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From: Rob Robason on 19 Jan 2010 04:31
Karthik,

I think you're missing some important constraints. The format of the
file doesn't matter if the server only knows how to deliver it whole.
First, any solution to the question you're asking would require a
client/server dialog just for you to figure out which pages you want.
But who knows - before they view a document - which pages they want?
Anyway, second: document structure only comes into play if you have a
server that knows how to deliver parts of that structure - meaning
that it has to have foreknowledge of the structure. Even highly
structured files like XML are delivered whole - and left for the
receiver to figure out.

Given the variety of file formats out there, and the limited number of
these that have any consistent structure to actually support the kind
of feature you're suggesting, it seems unlikely to me that you'd end
up with any capability of value.

It seems what you're really describing is, is simple terms, a database
query - to an infinitely flexible and intelligent database engine that
isn't dependent on, nay - even care about, the data structure. Given
that we can't even get computers and software smart enough to
interpret natural languages well, it seems a stretch to hope for them
to figure out all the convoluted ways people may put information
together in a document.

karthikbalaguru wrote:
> On Jan 14, 1:15 pm, David Brown <da...(a)westcontrol.removethisbit.com>
> wrote:
> > Dusko Savatovic wrote:
> > > "karthikbalaguru" <karthikbalagur...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
> > >news:19dbd3b7-1b3c-41d4-9ea2-4559c156ca1b(a)l30g2000yqb.googlegroups.com....
> > >> Hi,
> >
> > >> Many tools have the feature of
> > >> printing a particular page or
> > >> a continous range of selective
> > >> pages.
> >
> > >> Similarly,
> > >> Is there a free tool/protocol that
> > >> will help in downloading a particular
> > >> page of the document rather than
> > >> the whole document(PDF or Word
> > >> document or Linux based document
> > >> files or PPT file or Excel file) ?- Hide quoted text -
> >
> > - Show quoted text -
> > > Hi Karthik Balaguru,
> >
> > > Your question is not related to server, networking and many other
> > > newsgroups.
> >
> > > However, the short answer to your question is no.
> >
> > For a slightly longer answer as to /why/ the answer is no, you have to
> > look at the file formats.  It is not necessarily impossible to view
> > early pages of a document before the end of the file is read in (acrobat
> > reader can do this with pdf files, for example), but later parts of the
> > files generally refer back to the earlier parts.  This is immediately
> > obvious with any compressed file format (such as pdfs, or open document
> > files), and with any binary-format file where the file reader
> > application cannot interpret later parts without having first read
> > earlier parts.
> >
> > You could always try asking the question in relevant newsgroups instead
> > of the random collection you've picked here, but you won't get any other
> > short answer, and I doubt if you'll get a long answer that helps you
> > much more.
> >
>
> I have checked the same in the below
> link -
> http://serverfault.com/questions/102608/tool-to-download-only-selective-pages-particular-page-from-a-document-closed
>
> Maybe, i might even check with the
> fileformat specific groups like
> acrobat(pdf), windows(doc/ppt/xls).
> openoffice.org and others.
>
> Karthik Balaguru
From: karthikbalaguru on 20 Jan 2010 13:10
On Jan 19, 2:31 pm, Rob Robason <r...(a)robason.net> wrote:
> karthikbalaguru wrote:
> > On Jan 14, 1:15 pm, David Brown <da...(a)westcontrol.removethisbit.com>
> > wrote:
> > > Dusko Savatovic wrote:
> > > > "karthikbalaguru" <karthikbalagur...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
> > > >news:19dbd3b7-1b3c-41d4-9ea2-4559c156ca1b(a)l30g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
> > > >> Hi,
>
> > > >> Many tools have the feature of
> > > >> printing a particular page or
> > > >> a continous range of selective
> > > >> pages.
>
> > > >> Similarly,
> > > >> Is there a free tool/protocol that
> > > >> will help in downloading a particular
> > > >> page of the document rather than
> > > >> the whole document(PDF or Word
> > > >> document or Linux based document
> > > >> files or PPT file or Excel file) ?- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -
> > > > Hi Karthik Balaguru,
>
> > > > Your question is not related to server, networking and many other
> > > > newsgroups.
>
> > > > However, the short answer to your question is no.
>
> > > For a slightly longer answer as to /why/ the answer is no, you have to
> > > look at the file formats.  It is not necessarily impossible to view
> > > early pages of a document before the end of the file is read in (acrobat
> > > reader can do this with pdf files, for example), but later parts of the
> > > files generally refer back to the earlier parts.  This is immediately
> > > obvious with any compressed file format (such as pdfs, or open document
> > > files), and with any binary-format file where the file reader
> > > application cannot interpret later parts without having first read
> > > earlier parts.
>
> > > You could always try asking the question in relevant newsgroups instead
> > > of the random collection you've picked here, but you won't get any other
> > > short answer, and I doubt if you'll get a long answer that helps you
> > > much more.
>
> > I have checked the same in the below
> > link -
> >http://serverfault.com/questions/102608/tool-to-download-only-selecti...
>
> > Maybe, i might even check with the
> > fileformat specific groups like
> > acrobat(pdf), windows(doc/ppt/xls).
> > openoffice.org and others.
>
> Karthik,
>
> I think you're missing some important constraints. The format of the
> file doesn't matter if the server only knows how to deliver it whole.
> First, any solution to the question you're asking would require a
> client/server dialog just for you to figure out which pages you want.
> But who knows - before they view a document - which pages they want?

True !
Just wanted to clarify that I am considering
scenarios in which everyone using a
particular specification / standards might
be knowing the section number and page
numbers on which they have a query or
debate so that only that particular page
or selective pages can be dowloaded.
The scenario is applicable only to
documents that are well known to users.

> Anyway, second: document structure only comes into play if you have a
> server that knows how to deliver parts of that structure - meaning
> that it has to have foreknowledge of the structure. Even highly
> structured files like XML are delivered whole - and left for the
> receiver to figure out.
>
> Given the variety of file formats out there, and the limited number of
> these that have any consistent structure to actually support the kind
> of feature you're suggesting, it seems unlikely to me that you'd end
> up with any capability of value.
>
> It seems what you're really describing is, is simple terms, a database
> query - to an infinitely flexible and intelligent database engine that
> isn't dependent on, nay - even care about, the data structure. Given
> that we can't even get computers and software smart enough to
> interpret natural languages well, it seems a stretch to hope for them
> to figure out all the convoluted ways people may put information
> together in a document.
>
>
>

So, it is not straightforward as to finding the
total pages, the corresponding page
addresses or first page address and the
offsets between pages directly from the
file format header info/descriptors ?

Karthik Balaguru
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