Objective-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. Objective-C

#import <CkoPdf.h>
#import <CkoJsonObject.h>

BOOL success = NO;

//  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

CkoPdf *pdf = [[CkoPdf alloc] init];
success = [pdf LoadFile: @"qa_data/pdf/spans_table.pdf"];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",pdf.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

CkoJsonObject *json = [[CkoJsonObject alloc] init];
CkoJsonObject *jsonOut = [[CkoJsonObject alloc] init];

//  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" value: [NSNumber numberWithInt: 3]];
[json UpdateInt: @"minColumns" value: [NSNumber numberWithInt: 3]];

success = [pdf ExtractText: @"tables" jsonIn: json jsonOut: jsonOut];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",pdf.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

NSLog(@"%@%d",@"Tables found: ",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"count"] intValue]);
NSLog(@"%d%@%d%@",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"tables[0].rows"] intValue],@" rows x ",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"tables[0].columns"] intValue],@" columns");

//  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"] intValue];
while (j < count_j) {
    jsonOut.J = [NSNumber numberWithInt: j];
    rowSpan = [[jsonOut IntOf: @"tables[0].cells[j].rowSpan"] intValue];
    colSpan = [[jsonOut IntOf: @"tables[0].cells[j].colSpan"] intValue];
    if ((rowSpan > 1) || (colSpan > 1)) {
        NSLog(@"%@%d%@%d%@%@%@%d%@%d%@",@"row ",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"tables[0].cells[j].row"] intValue],@", col ",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"tables[0].cells[j].col"] intValue]
            ,@": \"",[jsonOut StringOf: @"tables[0].cells[j].text"],@"\" spans ",rowSpan,@" row(s) and ",colSpan,@" column(s)");
    }

    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)