Management of PDF files

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Overview
Simple operations on PDF files
Advanced operations on PDF files

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Management of PDF files

Overview

PDF is one of the most widely used formats for transmitting and storing electronic documents.

Several methods can be used to create or manage PDF files:

Printing in PDF files: PDF files can be created when printing both via the report editor and WLanguage.
See Printing in PDF format for more details.
Viewing PDF files via the PDF Reader control.
See The PDF Reader control for more details.
Simple operations on PDF files in WLanguage: Check protection, extract a page, merge PDFs, etc.
Versions 25 and later
Advanced operations on PDF files using different types of variables.
New in version 25
Advanced operations on PDF files using different types of variables.
Advanced operations on PDF files using different types of variables.

Simple operations on PDF files

Various functions allow you to perform simple operations on PDF files. These functions directly handle the PDF file:


Versions 20 and later PDFExtractPage New in version 20 PDFExtractPage PDFExtractPage	Returns an Image type variable containing a page from a PDF file.
Versions 14 and later PDFIsProtected New in version 14 PDFIsProtected PDFIsProtected	Checks whether the PDF file requires a password in order to be read.
Versions 17 and later PDFMerge New in version 17 PDFMerge PDFMerge	Merges several existing PDF files into a single PDF file. The files are merged one after another. The paths of PDF files can be found in an array.
Versions 17 and later PDFMergeWithPassword New in version 17 PDFMergeWithPassword PDFMergeWithPassword	Merges several existing and password-protected PDF files into a single PDF file.
Versions 14 and later PDFNumberOfPages New in version 14 PDFNumberOfPages PDFNumberOfPages	Returns the total number of pages found in a PDF file.
Versions 24 and later PDFPassword New in version 24 PDFPassword PDFPassword	Protects a PDF document with a password.
Versions 14 and later PDFToText New in version 14 PDFToText PDFToText	Extracts the text found in a PDF file.

Versions 25 and later

Advanced operations on PDF files

To handle more simply the content of a PDF file, WLanguage offers different types of variables:


Versions 25 and later pdfDocument New in version 25 pdfDocument pdfDocument	The pdfDocument type is used to find out all the advanced characteristics of a PDF file loaded in memory.
Versions 25 and later pdfPage New in version 25 pdfPage pdfPage	The pdfPage type is used to define all the advanced characteristics of a page of a PDF document loaded in memory.
Versions 25 and later pdfTextElement New in version 25 pdfTextElement pdfTextElement	The pdfTextElement type is used to find out all the characteristics of a text element in a PDF page.

A pdfDocument variable allows loading the content of a PDF file in memory. For example:

MyPDF is pdfDocument = PDFOpen("test.pdf")

MySecondPDF is pdfDocument = "C:\temp\examplePDF.pdf"

From this variable, it is possible to access the pages of the PDF document and for each page, the text of the PDF document. For example:

MyPDF is pdfDocument = "test.pdf"

FOR EACH DocumentPage OF MyPDF..Page
FOR EACH PageElement OF DocumentPage..TextElement
Trace(PageElement..Text)
END
END

With these types of variables, it is possible to delete or add pages to a document using array management functions (Add, Delete, ... ) directly on the array of pdfPage variables contained in the pdfDocument variable.

Example:

MyPDFDoc is pdfDocument = PDFOpen("C:\temp\Myguide.pdf")
Trace(MyPDFDoc..PDFVersion)
Trace(MyPDFDoc..Author)
Trace(MyPDFDoc..Page..Count)
Trace(MyPDFDoc..Page[1]..Width)
Trace(MyPDFDoc..Page[36]..Height)

FOR EACH ATextElement OF MyPDFDoc..Page[2]..TextElement
Trace(ATextElement..Text + " X = " +
ATextElement..X + " Y = " + ATextElement..Y + " L = " +
ATextElement..Width + " H = " + ATextElement..Height)
END

MyPDFDoc2 is pdfDocument = "C:\temp\plan.pdf"
// Add pages
Add(MyPDFDoc2..Page, MyPDFDoc..Page[5])
// Insert pages
Insert(MyPDFDoc2..Page, 1, MyPDFDoc..Page[32])
// Save modified PDF
PDFSave(MyPDFDoc2,"MyPDFDoc2.pdf")
ShellExecute("MyPDFDoc2.pdf")

Specific PDF functions allow managing pdfDocument variables:


Versions 25 and later PDFClose New in version 25 PDFClose PDFClose	Closes the PDF file loaded in memory in a pdfDocument variable.
Versions 25 and later PDFOpen New in version 25 PDFOpen PDFOpen	Opens a PDF document and loads it in a pdfDocument variable.
Versions 25 and later PDFSave New in version 25 PDFSave PDFSave	Saves the content of a pdfDocument variable in a ".PDF" file.

Remark: Link with the PDF Reader control:

A pdfDocument variable can be assigned to a PDF Reader control.
A PDF document from a PDF Reader control can be retrieved in a pdfDocument variable.
Example:

MyPDFDoc is pdfDocument
MyPDFDoc = PDF_PDFReader

New in version 25

Advanced operations on PDF files

To handle more simply the content of a PDF file, WLanguage offers different types of variables:


Versions 25 and later pdfDocument New in version 25 pdfDocument pdfDocument	The pdfDocument type is used to find out all the advanced characteristics of a PDF file loaded in memory.
Versions 25 and later pdfPage New in version 25 pdfPage pdfPage	The pdfPage type is used to define all the advanced characteristics of a page of a PDF document loaded in memory.
Versions 25 and later pdfTextElement New in version 25 pdfTextElement pdfTextElement	The pdfTextElement type is used to find out all the characteristics of a text element in a PDF page.

A pdfDocument variable allows loading the content of a PDF file in memory. For example:

MyPDF is pdfDocument = PDFOpen("test.pdf")

MySecondPDF is pdfDocument = "C:\temp\examplePDF.pdf"

From this variable, it is possible to access the pages of the PDF document and for each page, the text of the PDF document. For example:

MyPDF is pdfDocument = "test.pdf"

FOR EACH DocumentPage OF MyPDF..Page
FOR EACH PageElement OF DocumentPage..TextElement
Trace(PageElement..Text)
END
END

Example:

Specific PDF functions allow managing pdfDocument variables:


Versions 25 and later PDFClose New in version 25 PDFClose PDFClose	Closes the PDF file loaded in memory in a pdfDocument variable.
Versions 25 and later PDFOpen New in version 25 PDFOpen PDFOpen	Opens a PDF document and loads it in a pdfDocument variable.
Versions 25 and later PDFSave New in version 25 PDFSave PDFSave	Saves the content of a pdfDocument variable in a ".PDF" file.

Remark: Link with the PDF Reader control:

A pdfDocument variable can be assigned to a PDF Reader control.
A PDF document from a PDF Reader control can be retrieved in a pdfDocument variable.
Example:

MyPDFDoc is pdfDocument
MyPDFDoc = PDF_PDFReader

Advanced operations on PDF files

To handle more simply the content of a PDF file, WLanguage offers different types of variables:


Versions 25 and later pdfDocument New in version 25 pdfDocument pdfDocument	The pdfDocument type is used to find out all the advanced characteristics of a PDF file loaded in memory.
Versions 25 and later pdfPage New in version 25 pdfPage pdfPage	The pdfPage type is used to define all the advanced characteristics of a page of a PDF document loaded in memory.
Versions 25 and later pdfTextElement New in version 25 pdfTextElement pdfTextElement	The pdfTextElement type is used to find out all the characteristics of a text element in a PDF page.

A pdfDocument variable allows loading the content of a PDF file in memory. For example:

MyPDF is pdfDocument = PDFOpen("test.pdf")

MySecondPDF is pdfDocument = "C:\temp\examplePDF.pdf"

From this variable, it is possible to access the pages of the PDF document and for each page, the text of the PDF document. For example:

MyPDF is pdfDocument = "test.pdf"

FOR EACH DocumentPage OF MyPDF..Page
FOR EACH PageElement OF DocumentPage..TextElement
Trace(PageElement..Text)
END
END

Example:

Specific PDF functions allow managing pdfDocument variables:


Versions 25 and later PDFClose New in version 25 PDFClose PDFClose	Closes the PDF file loaded in memory in a pdfDocument variable.
Versions 25 and later PDFOpen New in version 25 PDFOpen PDFOpen	Opens a PDF document and loads it in a pdfDocument variable.
Versions 25 and later PDFSave New in version 25 PDFSave PDFSave	Saves the content of a pdfDocument variable in a ".PDF" file.

Remark: Link with the PDF Reader control:

A pdfDocument variable can be assigned to a PDF Reader control.
A PDF document from a PDF Reader control can be retrieved in a pdfDocument variable.
Example:

MyPDFDoc is pdfDocument
MyPDFDoc = PDF_PDFReader