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7.11.4.1 (Embedded file streams): Rewording how embedded file streams can be included in a PDF file #481

Open stechio opened 3 weeks ago

stechio commented 3 weeks ago

In subclause 7.11.4.1 (Embedded file streams - General), the bulleted list beginning with

An embedded file stream shall be included in a PDF file in one of the following ways: [...]

is unnecessarily convoluted, redundant and confusing.

PROPOSAL

I propose to replace the old list with this one:

To be included in a PDF file, an embedded file stream shall be referenced by a file specification 
through its EF entry; such file specification then shall be used in one of the following ways:
  • at page level: the file specification may be associated with a location on a page in the
    document through a file attachment annotation (see 12.5.6.15, "File attachment annotations").
  • at document level: the file specification may be associated with the document as a whole
    through the EmbeddedFiles entry in the PDF file’s name dictionary (see 7.7.4, "Name dictionary"),
    mapping a name string to the file specification.
petervwyatt commented 3 weeks ago

It's much worse than that - this text hasn't been maintained for other PDF features such as embedded files at the object level (Associated Files) and various specific features such as 3D or RichMedia assets, Movie and Sound annot resources, SlideShow resources, Related Files array, the ability of any stream to use FFilter, Output Intent URLs, etc.

If the intention is to maintain a list of all places in PDF where embedded file streams might be used in a PDF then I don't think it should use "shall"-style normative language since the relevant requirements will be in other subclasses and they may (some definitely do!) have particular nuances. But this still creates an informative maintenance issue so I don't like that.

I think all this text can be deleted as it adds nothing useful besides a few informative "you may also want to see ..." clause references.

petervwyatt commented 1 week ago

Proposed solution 1: delete text Proposed solution 2: reword to be informative and clearly indicating that there are also other ways files can end up embedded inside PDF