there is, may I add 
> an entry ?
> 
> Background:  I have (XeTeX) code which adds bleed and crop marks 
> (strictly speaking, bleed and trim marks) to an existing multipage PDF.  
> The code is stored in a file called "Add bleed + cropmarks.tex".  When 
> run, it asks the user for the name of the PDF file to be used as input, 
> but of course the resulting PDF output file is always called "Add bleed 
> + cropmarks.pdf".
> 
> Request :  Would it be possible to enhance XeTeX such one could write 
> (e.g.,)
> 
>     \XeTeXpdffile = "Hội-An lunch menu with bleed and crop marks"
> 
> before any data has been entered on the MVL, and then have the output 
> file name be taken from \XeTeXpdffile ?  If \XeTeXpdffilename were set 
> only /after/ data had entered the MVL, it would be completely acceptable 
> for the output file name to be taken from \jobname as at present.
> 
> It would (IMHO) be more elegant to make \jobname read/write, but that 
> would introduce an unnecessary deviation from TeX.


In principle, I'm sure it could be done, but another option you could 
consider would be to run your xetex job via a "wrapper" script (or batch 
file to you, Philip) that handles this. E.g. instead of having the XeTeX 
code itself prompt for a filename, you could prompt for it from the 
wrapper script, and then pass it to xetex via the -jobname option.

JK