[scribus] Using scribus from console

[a.l.e]

hi stefan

> > we are developing a print portal. The main intention is, that user
> > are able to choose from a sortiment of flyers and put customized
> > informations on it. Afterwards this flyer will be send as a pdf to
> > our printjobs.
> > The flyer templates are generated by an office using scribus. We
> > get the goods as pdf documents from them.
> > It is not a problem to insert some text into predefined spaces if
> > the text has a predefined maximum length.
> > In view to change words in a running text or to insert paragraphs in
> > different lengths, we need more flexibility on it.
> > On this topic the following question:
> > Is it possible to save a scribus project as a formatting objects
> > file (xsl-fo)?
> > or
> > Is it possible to invoke scribus through a script (Python or PHP)?

yes and no...

you may be able to manipulate parts of a scribus file with external tools.

you may be able to have an instance of scribus running on a server and polling a directory for changes, act on it and produce PNGs and PDFs which will be shown to the client or sent to the printer.

you won't be able to invoke scribus on a server without X11 running or getting scribus to just convert a .sla file into a pdf without running (even without human interaction) its GUI.

there is an effort ongoing to work on a CLI version of scribus but -- it's partially my fault -- it does not advance as fast as one could wish.

please, get in touch with me if you can give some money or some developing work for such a project.


have a nice evening
a.l.e