C++ Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Extract a PDF Table with Merged Cells

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates how merged cells are reported by the "tables" operation: a header cell that spans several columns has colSpan greater than 1, and a row label that spans several rows has rowSpan greater than 1. Also shows the minRows and minColumns options. C++

#include <CkPdf.h>
#include <CkJsonObject.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    bool success = false;

    //  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
    //  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

    //  The PDF used in this example is available at spans_table.pdf

    CkPdf pdf;
    success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/spans_table.pdf");
    if (success == false) {
        std::cout << pdf.lastErrorText() << "\r\n";
        return;
    }

    CkJsonObject json;
    CkJsonObject jsonOut;

    //  Grids smaller than minRows x minColumns are not reported as tables.  The defaults are 2 and 2.
    //  Setting them higher skips small boxes that are not really tables.
    json.UpdateInt("minRows",3);
    json.UpdateInt("minColumns",3);

    success = pdf.ExtractText("tables",json,jsonOut);
    if (success == false) {
        std::cout << pdf.lastErrorText() << "\r\n";
        return;
    }

    std::cout << "Tables found: " << jsonOut.IntOf("count") << "\r\n";
    std::cout << jsonOut.IntOf("tables[0].rows") << " rows x " << jsonOut.IntOf("tables[0].columns") << " columns" << "\r\n";

    //  A merged cell is reported once, at its top-left position, with its spans.
    //  The positions it covers have no cell of their own.
    int rowSpan;
    int colSpan;
    int j = 0;
    int count_j = jsonOut.SizeOfArray("tables[0].cells");
    while (j < count_j) {
        jsonOut.put_J(j);
        rowSpan = jsonOut.IntOf("tables[0].cells[j].rowSpan");
        colSpan = jsonOut.IntOf("tables[0].cells[j].colSpan");
        if ((rowSpan > 1) || (colSpan > 1)) {
            std::cout << "row " << jsonOut.IntOf("tables[0].cells[j].row") << ", col " << jsonOut.IntOf("tables[0].cells[j].col") << ": \"" << jsonOut.stringOf("tables[0].cells[j].text")
                 << "\" spans " << rowSpan << " row(s) and " << colSpan << " column(s)" << "\r\n";
        }

        j = j + 1;
    }

    //  Sample output:

    //  Tables found: 1
    //  6 rows x 6 columns
    //  row 0, col 0: "Area" spans 2 row(s) and 1 column(s)
    //  row 0, col 1: "City" spans 2 row(s) and 1 column(s)
    //  row 0, col 2: "First Half" spans 1 row(s) and 2 column(s)
    //  row 0, col 4: "Second Half" spans 1 row(s) and 2 column(s)
    //  row 2, col 0: "East" spans 2 row(s) and 1 column(s)
    //  row 4, col 0: "West" spans 2 row(s) and 1 column(s)
    }