Hi Mark,
Interesting challenge! Have you found a viable solution?
I did a scanner-automation-to-Filemaker project many years ago -- all this info might be a bit out-of-date, but maybe it's helpful. I did my project by scripting with Userland Frontier, which is a bit more powerful than Applescript, different syntax, but similar idea; and has deep Quark Xpress functionality, which was my client's output.
Scripting a scanner isn't that difficult per se, but you'll need to account for the associated actions, eg, choosing output folders, unique filenames, references to FMPro records, and don't forget to wait for the scanner to finish. Add some error-checking to your scripts so if something goes awry, you want to limit the chaos. It took a few trial-and-error iterations to get it to really work, but eventually it did work.
A very useful utility is/was Prefab Player, which let's you script actual mouseclicks and keystrokes, so you can control non-scriptable applications.
Then your PDF requirements sound like simply printing to PDF won't do, and you'll need to script Acrobat Professional...
Or have you found products with the functionality you need?
Keep in touch, I'd love to hear how it turns out!
cheers,
-Bill
