Creating and using Runpages
A runpage, also called control page, is a normal page in your document that is set not to eject, on which a single PlanetPress Talk object is placed. This PlanetPress Talk script is meant to control the execution of other pages and can be used for many purposes such as custom N-Up, repeating and calling overlays and underlays.
To create a runpage:
- Start with a new, blank page.
- Open the page's properties (see Set Up a Page).
- Under Basic Attributes, remove the Page ejects option, then click OK.
- Add a new PlanetPress Talk object on the page.
- In the PlanetPress Talk editor, enter your runpage code, then click OK.
Commands that make up a runpage:
- The @page() and execpage() commands are used to execute any page type and place its result in memory, if you do not need to use any of those page's paper handling.
- The $element (or $page) command is used to execute a page if you want to keep the paper handling intact. It is only useful if you are using it to call a normal page, as virtual pages and overlays do not contain any paper handling.
- The showpage() command is used to display (print) the pages that are in memory.
This to keep in mind:
- If any object is placed on the runpage other than a PlanetPress Talk object, these objects will force the page to output as the last page with this element on it, whether or not the runpage has the Page eject option checked.
- If you have multiple PlanetPress Talk objects on the page, they will execute in order from top to bottom, one at a time.
- You can place multiple pages in memory using the @page(), execpage() and $page commands, and display them using a single showpage(). This emulates using overlays and underlays on your page. The first page to be placed in memory will be the furthest on the back of the page (underlay), while the last page to be called will be on top of all the others (overlay).
- Make sure to never call the runpage from itself, as this creates an infinite loop and a stack overflow.