PDF Hacks Projects

Sorry to be so quiet for so long; I've been tilting at windmills.

Here are direct links to the projects I created for PDF Hacks. I still have some contributions to fold in (thanks!), and I need to add descriptions, but it's a start.

First:

• pdftk - the PDF Tool Kit
• Various Hack Examples

Then:

• AutoPasteLoop - Word and Open Office macros
• BBOX - Acrobat plug-in (Win)
• bookmark_page - Reader/Acrobat JavaScript (Win, Mac, Linux)
• concat_pdf - Java
• CopyTablesIntoNewDocument - Microsoft Word VBA script
• Dynamic PDF Links Example - PHP
• Dynamic PDF Text Example - PHP
• forge_fdf - PHP
• form_session - PHP
• jumpsection - Acrobat plug-in (Win)
• kw_index - C++ and Windows binary
• merge_pdf_fdf - Java
• open_new_view - Reader/Acrobat JavaScript (Win, Mac, Linux)
• page_turner - Reader/Acrobat JavaScript (Win, Mac, Linux)
• pdfportal - PHP
• pdftoc - C++ and Windows binary
• serving_pdf - PHP
• shortcuts - Acrobat plug-in (Win)
• PdfSkins - C++ and Windows binary, templates
• submit_file - C++ and Windows binary
• SummarizeComments - VBA and Perl scripts
• switchboard - Windows batch file (of all things!)
• TAPS - Reader/Acrobat plug-in (Win)
• Virtual Printer Kit - Windows printer driver files and Ghostscript configuration files
• watermark_pdf - Java

Cheers—
Sid

hello all,

During the last 2 months i've developed a pdf testing lib.

JpdfUnit is a framework for testing a generated pdf document with the JUnit Test Framework so JPdfUnit is a high level api. The framework is designed for an easy access to the PDFBox library. This functionality provides the user a lot of possibilities in pdf document handling. For instance you can test the meta data of the pdf document like the author or the creation date or search for content via Strings, fragments of words or even regular expressions. Different simple ready-to-use assertions allow the user to compare the expected data to the concrete data of the pdf document. JPdfUnit is developed to test one pdf document. You have got three different kinds of using the framework i.e. you can inherit our DocumentTestCase shown in the example or you can work with our DocumentTester class to avoid inheritance from our framework. Here is a small example:

public class OioTest extends DocumentTestCase {
  public OioTest(String name) {
    super(name);
  }
  protected DocumentDataSource getDataSource() {
    DocumentDataSource datasource =
      new PdfDataSource("etc/testing-pdfs/DocumentInformationTest.pdf");
    return datasource;
  }
  public void testAssertAuthorsNameEquals() {
    assertAuthorsNameEquals("Benjamin Bratkus");
  }
}

I hope you enjoy it.

best regards,

ben
http://jpdfunit.sourceforge.net

The MacTech article I mentioned, Fill Online PDF Forms Using HTML Forms, is now freely available as part of MacTech's Sampler! The Sampler is a 167-page PDF that includes these 21 articles:

• Creating A Cocoa AppController Class
• Python For AppleScripters
• Perforce
• NoCode Browser
• The Application Formerly Known As...
• The Webserver In OS X
• Thinking Logically
• Using Entourage And Mail With An Exchange Server
• Backup! Backup! Backup!
• Remote Control
• BZFlag: A SourceForge Open Source Project
• Getting Started With PHP
• More Finder Scripting
• Fill Online PDF Forms Using HTML Forms
• Becoming A Blogger With iBlog
• Active Directory & Mac OS X
• Screen Savers In Cocoa
• Securing Mac OS X
• The Motorola RAZR Is Cool, But I Want To Use Bluetooth
• Podcasting 101
• The Terminal: Why?

This PDF file ~was~ a 26MB download, but with some work I got it down to 12MB. I sent this smaller PDF to MacTech and hopefully it will be available soon.

I wanted to print the front pages ONLY of patents downloaded as PDFs. I couldn't work out how to do this with PDFTK in one pass, so I did as follows. This is in a COMMAND.COM DOS box (not CMD.EXE) under Windows 2000 and assumes a directory c:zdir that is clean apart from the particular PDFs under consideration. It uses Horst Schaeffer's wonderful LMOD (List MODifier) to make the batch files. The idea is to use PDFTK to split the first page only from each pdf, using LMOD to give them unique serial numbers, then a second pass with PDFTK to reassemble the new files into a single one, followed by a call to Acrobat Reader's command line function for printing (still have to press the OK button manually). Those "skilled in the art" will understand the rest; hope line wrapping and your system's odd habit of dropping backslashes doesn't screw things up too much.

PRPATPDF.BAT
------------
@echo off
c:dosutilspushd.exe
c:
cd c:zdir
for %%a in (do_it.bat pdf.dir front_pages.pdf $*.pdf) do if exist %%a del %%a > nul
dir *.pdf /O:N /N /b > pdf.dir
lmod /L* pdftk [] cat 1-1 output $[#].pdf  do_it.bat
call do_it.bat
pdftk $*.pdf cat output front_pages.pdf
"C:Program FilesAdobeAcrobat 6.0ReaderAcroRd32.exe" /p "front_pages.pdf"
for %%a in (do_it.bat pdf.dir front_pages.pdf $*.pdf) do if exist %%a del %%a > nul
c:dosutilspopd.exe

-- Robert Bull

Some pdftk users process hundreds of files. Performing this work on a Windows machine can yield unexpected results. The problem arises from the Windows command-prompt shell, not pdftk. The problem arises because for every long filename, Windows creates a short, DOS-compatible (8.3) filename. This short filename might end up matching a wildcard expression, even when the long filename does not. When using pdftk, the result is that you end up with more input files than you wanted.

This article offers a couple workarounds and then describes the case where this problem arose.

Where I work, we need to edit the document properties (metadata) of PDFs so that our search engine can find the documents easier. Up until now, we had to purchase copies of Adobe Acrobat (Full Version) just to do this simple task. This seemed like a lot of money to pay for something so simple.

Last Friday I stopped by my local library and checked out PDF Hacks and saw the page about pdftk. This was exactly what I was looking for! I toyed with it for a little while and decided to write a front-end for it. I know there is PDFTK Builder, but it does not do what I need.

So I have created two graphical front-ends to pdftk which are specifically to edit metadata (using pdftk's update_info feature).

Both scripts allow you to edit Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords.

The first script is a very simple VBScript program that can be run under Windows: pdfmeta.vbs.

Just drag the PDF onto the script icon and follow the prompts. No other software is required, so long as you have Windows Script Host installed. (Most Windows systems come with WSH installed by default.)

I also wrote a nicer Perl/Tk version that is cross-platform which is here: pdfmeta.pl.

This is a nicer interface and is a little better written, so that it would be very easy for you to modify the script to use different fields. (Just change one line.)

If your operating system supports it, you can drag a PDF file onto the script icon, or you can just execute the script and there is a drag and drop interface for selecting the input file.

I have tested pdfmeta.pl under Debian GNU/Linux and Windows (2K Pro and XP Pro).

All Windows users need to do is install the Standard Edition of ActiveState's ActivePerl before using pdfmeta.pl.

(Most Linux/Unix systems should already be set up for Perl/Tk support.)

Please let me know of any bugs or suggestions. Thanks!

Downloads:
VBScript Version: pdfmeta.vbs
Perl/Tk Version: pdfmeta.pl

Brian High
( brian AT linhelp DOT com )

I wrote an article for MacTech Magazine (Nov. 2004 ed.) about collecting form data using HTML forms and then packing this data into a PDF form for download. I posted the code online, along with a working example.

While merging data into a PDF form is old news to pdftk users, this example has an interesting twist. It uses pdftk's dump_data_fields operation to discover exactly what the PDF form wants, then creates a dynamic HTML form using this information. I.e., it automatically creates an HTML form to match your PDF form.

This HTML form is bare-bones, but it makes a good foundation for your web interface. It helps if you fill in the PDF fields' "Short Description," available via Acrobat's field properties dialog.

My MacTech article described the process in detail and introduced the reader to related topics, such as PDF forms, pdftk, and the FDF format. This artcile offers some tips on getting started and shows how to discover form field data using pdftk. Download the example PHP code here.

I haven't tested this on Adobe's new-fangled Acrobat 7 forms.

Received today from Timothy Stebbing:

This code was later updated by Thomas Heetderks at Frontline Processing:

See the full article for code. Thanks Timothy and Thomas!

Forge_fdf is a little PHP script I created for casting form data into the FDF syntax. This is handy for filling online PDF forms automatically, or for filling forms using pdftk.

Here are some examples of forge_fdf in action:

• Online PDF Form Filling Sessions and code.
• Using an HTML Front-End to Fill PDF Forms