PMGS Stamp Album Page Generator for Scribus v1.4.5

After reading your well-written post, I am certainly considering giving this a try. If I am able to, I'll download the files and spend some time with it this weekend.

I do have a question about your examples. Do the faint lines around the text show up when printed (is that a setting that can be changed)?



A possible suggestion (keeping in mind that I haven't actually downloaded anything yet, you may have already done this or tried this): rather than warning about altering the format or changing data settings worksheet, could you lock all the other cells?

Those faint lines won't print. They are there just to show you the size of the text box.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

The PMGS Stamp Album Page Generator for Scribus v1.2 is now available. Download here (1MB Zip). If you just want to see the manual first, it's here.

This was an almost-complete rewrite of the script. The original script was designed to do something very basic, and as a result, every additional feature led to an exponential increase in the code. More code, more potential for errors -- the v1.1 code had about 4,600 lines of code, the v1.2 has about 1,800 to accomplish the same tasks, plus some. So, I rewrote about 90% of the code to be faster and to allow for future expansion. If you note any bugs, please let me know.

Changes from v1.1
1. Per request of ClassicalStamps on SCF, added ability to general Internal frames (style similar to SG New Imperial Album)
2. Fixed numerous small bugs and placement errors. Math is hard.

Here's a sample of what the Internal frame style looks like compared to the full size of a stamp. The frame doesn't generate in the red color -- I changed it so it was more visible in the pic.



On the page, it should look something like this.



For the next version, I'm working on a couple things. Perhaps the most useful is preset styles.

I'm attempting to modify the Settings spreadsheet so you can select from a list of standard frame designs. For example -- if you like boxes in the SG New Imperial style (Internal frame with simply a catalog number below the stamp), you'll be able to click a button and automatically fill the settings blanks with the proper settings. Ditto for Mystic style, etc.


Mystic style

For example, these are actual boxes from a Lighthouse page.


Lighthouse sample

And these are from a preset designed to replicate the Lighthouse style.


Lighthouse-style boxes

This should prove helpful for those who use different designs on different countries' pages.

If anyone is interested in having a particular preset, you can really help me out. If you've used the script to generate a standard style, send me the settings you use and I'll see if I can include them. If you haven't used the script but you use a particular style of page, send me a high-quality scan of the stamp boxes with and without a stamp in the box (and if possible, with measurements in mm of the stamp and box so I can set the padding/margins). I can get close based on a good quality scan.

As usual, comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Jed, is there a way to change the line spacing in the stamp boxes? I'd like them set the same as the font size.

The PMGS Stamp Album Page Generator for Scribus v1.2.1 is now available. Download here (1MB Zip).

Changes from v1.2
1. Per Andy Pastuszak's request, added ability to set font spacing (single spaced, double spaced, etc.) within the text boxes

Slow day at work. Don't tell the U.S. taxpayer.

Let me know how it works.

Version 1.2.7 uploaded here (1.5 MB ZIP).

This version adds one new feature -- the ability to bulk generate boxes across multiple pages. In previous versions, all boxes would generate on the page on which you wee sitting when you ran the script in Scribus. Now, you can generate them on multiple pages within a single run.

Demo video:



And as always, the latest version is always available on my website.

Thanks, Andy Pastuszak .  If you run into any issues with Scribus 1.5.2 just let me know.

At the moment, I'm working on adding a new feature to the plugin.  Currently, when you generate a set using the "Group" option, you can set a single title, date, catalog, or caption, but you're always limited to a single frame containing all the grouped issues, like this.



I'm adding an option to have individual frames as well.  Should make it easier to do things like this (stolen from one of Andy Pastuszak 's Ukraine pages), where there's a mix of grouped items (title and date) and not (catalog, caption, photos, and frames).  It's proving to be a tough nut to crack only because I have to re-learn why I made a few design decisions along the way.

Andy Pastuszak ,

Funny you should say that, because it's largely true. I don't use Scribus myself (I use Adobe InDesign), so my scripting decisions are largely driven by what I see on your pages.

For those who don't know the history of this little project, it started in the summer of 2012 when Andy Pastuszak posted a thread on SCF looking for a page generator that would do a specific combination -- IIRC, a box with text above and below. I stupidly said I could code something to do that.

The first version was a plugin for Publisher, since that's what I used at the time and what I knew how to code for. That wasn't a great solution, however, as Publisher isn't widely used and is expensive. So, since Andy Pastuszak recommended Scribus, I taught myself Python and wrote a version for Scribus.

Since then, I try to add features as they're requested (see the ability to do boxes in the style of the SG New Imperial), or more commonly, I see pages people have done and try to ID those things on the page that can be further automated. Since you're pretty much the only person I know of who is (1) using the script and (2) posts their work-product where I can see it, a lot of my design decisions are driven by the question of "what can I do to make Andy's life easier?"

So, to anyone else out their using the script, feel free to post your pages or make requests. I'm always looking for new features to add. And keep making pages, Andy, so I can maintain my purpose in life.

Hmmm - that's sounds like about 90% of the computer programs I've ever written, when it comes time to look at them again a few months later .... ha ha ha

Ryan

Ignore me. I got it working. Everything seems fine.

In the course of adding some additional features, I discovered that the newer developmental releases of Scribus have a lot of problems with the script. If you're going to use it, make sure to download the last stable version (1.4.6) of Scribus, not the developmental versions (1.5.1 or .2) until I can get the new issues resolved.

Since it looks like v1.4 is going to be a while, here's an incremental update -- v1.3.5.

Changes from v1.3

1. Added a fifth text field, Face Value.
2. Added a new style that's a single box with Face Value centered, a la Steiner.
3. Added limited ability to use small caps font with Face Value, a la Steiner
4. Added ability to change stack order of the text boxes, so you're no longer limited to the old hardcoded order (Title, Date, Catalog, then Caption) in which the text boxes were placed vertically.

Installation

Once again, an additional step is necessary to make presets work. Due to the addition of new options on the Settings tab, old presets no longer align properly with the settings on the Settings tab. To fix this, before using presets, go to the Presets tab and click the first button on the SAPG toolbar. This will add the new blanks to the presets on your Presets tab, making the presets once again align properly with the Settings tab. You'll also need to manually re-set Row 3 of your presets after the update. See the video.

A new update today -- v1.4.5.

This version gives you the ability to generate a muti-row, multi-column set layout in one run, like this:



Video demo:



Also, in the past, the script could only be used with v1.4.x of Scribus, as the v1.5.x releases had some showstopping bugs. It appears as if most of those have been fixed as of Scribus v1.5.4. I haven't fully tested it since I don't use Scribus that much, but feel free to give it a try.

Any problems or questions, don't hesitate to ask.