Introducing the “PDF Press Vault,” an innovative solution designed specifically for newspapers utilizing the Blox CMS platform. This cutting-edge tool revolutionizes the way archived editions are managed and accessed, ensuring that every issue is just a click away. With the PDF Press Vault, readers can instantly access today’s PDF edition with a single click—no navigation hassle, no delays. It’s seamless, efficient, and designed to enhance the reader’s experience by providing immediate access to the latest news in a familiar, high-quality PDF format.

But the functionality of PDF Press Vault doesn’t stop with today’s news. Dive deep into history with our intuitive Calendar Archive Viewer, a feature that allows you to effortlessly browse through past editions. Navigate through years and months to locate the desired date, then simply click on a day in the specially designed calendar to access the PDF of the archived newspaper. Each clickable date represents an available edition, transforming the search for historical articles into an easy and enjoyable journey. With the PDF Press Vault, discovering the past is as straightforward as exploring the present.

PDF Press Vault is more than just an archival tool; it’s a gateway to the past, presented with the technological convenience of today.

System Documentation

Overview

PDF Press Vault is a comprehensive system designed to securely display PDFs for users who have access through a paywall. It caters to newspapers seeking to publish their daily editions online and manage special sections over extended periods.

Key Features

1. Secure Display for Paywall Key Holders: Ensures that only authorized users can access the PDF content.
2. Two Types of PDFs:

• Today’s Editions: The latest daily newspapers.
  • Special Editions: Unique sections intended for extended availability.

• Two Edition Types:

• Regular Editions: Current daily newspapers.
  • Archive Editions: Past editions of newspapers.

• Dynamic Content Management: Automatically moves Regular Editions to the archive when new ones are uploaded and provides a unique management system for Special Editions.

Content Management

Regular Editions

• Upon uploading a new Regular Edition, the previous day’s edition is automatically moved to the Regular Archive.
• These archived editions are accessible through the archive browser and display widgets.

Special Editions

• New uploads are added to the current display queue.
• Archiving occurs through the upload of a specifically named blank TXT file.

• Retire All Specials: retire_all_specials.txt moves all Special Editions to the archive.
  • Retire Specific Special Edition: A blank TXT file named in the format retire_[EditionFileName].txt (e.g., retire_December-4-2024-EstatePlanning.txt) archives only the corresponding PDF.

 

Display Widgets

PDF Press Vault offers a range of display options to cater to different layout preferences, providing newspapers with the flexibility to showcase their editions in a variety of formats:

1. Single Thumbnail Display: This option highlights the latest edition of Today’s paper with a single thumbnail view, ideal for featuring the most current content prominently.
2. Horizontal Listing: Up to 4 of the latest archived editions, either Daily or Special, can be displayed in a horizontal list format. This is particularly useful for showcasing recent editions in a compact and accessible manner.
3. Vertical Listing: This layout presents a user-defined number of the latest archived editions in a vertical format. It offers a straightforward way to scroll through recent editions, ensuring easy accessibility.
4. Customizable Grid Display: This feature allows users to define their own grid configuration for Archived Editions. The grid can be customized with any combination of horizontal and vertical lines, providing exceptional flexibility in how content is presented. For instance, a newspaper could set up a grid with 3 horizontal lines and 4 vertical lines, or any other combination, according to their specific display needs and website layout.

 

 

PDF Press Vault – Retrieving Thumbnails Using URL Parameters

Overview

PDF Press Vault supports dynamic retrieval of thumbnails for various editions using URL parameters. This allows for the customizable display of PDF thumbnails on web pages, based on user-defined criteria such as layout mode, count, type, edition, and pagination step.

URL Parameter Structure

The system recognizes the following URL parameters:

1. mode: Defines the layout mode for displaying thumbnails. Valid values are h_line, v_line, and grid.

• h_line: Displays thumbnails in a horizontal line.
  • v_line: Displays thumbnails in a vertical line.
  • grid: Displays thumbnails in a grid format.
  • todays: A special mode that overrides other parameters to display today’s regular edition.

• hcount (applicable in h_line and grid modes): Specifies the number of thumbnails to display horizontally. The default is 4.
• vcount (applicable in v_line and grid modes): Specifies the number of thumbnails to display vertically. The default is 1.
• type: Selects the type of editions to display. Options are todays and archive. Default is todays.

• todays: Displays the latest editions.
  • archive: Displays editions from the archive.

• edition (optional): Specifies if the edition is special. Default is an empty string, indicating regular editions.
• step (optional): Indicates the pagination step for browsing through thumbnails. The default is 1.

Retrieving Thumbnails

To retrieve thumbnails, construct a URL with the desired parameters. For example:

http://example.com/pdfvault?mode=h_line&hcount=4&type=archive&edition=special

This URL fetches 4 horizontally lined thumbnails of special archived editions.

Examples

Horizontal Line of Today’s Regular Editions:

http://example.com/pdfvault?mode=h_line&hcount=3&type=todays

Displays 3 thumbnails of Today’s Regular editions in a horizontal line.

Vertical Line of Archived Special Editions:

http://example.com/pdfvault?mode=v_line&vcount=5&type=archive&edition=special

Shows 5 thumbnails of Special Archived editions in a vertical line.

Grid of Today’s Regular Editions:

http://example.com/pdfvault?mode=grid&hcount=2&vcount=2&type=todays

Creates a 2×2 grid of thumbnails from Today’s Regular editions.

Today’s Edition Override:

http://example.com/pdfvault?mode=todays =todays

Ignores other parameters and displays the thumbnail of Today’s Regular edition.