PDF/A-3A validation: Every annotation (including those whose Subtype value is Widget, as used for form fields), except for the two cases listed below, shall have at least one appearance dictionary

[Intelligent2013]

Source issues: #264

veraPDF report:

• root/document[0]/pages[3](11 0 obj PDPage)/annots[1](109 0 obj PDMarkupAnnot)

<rule specification="ISO 19005-3:2012" clause="6.3.3" testNumber="1" status="failed" failedChecks="2">
  <description>Every annotation (including those whose Subtype value is Widget, as used for form fields), except for the two cases listed below, shall have at least one appearance dictionary:
- annotations where the value of the Rect key consists of an array where value 1 is equal to value 3 and value 2 is equal to value 4;
- annotations whose Subtype value is Popup or Link

</description>
  <object>PDAnnot</object>
  <test>(width == 0 &amp;&amp; height == 0) || Subtype == "Popup" || Subtype == "Link" || AP != null</test>
  <check status="failed">
    <context>root/document[0]/pages[3](11 0 obj PDPage)/annots[1](109 0 obj PDMarkupAnnot)</context>
  </check>
</rule>

Note: occurs in iec-rice-en.presentation.pdf and iec-rice-fr.presentation.pdf only.

[Intelligent2013]

I'm trying to understand what does mean the message 'Every annotation ... shall have at least one appearance dictionary', how to set 'appearance dictionary', etc.

For example, let's make the experiment with Adobe Acrobat only. I verify the PDF PDFUA-Ref-2-02_Invoice.pdf from https://pdfa.org/resource/pdfua-reference-suite/ for compliance with PDF/A-2 in the Adobe Acrobat:

'No problems found'. Ok. This PDF doesn't contain annotation. Let's add it:

Then repeat the checking again. The error 'Annotation has no appearance defined' occurs:

Does it mean that Adobe Acrobat can't define the appearance for the annotation?

I'll try to find the PDF/A with annotations.

[Intelligent2013]

For the file ISO_32000-2_sponsored-ec2.pdf - the message Annotation's AP (appearance) contains only N entry is not true:

[petervwyatt]

Yes, it means that Acrobat is not generating ONLY the N (normal) appearance stream for the annotation. It may well have added other appearance streams. You'll need to "Save as PDF/A-3" to make sure it corrects this...

BACKGROUND
Annotation appearance streams (AP entry) are the set of PDF graphic painting commands (as standard content streams) that define what an annotation looks like on a PDF page. The AP dictionary has 3 entries: N (normal appearance, which is what PDF/A needs), R (rollover appearance) and D (down appearance). Each of these can contain different content streams for appearance states of the annotation (e.g. a checked or unchecked radio button). PDF/A requires ONLY the N appearance because, as an archival format, PDF/A is not intended to cover dynamic behaviour.

[Intelligent2013]

@petervwyatt thank you!

[Intelligent2013]

mn2pdf updated in #282.

[Intelligent2013]

Fixed in https://github.com/metanorma/mn2pdf/releases/tag/v2.00.