Explain iccProfilesDir and iccProfilesStandardFolder

The iccProfilesDir and the iccProfilesStandardFolders are both parameters of NSClientData. NSClientData is an API that points to private client data.

Private client data is a set of parameters that allow you to pass custom values to PDF Converter when processing a PostScript file, using a program call to an API. For example, you could use private client data to tell PDF Converter when to start or end a page, when to release memory, or, in this example, where to look for files that the system can use to define colors in the output PDF document. You can set buffers for holding content or name a custom PostScript startup file. Many private client data values are available.

The iccProfilesDir and iccProfilesStandardFolders parameters define where to find color profiles for use in generating PDF documents. Both of these parameters correspond to flags in Democonverter, the command line executable tool provided with PDF Converter. The iccProfilesStandardFolders parameter corresponds to the –r flag inDemoconverter, to select the folder where PDF Converter will find the color profiles to use. This can the default Adobe Profile folders (-r1), the recommended folder (-r2), the Adobe color profiles folder (-r4), or the local systems profile folder (-r8).

The iccProfilesDir parameter corresponds to the –P flag inDemoconverter. The –P flag is used to manually define the ICC profile directory to use, replacing the default value with the profile selected by the user.

The iccProfilesStandardFolders parameter does not control where profiles are loaded from. Rather, this parameter serves as a shortcut for adding commonly used profiles to the list of profiles that will be loaded. For example:

-r4
is equivalent to:

–P “C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Profiles”
Similarly, the iccProfilesDir parameter does not guarantee that profiles will actually be loaded from the folder that is defined with the parameter. It simply directs PDF Converter to “load all the profiles found in this directory.” If the same profile exists in one of the “standard” locations on disk, it may be more efficient to load it from there instead.

Therefore, both the –P and –r flags in Democonverter have no bearing on where profiles should be loaded from. Rather, each one builds a list of which profiles should be used and leave it up to internal ACE functions to determine where to load them from.