CDLABELGEN(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation CDLABELGEN(1)NAMEcdlabelgen - CD/DVD labels, jewel case inserts, and envelopes creator.
Generates frontcards and traycards for CD cases, single-cd envelopes,
DVD case inserts, as well as output suitable for direct printing on
CD/DVD.
SYNOPSIScdlabelgen [ -c <category> -s <subcategory> -i <item1%item2%etc> -f
<itemsfile> -v <num_items_cover> -e <cover_epsfile> -S
<cover_eps_scaleratio>[,<image_x_offset>,<image_y_offset_inches>] -E
<tray_epsfile> -T
<tray_eps_scaleratio>[,<image_x_offset>,<image_y_offset_inches>] -d
<date> -D -o <outputfile> -t <template> -b -C -w -h -m -M -O -p -y
<page_offset_inches> -l <line_width_points>] --create-dvd-inside
--create-dvd-outside --slim-double-case --double-case --create-cdlabel
--rotate-endcaps --plaque-color <r,g,b> --category-color <r,g,b>
--subcategory-color <r,g,b> --text-color <r,g,b> -n <volume/number in
set> --rows-columns <row_count_for_items,column_count_for_items>
--tray-overlay <overlay_epsfile> --tray-overlay-scaleratio
<tray_overlay_image_scaleratio>[,<image_x_offset>,<image_y_offset_inches>]
VERSION
Version 4.2.0, April 2012
DESCRIPTION
cdlabelgen's purpose in life is twofold:
· To be run automatically and swiftly from a shell script and
automatically generate a frontcard and a traycard for a cd--usually
data archive cd's. The traycard (which goes behind the CD itself)
is U-shaped and the ends of the CD case bear the label of what the
CD is. Inside inserts for DVDs are also supported.
· To have a minimum of dependencies--cdlabelgen only requires perl.
cdlabelgen was designed to simplify the process of generating labels
for CD's. It originated as a program to allow auto generation of
frontcards and traycards for CD's burned via an automated mechanism
(specifically for archiving data), but has now become popular for
labelling CD compilations of mp3's, and copies of CDs. Note that
cdlabelgen does not actually print anything--it just spits out
postscript, which you can then do with as you please. It can also be
combined with output from other programs such as "barcodegen" - to
print a barcode as a tray overlay image.
The latest version of cdlabelgen as well as this document can be found
at http://www.aczoom.com/tools/cdinsert/. The software package includes
CGI scripts that can be used to serve cdlabelgen over the internet. An
older version may be available at:
http://www.red-bean.com/~bwf/software/cdlabelgen/.
cdlabelgen comes with several eps images for you to use on your labels.
These images can be found in /usr/local/lib/cdlabelgen or
/usr/share/cdlabelgen or /opt/lib/cdlabelgen/ or
/usr/local/share/cdlabelgen, depending on your installation. Included
are a Recycling icon, an mp3 icon, the Compact Disc icon (with and
without 'Digital' on it), Tux the penguin, and the new Debian 'swirl'
logo. Two color background images called Music Notes are also
available.
CDs: cdlabelgen prints a 'tongue' as part of the traycard. This folds
around and is viewable from the front in jewel boxes that are entirely
clear (CD holder piece is not opaque). If you do not have a clear CD
holder in your jewel box, you may find it easier to just cut the
'tongue' off--it's a bit easier to fold without it.
Paper Sizes: Normal CD cases, Slim CD cases, DVD inside inserts can be
printed on a letter or A4 sized page. CD/DVD Envelopes and DVD outside
inserts will not fit on a letter sized paper, a larger paper size will
be needed to make it fit.
cdlabelgen requires Perl Version 5.003 or greater. Ghostscript is not
required, but is recommended so that you can test out your labels
without wasting paper.
SWITCHES-c, --category <category>
Set the category (title) for the CD
-s, --subcategory <subcategory>
Set the subcategory (subtitle) for the CD
-i, --items <items>
'items' should be a '%' separated list of items to print on the
traycard of the CD. Note that if the number of items are too many
to fit on the tray card, cdlabelgen will leave out some items at
the end. cdlabelgen automatically flows the items into 2, 3, 4, or
5 columns and scales the fontsize accordingly, unless the "-P"
option is used. You can insert blank lines by inserting 2 percent
signs in a row into the items list.
-f, --items-from-file <filename>
Get item names from file named filename. Each item should be on its
own line separated by carriage returns. cdlabelgen automatically
flows the items into 2, 3, 4, or 5 columns and scales the fontsize
or clips the items as needed. You can insert blank lines by
placing blank lines between items in this file.
Special commands can be embedded in the file, all of these commands
should be present starting at the first column of the line. The
codes are used to change the font for an item, the code itself is
not printed in the output.
{#BI} - make the item bold and italic
{#I} - make the item italic
{#B} - make the item bold
{#M} - make the item mono-spaced (Courier font)
{#MB} - make the item monospaced and bold (Courier-Bold font)
Example:
{#MB} Text 1 Item
would print the line " Text 1 Item" in a monospaced bold font.
-v, --cover-items <number_of_items_for_cover>
Normally, all the items are printed on the tray card. But if you
have a large number of items, you may wish to print some items on
the cover, and rest on the tray card. This option provides a way
of specifying how many items should be printed on the cover.
Default is 0 (i.e., print no item on the cover, print all items on
the tray). The items to be printed on the cover are taken from the
list of items, from the top of the list. Note that if the number
of items is too many to fit on the cover, it will result in items
being dropped. As of Jan 2002, around 250-300 items can be fitted
on the cover or the tray, depending on whether a
title/subtitle/date is used or not.
-d, --date <date>
Set the date to be used as 'date' if not set or not overridden with
the -D flag, today's date will be used (default is today's date).
Use this option if you don't like cdlabelgen's default format of
YYCC-MM-YY, for example.
-D, --no-date
Do not print any date (overrides -d as well)
-e, --cover-image <cover_epsfile>
Filename of eps file to print on cover. Note that cdlabelgen
requires that the eps file contain a proper '%%BoundingBox LLx LLy
URx URy' declaration according to the PostScript Document
Structuring Conventions. cdlabelgen uses this line to determine the
dimensions of the eps graphic so that it can position it
appropriately on the cover. Note that cdlabelgen first looks for
this file in your working directory. If it doesn't find it there,
it will look in the list of directories where the default eps files
are stored (see @where_is_the_template). This makes it easy to use
the images shipped with cdlabgelgen without typing miles of
pathnames.
-S, --cover-image-scaleratio <cover_eps_scaleratio
[,image_x_offset,image_y_offset_inches]>
The ratio by which you want to scale the epsfile that appears on
the cover. If you omit this flag, cdlabelgen assumes a scaleratio
of 1.0. This flag allows you to squeeze larger graphics into the
cover or expand smaller graphics to fill the cover. Scaleratio must
be a number (int or float).
If the scale value passed is 0 (or 0.0), then the logo is used as a
background image - it will be scaled as required to fit the entire
cover.
The -S option also takes optional translate arguments. Normally
images are printed on the cover and the tray so that the bottom-
right of the image is anchored to the bottom-right of the cover or
tray. To move the images away from the bottom and right borders,
use this option. For example, to leave two inches of gap between
the image and the bottom border, and 0.5 inches from the left
border, and use 1.0 scaleratio, use this: -S 1.0,-2,0.5
This offset only applies when the image is being used as a logo -
i.e., image is not being used as background to fill the entire
cover or tray.
-E, --tray-image <tray_epsfile>
Filename of eps file to print on traycard. Note that cdlabelgen
requires that the eps file contain a proper '%%BoundingBox LLx LLy
URx URy' declaration according to the PostScript Document
Structuring Conventions. cdlabelgen uses this line to determine the
dimensions of the eps graphic so that it can position it
appropriately on the cover. Note that cdlabelgen first looks for
this file in your working directory. If it doesn't find it there,
it will look in the list of directories where the default eps files
are stored (see @where_is_the_template). This makes it easy to use
the images shipped with cdlabgelgen without typing miles of
pathnames.
-T, --tray-image-scaleratio <tray_eps_scaleratio
[,image_x_offset,image_y_offset_inches]>
The ratio by which you want to scale the epsfile that appears on
the traycard. If you omit this flag, cdlabelgen assumes a
scaleratio of 1. This flag allows you to squeeze larger graphics
into the traycard or expand smaller graphics to fill the traycard.
Scaleratio must be a positive number (int or float) specifying the
scale.
If the scale value passed is the word fill1, then the image is used
as a background - it is scaled so that it completely fills the
interior tray card region. The value 0 (or 0.0) works same as the
fill1 argument.
If the value passed is the word fill2, then the image is used as a
background to fill more than just the tray. For normal CD cases,
the image is scaled so that it completely fills both the tray card
region, and the two endcaps (but not the extreme right-hand
'tongue-cap') for normal cd cases. For Slim CD cases or DVD
Inside/Outside covers, the tray image will fill both the tray and
cover regions (including any spines). For directly printing on a
CD (--create-cdlabel), fill2 option works like the fill1 option.
The -T option also takes optional translate arguments. Normally
images are printed on the cover and the tray so that the bottom-
right of the image is anchored to the bottom-right of the cover or
tray. To move the images away from the bottom and right borders,
use this option. For example, to leave two inches of gap between
the image and the bottom border, and 0.5 inches from the left
border, and use 1.0 scaleratio, use this: -T 1.0,-2,0.5
This offset only applies when the image is being used as a logo -
i.e., image is not being used as background to fill the entire
cover or tray.
-o, --output-file <outputfile>
If the -o flag is used, cdlabelgen prints to outputfile instead of
STDOUT.
-t, --template <template>
Specify explicitly which template to use. This is useful if you
need to debug the PostScript code in the template, use a different
template, or if you have created your own template to use in lieu
of the one provided with cdlabelgen.
-b, --no-tray-plaque
Suppresses printing of the Plaque on the traycard, thus allowing
you to either fit even more items on the traycard, or to use a
slightly larger font size for the items.
-C, --no-cover-plaque
Suppresses printing of the plaque on the front cover, thus allowing
a cover image that fills the front cover, but still displaying
category and sub-category information in the other usual places.
-h, --help
print out the usage message
-w, --tray-word-wrap
Enables word wrapping of the items that print on the traycard. Note
that this is *not* extensively tested and may be buggy! Make sure
that you preview your label before printing it if you use this
flag.
If there is a problem with "-w", the best option right now is to
split lines in the input itself, and to omit the "-w" option.
-m, --slim-case
Creates covers suitable for use in slim cd-cases, this means no
tray card (the tray card is now the inside front cover). This
creates a two page, folding cover insert. This could also be used
in normal cd cases as an inside insert.
Slim case option can be used with outside dvd inserts (
--create-dvd-outside ) also - in which case the outside insert is
created for half-height DVD case.
-O, --outside-foldout
Output slim cd cover cases (or dvd inserts) with the order of the
pages switched so the folding line lies on the outside of a normal
case. Can be used when printing either the slim-cd-case or dvd-
inside inserts.
This option is best used along with option -m (--slim-case) or
--create-dvd-inside.
--rotate-endcaps
Endcap text is rotated by 180 degrees, to flip the text around.
-M, --create-envelope
Creates covers suitable for use as envelopes for a CD. Guide lines
are printed, to aid in folding the printout correctly.
--create-dvd-inside
Creates inserts suitable for use as inside insert for a normal DVD
case. Guide lines are printed, to aid in folding the printout
correctly. Note: DVD inserts may not print fully on Letter or A4
sized paper printers; it may require larger paper sizes.
--create-dvd-outside
Creates inserts suitable for use as outside cover inserts for a
normal DVD case. Guide lines are printed, to aid in folding the
printout correctly. Note: DVD inserts may not print fully on
Letter or A4 sized paper printers; it may require larger paper
sizes.
Slim case option ( --slim-case ) can be used with outside dvd
inserts also - in which case the outside insert is created for
half-height DVD case.
--double-case
Create covers for double-sided DVD cases that hold 6 DVDs. Only
double-width DVD cases are supported, double-width CD cases are not
supported. Therefore, using --double-case also implies the
--create-dvd-outside option. Note: DVD inserts may not print fully
on Letter or A4 sized paper printers; it may require larger paper
sizes.
--slim-double-case
Create covers for double-sided DVD cases that hold 6 DVDs in boxes
1.5 times the depth of normal dvd cases. Only DVD cases are
supported with this option, slim-double-width CD cases are not
supported. Therefore, using --slim-double-case also implies the
--create-dvd-outside option. Note: DVD inserts may not print fully
on Letter or A4 sized paper printers; it may require larger paper
sizes.
--create-cdlabel
For directly printing on a CD or DVD. As of January 2005, there are
inkjets printers that can print on certain types of blank CD/DVD
discs. Only a small number of items can be printed on the CD, and
the number of characters in the title and subtitle is also limited.
Always check the output visually by using PostScript viewers or
printing on paper, before printing on the CD.
With this option, the top portion of the disc represents the
"cover" area - so arguments related to the cover: title
(--category), subtitle (--subcategory), --no-cover-plaque,
--cover-items, --cover-image, etc all apply to the top area. The
bottom portion of the disc represents the "tray" area, so arguments
related to the tray: --no-tray-plaque, --tray-image, etc all apply
to the bottom area. The date (--date) string, if present, is
printed along the bottom curved edge of the disc.
Background images can be specified using the --cover-image option,
modified as need by the --cover-image-scaleratio. If --tray-image
is also specified, note that the cover image is printed first, then
the tray image overwrites the cover image. The title/items text is
then finally printed over all the images.
The --no-tray-plaque and/or --no-cover-plaque (along with
--cover-items) option is also recommended with --create-cdlabel,
otherwise there may be no space for any items to be printed on the
disc.
The --clip-items option is also recommended.
-p, --clip-items
Enables clipping of items; uses fixed font size for all items.
Normally, the template.ps used by cdlabelgen will try to fit an
item in a given column by reducing the font size if needed. This is
ok if done for one or two items, but if done too often, it makes
the tray card look ugly, with text of varying font sizes.
Use this option to use a fixed width font for all items. If the
item is too large to fit in a column, the text will be clipped
instead.
-y, --page-offset [<page_x_offset_inches,]<page_y_offset_inches
Use this to move the entire output up or down (y_offset), to make
the output fit on appropriate sized paper. For letter sized paper,
0.8 works well, and for A4 paper, 1.5 works well. The value is in
units of inches. An optional X-axis offset can also be specified.
Default values: 1 inch for X-axis, 0.8 inches for Y-axis.
-l, --line-width <line_width_points>
Specify size in points of the edge and interior lines of the cover
and tray card. If this is 0, then the lines are omitted for both
the cover and tray (but guide cut lines are still printed). The
size is specified in points (1 point is 1/72 inch).
--plaque-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color to fill plaque. Color must be specified using the
rgb components, each value should be between 0 and 255.
--category-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color for category. Color must be specified using the
rgb components, each value should be between 0 and 255.
--subcategory-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color for subcategory. Color must be specified using the
rgb components, each value should be between 0 and 255.
--text-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color for text - this is used for the list of items, and
the date display under the plaque and in the end-caps. Color must
be specified using the rgb components, each value should be between
0 and 255.
-n, --number-in-set <string>
Append volume information to the end of the date string. This
should be a single string. If used in conjuction with "-D", it
will be in place of the date; otherwise, it is appended to the date
as " - <number-in-set>"
--rows-columns <row_count_for_items,column_count_for_items>
The --rows-columns options forces the list of items to be printed
using that many rows, and that many columns. Both numbers have to
be provided, no spaces, for example: --rows-columns=11,3
The list of items is laid out in top-down, left-to-right fashion.
Use blank items in the input, to get appropriately aligned columns.
--rows-columns applies to the list of items wherever they are
printed - normally on the tray only, but may include cover, or the
top and bottom portions of the round printouts for direct CD label
printing. Same values apply to all these variations, so if you
need different number of rows/columns for cover vs tray, you can
use two different runs of cdlabelgen, to get two postscript files,
and pick the cover from one printout, and tray from the other.
This will work for jewel-case inserts, but may not work for direct
CD label printing.
--tray-overlay overlay_epsfile
Filename of eps file to print as overlay on traycard. This image is
printed over the background image (tray-image) as well as the list
of items. Therefore, this is useful for things like barcodes. In
terms of EPS file requirements, see the --tray-image option
description.
--tray-overlay-scaleratio
tray_overlay_image_scaleratio[,image_x_offset,image_y_offset_inches]
The ratio by which you want to scale the epsfile that is used with
the --tray-overlay option, and optionally to translate the overlay.
Normally overlay image is printed on the tray so that the bottom-
right of the image is anchored to the bottom-right of the tray. To
move the images away from the bottom and right borders, use this
option. For example, to leave 0.1 inches of gap between the image
and the bottom border, and 0.2 inches from the right border, and
use 1.0 scaleratio (no scaling), use this:
--tray-overlay-scaleratio 1.0,-0.2,0.1
EXAMPLEScdlabelgen-c "My Filesystem"
-s "/usr/local/foo"
-e postscript/recycle.eps > foo.ps
cdlabelgen-c "title of cd"
-s "subtitle"
-i "Item 1%and Item 2%a third item here perhaps"
-e postscript/recycle.eps -o bar.ps
cdlabelgen-c "Fitz"
-s "home directory"
-o qux.ps
cdlabelgen-c "Backups"
-s "home directory"
-n "4 of 5"
Direct printing on a CD or DVD, if file "example5.txt" has list of items:
cdlabelgen--clip-items --no-tray-plaque --date "Jan 2005"
-c "Collections 12" -s "- english songs -"
--cover-image "music2.eps" --cover-image-scaleratio 0.0
--tray-image "mp3.eps" --tray-image-scaleratio 0.5,-0.5,2
--page-offset 0.5,0.5 -f example5.txt -o test.ps
CHARACTER ENCODINGS - using ogonkify
cdlabelgen uses the Helvetica family of fonts for various text items,
using the default encoding of ISO-Latin1.
To use other encodings, the "ogonkify" program can be used; this is a
package available at http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/ogonkify/
The output from cdlabelgen can be piped into ogonkify, example for
Latin2 encoding:
cdlabelgen <args> | ogonkify -H -eL2 > <outputfilename>
See the man page for ogonkify for other possible values for the
encoding.
Hint: if you always work with a particular encoding, you can just run
ogonkify on template.ps - and use the output as the new template.ps.
ogonkify -H -eL2 template.ps > template-enc.ps
This way ogonkify has to be run only once, cdlabelgen output will
contain the correctly encoded fonts from the modified template.ps. Use
the -tcdlabelgen option to specify the new template-enc.ps file, or
save the old template.ps and renmae template-enc.ps to template.ps.
PRINTING
When using tools such as Adobe Acrobat to print the .ps or a .pdf file,
make sure that "Fit To Paper" option is unchecked. Also uncheck any
option that will perform scaling up or down of the cdlabelgen output
file.
Failure to do so will result in incorrect size printouts.
Paper Sizes: Normal CD cases, Slim CD cases, DVD inside inserts can be
printed on a letter or A4 sized page. CD/DVD Envelopes and DVD outside
inserts will not fit on a letter sized paper, a larger paper size will
be needed to make it fit.
When using different sized paper, experimentation with the -y (also:
--page-offset) [<page_x_offset_inches,]<page_y_offset_inches> option
may be required to place the image in the printable region of the
paper.
AUTHOR
Avinash Chopde <avinash@aczoom.com>
Original author: B. W. Fitzpatrick <fitz@red-bean.com>
THANKS
- Karl Fogel, for general encouragement and that free software vibe
- Adam Di Carlo, for bug testing, help and making the .deb
- Greg Gallagher, for bug testing, coding, and tons of suggestions
- Goran Larsson, for feedback and date fixes
- Jens Claussen, for the patch to allow arbitrary ISO-Latin1 characters
- Bernard Quatermass, for contributing several excellent new features
- Sebastian Wenzler <sick@home.and.drunk.at> for reports, tests, RPM ['01]
- Peter Bieringer <pb@bieringer.de> for RPM .spec file ['02]
- Ronald Rael Harvest <number6@cox.net> for original envelope template ['02]
- Alessandro Dotti Contra <alessandro.dotti@libero.it> for color support,
man page and other improvements ['02]
Mathias Herberts
- Mathias Herberts <Mathias.Herberts@iroise.net>, for slim cdcase foldout
- Stephan Grund <Stephan.Grund@isst.fraunhofer.de>, for monospaced
font and for rotated-end-caps text support
- Dominique Dumont <dod@debian.org>
for half-height DVD case support
for slim-double depth DVD case support
(patches forwarded by Juan Manuel Garcia Molina <juanma@debian.org>)
- Peter Bieringer <pb@bieringer.de> for testing CD label printint ['05]
- Andras Salamon <asalamon@chello.hu> for double-width DVD support ['08]
TODO
** Word wrap does not work well at all. It will clip lines, or it will
auto-reduce the font size, both of which option look bad.
** Ability to change the text style on a given line:
{#B}Track# {#P}Title {#I} Text...
[Workaround available: just use multi columns input, use blank
lines to spread out input items into columns]
** Ability to select or specify fonts for the text/items
perl v5.10.0 2012-04-15 CDLABELGEN(1)
