Version 5.9.4

# Embed multipage PDF files

Embedding multiple pages of a PDF file is easy. You can use the layout function `sd:number-of-pages()` to determine how many pages a PDF file has. With the `<Image>` command to include an image, you can specify the desired number of pages. So the pattern for including all pages of a PDF file is as follows:

    <Layout xmlns="urn:speedata.de:2009/publisher/en"
      xmlns:sd="urn:speedata:2009/publisher/functions/en">

      <Record element="data">
        <SetVariable variable="myfile" select="'multipage.pdf'"/> <!--1-->
        <Loop select="sd:number-of-pages($myfile)" variable="page"> <!--2-->
          <PlaceObject column="0mm" row="0mm">
            <Image file="{$myfile}" width="210mm" page="{$page}"/>
          </PlaceObject>
          <ClearPage/>
        </Loop>
      </Record>

    </Layout>

1. First the file name is saved in the variable `myfile`. This is not absolutely necessary. Important are the single quotation marks within the double quotation marks of `select`, this will save the string `multipage.pdf`.
2. The loop (`<Loop>`) is passed through exactly as often as the PDF file has pages, the number of the loop pass is saved in the variable `page`.

To access the variables you need the curly brackets, because neither `file` nor `page` expects an XPath expression, but a fixed value. In order to access the variables, you must temporarily switch to XPath mode. This is how

    file="{$myfile}"

becomes

    file="multipage.pdf"

The integrated pages can of course also be “overwritten” afterwards, i.e. with a page number or an image (watermark or similar).

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