Link Search Menu Expand Document

Advanced Conversion Options - VB.NET

PDF To CSV sample in VB.NET demonstrating ‘Advanced Conversion Options’

Module1.vb
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Net
Imports System.Threading
Imports Newtonsoft.Json
Imports Newtonsoft.Json.Linq


' Cloud API asynchronous "PDF To CSV" job example.
' Allows to avoid timeout errors when processing huge or scanned PDF documents.

Module Module1

    ' The authentication key (API Key).
    ' Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    Const API_KEY As String = "********************************"

    ' Direct URL of source PDF file.
    ' You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/bytescout/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/   
    Const SourceFileUrl As String = "https://bytescout-com.s3.amazonaws.com/files/demo-files/cloud-api/pdf-to-csv/sample.pdf"
	' Comma-separated list of page indices (or ranges) to process. Leave empty for all pages. Example: '0,2-5,7-'.
	Const Pages As String = ""
	' PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
	Const Password As String = ""
	' Destination CSV file name
	Const DestinationFile As String = ".\result.csv"

    ' Some of advanced options available through profiles:
    ' (JSON can be single/double-quoted and contain comments.)
    ' {
    ' 	"profiles": [
    ' 		{
    ' 			"profile1": {
    ' 				"CSVSeparatorSymbol": ",", // Separator symbol.
    ' 				"CSVQuotaionSymbol": "\"", // Quotation symbol.
    ' 				"ExtractInvisibleText": true, // Invisible text extraction. Values: true / false
    ' 				"ExtractShadowLikeText": true, // Shadow-like text extraction. Values: true / false
    ' 				"LineGroupingMode": "None", // Values: "None", "GroupByRows", "GroupByColumns", "JoinOrphanedRows"
    ' 				"ColumnDetectionMode": "ContentGroupsAndBorders", // Values: "ContentGroupsAndBorders", "ContentGroups", "Borders", "BorderedTables"
    ' 				"Unwrap": false, // Unwrap grouped text in table cells. Values: true / false
    ' 				"ShrinkMultipleSpaces": false, // Shrink multiple spaces in table cells that affect column detection. Values: true / false
    ' 				"DetectNewColumnBySpacesRatio": 1, // Spacing ratio that affects column detection.
    ' 				"CustomExtractionColumns": [ 0, 50, 150, 200, 250, 300 ], // Explicitly specify columns coordinates for table extraction.
    ' 				"CheckPermissions": true, // Ignore document permissions. Values: true / false
    ' 			}
    ' 		}
    ' 	]
    ' }


    ' Sample profile that sets advanced conversion options.
    ' Advanced options are properties of CSVExtractor class from ByteScout PDF Extractor SDK used in the back-end:
    ' https://cdn.bytescout.com/help/BytescoutPDFExtractorSDK/html/87ce5fa6-3143-167d-abbd-bc7b5e160fe5.htm
    ReadOnly Profiles As String = File.ReadAllText("profile.json")


    Sub Main()

		' Create standard .NET web client instance
		Dim webClient As WebClient = New WebClient()

		' Set API Key
		webClient.Headers.Add("x-api-key", API_KEY)

        ' Set JSON content type
        webClient.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

        ' Prepare URL for `PDF To CSV` API call
		Dim url As String = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/csv"

        ' Prepare requests params as JSON
        ' See documentation: https : //apidocs.pdf.co
        Dim parameters As New Dictionary(Of String, Object)
		parameters.Add("name", Path.GetFileName(DestinationFile))
		parameters.Add("password", Password)
		parameters.Add("pages", Pages)
		parameters.Add("url", SourceFileUrl)
		parameters.Add("profiles", Profiles)

        ' Convert dictionary of params to JSON
        Dim jsonPayload As String = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parameters)

        Try
            ' Execute POST request with JSON payload
            Dim response As String = webClient.UploadString(url, jsonPayload)

			' Parse JSON response
			Dim json As JObject = JObject.Parse(response)

			If json("error").ToObject(Of Boolean) = False Then

                ' Get URL of generated CSV file
                Dim resultFileUrl = json("url").ToString()

                ' Download CSV file
                webClient.DownloadFile(resultFileUrl, DestinationFile)

                Console.WriteLine("Generated CSV file saved as {0}", DestinationFile)

            Else
				Console.WriteLine(json("message").ToString())
			End If

		Catch ex As WebException
			Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString())
		End Try

		webClient.Dispose()

        Console.WriteLine()
		Console.WriteLine("Press any key...")
		Console.ReadKey()

	End Sub

End Module

profile.json
{
  "profiles": [
    {
      "profile1": {
        "OCRMode": "TextFromImagesAndVectorsAndFonts",
        "CSVSeparatorSymbol": "|"
      }
    }
  ]
}

PDF.co Web API: the Web API with a set of tools for documents manipulation, data conversion, data extraction, splitting and merging of documents. Includes image recognition, built-in OCR, barcode generation and barcode decoders to decode bar codes from scans, pictures and pdf.

Get your PDF.co API key here!

Download Source Code (.zip)

return to the previous page explore PDF To CSV endpoint