Auto-enter No of Copies, Page Range

[jwhetstone]

I'm looking for a way in scriptmaker to auto-enter no. of copies, page range, and print media. I am applescript savvy and willing to go there. Here's what I'm doing specifically:

I'm working on a project database that prints media labels automatically (CD's, DATs, etc). I want the user to be able to enter number of labels to print, and whether to print a cover (jewel box insert), a stomper (label for actual CD) or both. My print layouts have two pages - first page has the cover, and second page has the stomper. I have two print layouts - one with one label printing on each page, another with two labels printing on each page. I'd like the script to interpret how many labels to print , select the appropriate layout to print (it would print both if the user wanted an odd number that was 3 or more) and which label to print. if the user wants 5 covers, it would print 2 copies of page 1 of the double label layout, and 1 copy of page 1 of the single label layout.

make sense? any other ideas on how to accomplish this without interfacing with the print dialog would be welcome. I don't really want to loop the print function because it's a clunky solution and the whole process is slow as it is. I could use separate layouts for covers and stompers as well and print accordingly, but that also involves multiple print jobs which slows the process, and what if the printer jams during one of the jobs? lots of variables.

Sorry for the long-windedness!

Thanks

Jason

[BobWeaver]

Does multiple labels mean multiple records, or are you printing multiple copies of the same record?

[jwhetstone]

I'm printing multiple copies of the same record. I also need to be able to specify to print a page range such as page 1 only, page 2 only, or page 1-2.

I've actually already re-scripted this to work with a loop script step, and separated the covers and media labels to different layouts. I really don't like this solution though - each label type has its own layout and therefore each page of labels gets sent to the printer as a separate job. if i want to print 12 CD stompers and 12 CD covers of a project, the printer gets bombarded with 6 jobs of stompers and 6 jobs of covers. ugh! and its really slow too but i guess it works.

[BobWeaver]

There's no way that I know of to control the page range and number of copies in the print dialog from a script. You could check to see if there is a plug-in available that does this.

One possible workaround for multiple copies is to have your script make as many duplicate records as you need copies, print them and then delete them.

As for controlling page range, I would just create a different layout for each possible user print selection, which I think is what you are already doing if I understand correctly.