PDFfolio is a collection of tools and methods necessary to pass data from a database into a PDF document, to display that data, and to search through that data. It acts as a catalog for information, such as for product catalogs or document collections.
PDFfolio consists of the client component, and the development components.
The development components are a database in which the relevant data is collected, and prepared that it can be introduced into the empty container document, as well as a series of help utilities for Acrobat to prepare documents.
The client component is essentially the empty container document. This document provides the user interface to the data, and contains all the logic to manage, access and display the information.
Fast search, using customized data tables
PDFfolio can be used to create navigation systems through document collections. It allows a very fast search, which is between the full text search, provided by Acrobat Catalog, and the simple search of the document’s metadata. Because it does not connect directly to the document’s metadata, it can be used with any kind of document, even if they have no formal mechanism for metadata. provides the tools to bring information into a PDF document, to display that information in the document, to find information and to arrange and present the results.
The searchable data is normally prepared within a database, and can be manually entered, or extracted from the document itself or its metadata. This data is then injected into the PDF document, and can be accessed from any document-based JavaScript. Because of the use of an intermediare development database, it is possible to add information about the document, which would otherwise not be available, such as a synopsis, or specialized categorization.
Search results can be displayed various ways:
- As a table with links to detailed information
- As a detail view with navigation elements
- As flat or hierarchical popup menus
Virtual pages, dynamically displayed
The normal way to display data information is in a base form. This means that the space allowed for display has to be adjusted to the maximum amount of text to be displayed. As a consequence, there will be a lot of empty space if the displayed information is considerably shorter.
PDFfolio has a mechanism to dynamically display the information, so that it appears as if there were no unnecessary space on the page. When displaying the information about a different item, the display gets rearranged accordingly. Physically, we remain on the same page of the PDF document. This feature is called “virtual page”.
Virtual pages are also used for tabular display of information, allowing to display any number of items, without knowing how many pages are needed in advance.
Fast and easy updating
The master information is stored in a database, independent of the display document. Data from the database is exported in a specific way, and “injected” into a “blank” base document which contains the whole display and search engine. This “injection” can even happen when the base document gets opened, providing an up-to-date information.
In order to maintain the database, existing user interfaces can be used, or it is also possible to use a PDF-based data entry interface.
Designed to work with CD-ROMs and DVDs
Unlike other methods for organizing and searching documents, an internet connection is not required. All it needs to run is Acrobat or Adobe Reader (version 5 or newer). This makes it ideal for use on CD- or DVD-based catalogs. It can of course also run in online environments, such as an intranet.