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Advanced Conversion Options - VB.NET

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

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

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-xml/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 XML file name
    Const DestinationFile As String = ".\result.xml"

    ' Some of advanced options available through profiles:
    ' (it can be single/double-quoted and contain comments.)
    ' {
    ' 	"profiles": [
    ' 		{
    ' 			"profile1": {
    ' 				"SaveImages": "None", // Whether to extract images. Values: "None", "Embed".
    ' 				"ImageFormat": "PNG", // Image format for extracted images. Values: "PNG", "JPEG", "GIF", "BMP".
    ' 				"SaveVectors": false, // Whether to extract vector objects (vertical and horizontal lines). Values: true / false
    ' 				"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 XMLExtractor class from ByteScout XML Extractor SDK used in the back-end:
    ' https//cdn.bytescout.com/help/BytescoutPDFExtractorSDK/html/6f2b5e9c-ba15-f9fe-192b-c3e31ec4a0ee.htm
    ReadOnly Profiles = 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 XML` API call
		Dim url As String = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/xml"

        ' 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 XML file
                Dim resultFileUrl As String = json("url").ToString()

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

                Console.WriteLine("Generated XML file saved as ""{0}"" file.", 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": {
        "TrimSpaces": "False",
        "PreserveFormattingOnTextExtraction": "True",
        "Unwrap": "True",
        "ShrinkMultipleSpaces": "True"
      }
    }
  ]
}

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.

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Download Source Code (.zip)

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