Interactivity, Layers, Automation and 4 Sales Catalogs

Hi, all. I am new to the forums. If this post should go under another topic, I apologize. I am open to suggestions for a solution, so I didn’t want to limit my question to a specific topic (scripting or epub).

I have 4 sales catalogs that I have created with the EasyCatalog plugin. They are roughly 300 pages each and updated quarterly. Each book has a base layer with products and SRPs. On top of the base product layer is a pricing layer that is turned on and off to show the store’s cost. When the book was first created, each pricing “pod” was turned into an object and a button was set on each page to turn that pricing on/off. This manual process was not feasible when the book became automated. I used Acrobat Layers to duplicate Show/Hide/Set Layer Visibility buttons to each page of the Interactive PDF.

Recently, I was asked to create a version that would work well with mobile/tablet devices. After lots of research, we had only found one solution (a paid app) to view the PDF on devices, but the pricing layer still wouldn’t work and each user would be required to buy and install the $10 app.

On a whim, I exported the book as a Fixed Layout ePub, which worked perfectly and resolves the glitchy rollovers that I had been getting with the interactive PDF. It also saves them from having to buy the app, BUT I still have the issue of the pricing layer not functioning.

I have thought of multiple solutions, but I can’t seem to land on anything that seems reasonable. Some of the solutions I have considered are:

1. Setting the pricing layer of each page to a Multi-State Object and applying buttons throughout the book (19 book sections) – this would require a custom script. Manual creation of the buttons and MSOs are out of the question because of having to update the entire book 4 times per year. I also do not know how to write scripts and I would have to learn this process IF the setting of buttons is even possible.

2. Possibly creating 2 versions of the book – one with pricing on, one with pricing off and somehow linking them together page by page (the client will reject the idea of having 2 completely separate books, they will have to be combined somehow)

3. Creating an alternate layout for the landscape view on mobile/tablets that would show the pricing layer where the portrait view would have the pricing layer turned off. As far as I can tell, this is impossible with a Fixed Layout ePub, but may offer a solution if there is another way to export.

4. Starting over and rethinking the entire design and presentation of the store’s cost (this would be a nightmare, but it’s not out of the question if I had a decent solution that would work)

As I said before, the entire book layout is completely automated with EasyCatalog. The limitations of interactivity is frustrating. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance!