I just downloaded XnView 1.98 to do some batch scanning. I'm trying to scan multiple pages to a single PDF.
I've tried to scan multiple pages as TIFF or PDF, using "acquire into" to create the file. Neither works. I get an error message saying that XnView can't create the .tmp file (or .tif file) in the directory I've chosen. If I retry, XnView crashes.
When this feature wouldn't work, I wondered whether XnView relied on the registry (or something that the portable version doesn't have) to create the file. Has anyone else tried batch scanning and had this problem? If so, do you know how to get batch scanning to work with XnView portable?
Thanks.
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I finally figured this out. You have to download the standard .zip version of XnView from the developer's site. Then you have to install Ghostscript to batch scan to PDF. It doesn't look as if this is something you can run from a USB drive unless the computer you're using has Ghostscript installed. As far as I know, you can't install Ghostscript on a USB drive.
Try http://www.7-pdf.de/
"7-pdf Maker portable" (paf.exe) converts without Ghostscript printer.
Peter
I cannot test it atm as I don't have a computer without ghostscript installed. Does saving a picture to pdf format work without it?
There is a Ghostscript Portable Version here as CommonFiles installer. Maybe the dependency can somehow be pointed there if that is installed.
@Peter:
7-PDF Maker sounded nice at first but it turned out to be a thinned out OpenOffice 3.0 with a frontend for file- and parameter-handling. That shurely is a possiblity but it's a huge beast for its task.
Also, as it is a restricted demo (payware) I am not shure if it is compliant with the licenses it uses. The LGPL shurely allows modification and commercial use but I found no hint for the source code of used libraries (OOo and possibly Sumatra). I also don't know if the LGPL allows such a restricting EULA as is used.
Apart from that the idea is good.
You can scan one page at a time directly to PDF or covert a picture to PDF without Ghostscript. It's only when you use batch scan (multiple pages saved to one PDF file) that you need it.
I have a computer without Ghostscript installed. I'll do some testing with the Ghostscript Portable Version to see if I can get batch scanning to work from the USB drive. Based on the error messages I was getting without Ghostscript, I don't think it will be easy.
I found a hint in the XnView forums. Try setting the enviroment variables XNVIEW_GS_DLL (path of gsdll32.dll) and XNVIEW_GS_LIB (path of gs lib folder) after installing Ghostscript Portable. Something like
and
(replace drive letter and path according to your installation). It should then use that installation. I may test it when I have access to my scanner again.
I don't know how to set these enviroment variables automatically without a batchfile since XnView Portable uses a custom launcher.
With PAL it would have been easy to simply define them in the launcher.ini.
Maybe you could mark the opening topic as bug as it could possibly be fixed in a future revision
I've just marked the opening topic as a bug. I'll have to put off testing until later when I can move my scanner to the other computer (and I have more free time). If you have a chance to test this, please post your results here. Thanks.
I installed the latest Ghostscript Portable and tried to see whether XnView would use it to open PDF files - but it would not.
I then tried creating a file called XnViewPortable.ini with the entries:
[Environment]
SET XNVIEW_GS_DLL=X:\PortableApps\Ghostscript\bin\
SET XNVIEW_GS_LIB=X:\PortableApps\Ghostscript\lib\
..in the hope of setting up XnView's environment variables to find the Ghostscript Portable, but this did not help.
I think we need John Smith of SmithTech to take a look at it to find out how to connect the two packages?
JohnW
I've also tried this with Portable IrfanView. Even with portable GhostScript installed it too generates a "Can't load GhostScript error" when trying to open a PDF file.
Are you using XnView Portable 1.98.6 along with the current Ghostscript Portable installed to their default locations (X:\PortableApps\XnView and X:\PortableApps\CommonFiles\Ghostscript)? It should be automatic now. Though if you manually set it, it may mess up.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Gord has added functional Ghostscript Portable support to 1.98.7 and confirmed that batch scanning is functional.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!