Looseleaf Output - extra line and page issue in XPP 9.4

Hello. First, the basic info – we just upgraded to XPP 9.4.1.0 from XPP 9.3.1.0 and are running on a Linux server using RHEL 7.9 (Maipo).

We have noticed something quirky in our loose-leaf products since upgrading.

Whenever the first page of a loose-leaf group starts with an element that has the value for End Previous set to “line” or “page”, we get an extra line or page at the beginning of the loose-leaf page range.

So, for example, if our first loose-leaf page is 4.1 and it has a <para> tag that starts on that page, and End Previous is set to “line”, we get an extra blank line at the top of page 4.1 before the text for <para> starts. Likewise, if End Previous is set to “page”, we get a blank page 4.1 and the <para> output is on page 4.2.

It is almost as if End Previous is executing twice for the first element of a loose-leaf page range.

Note that if the text on the first page in the loose-leaf range starts in the middle of an element, there is no issue. For example, if the last page before the loose-leaf range has <para> and the 1st page of the loose-leaf range has </para> then the output is good. This only happens when the entire output for the element (such as <para>) is on the 1st loose-leaf page.

I hope that made sense. If not then let me know and I’ll clarify.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? We did not see this in 9.3.1.0 and we have not changed our print specs.

Any help is appreciated.

  • For this one I think you'll need to open up a ticket with support and also please make sure you include a Job Archive.

    Jonathan Dagresta
    RWS Group/
    XPP Development

  • Hi, Jonathan.  Thank you for the reply.  I will submit the ticket along with the archived job.

  • Hi, Jonathan.  Now our archive tool isn't working.  I enter the information, click OK, and nothing happens.  I did get a message from xyar_mgr about an assertion failing.  I continued past that and tried the archive with the result I just mentioned - i.e. nothing seemingly happening after clicking OK.

    I'll keep researching and will submit a ticket as soon as possible.  Just wanted to update you.

  • Sorry, Clifton, I meant to respond earlier to your last post.

    Thank you for using an alternative to get your sample data submitted with your support ticket, since the archive tool wasn't working for you.

    If you can take the time, I recommend that you work with support to figure out why doing a Job Archive is not working for you. From a support perspective, this is a vital tool that really needs to be working (and if there is some intrinsic problem with it that needs to be addressed/fixed, other customers may be affected as well).

    I'll just mention for everyone reading this that the XPP XyArchive tool should really be your go-to tool for bundling up a sample to submit with a support ticket (specifically doing a Job Archive with at least font libraries, dictionaries, and images always included, i.e. the Fonts, Dictionaries, and Graphics options selected).

    This tool (Job Archive) is specifically designed to gather up (almost) everything support needs for being able to successfully run your sample. One exception is any (non-standard) psres fonts (.pfa/.otf/.ttf files) that your sample uses; if you can separately bundle those files up and also include them with your support ticket it is greatly appreciated (and there is a promise that such fonts provided will only be used for support purposes, if you have any font licensing concerns).

    Yes, the Job Archive files can be quite large, but be assured that there is an easy way that you can submit such large files to support when they are too large to attach to a support ticket (support will provide instructions via your ticket).

    The faster that support can successfully run your sample on our systems (i.e. have all the needed pieces), the faster we can get an answer/resolution to you. And that, after all, is really the goal.

    BTW for everyone else who is interested in the resolution for this thread, the extra line/page problem that was happening with the sample was resolved by a change to a custom macro (w/o any change to XPP composition itself).

    Jonathan Dagresta
    RWS Group/
    XPP Development

  • Hi again, Clifton.

    Something came up here just yesterday that happened to support on a brand new Linux 8 system, that sounds similar to what you described as far as the XyArchive tool not working.

    It may not be the same problem you are facing, because the support person didn't mention anything about getting any messages about an assertion failing. But the symptom that happened here was that nothing happened after clicking OK (in support's case when trying to do a Restore).

    The question I have for you is: Do you have the 'xterm' package installed on your Linux system where XyArchive is not working (and let me know if you do but the path is not /usr/bin/xterm)?

    If you don't have that package installed (and at /usr/bin/xterm), then I will give more details on what we discovered here. And the "summary" is that we discovered that as it now stands (and since the XPP 9.2 release), the 'xterm' package is required (on UNIX) and needs to be located in /usr/bin in order for the XyArchive tool to work.

    If you do have that package (i.e. xterm) installed, then you'll still need to follow up with support to figure out what is wrong (as not having xterm installed is not your problem).

    Jonathan Dagresta
    RWS Group/
    XPP Development

  • Hi, Jonathan.  No worries on the response time.  In fact, I only got your message today but it is showing as 1 month old on the community page so I'm not sure which is true.

    Anyways, I agree that the archive tool is important for our support and I'll follow up with you as needed to get it working for us.

    Thank you.