Lazarus Pascal 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. Lazarus Pascal

program ChilkatDemo;

// Demonstrates using the Chilkat Pascal wrapper via the C bridge DLL.
// Builds as a console application under Lazarus (FPC) or Delphi.

{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
{$ENDIF}
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  SysUtils,
  CkDllLoader,
  Chilkat.Pdf,
  Chilkat.JsonObject;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

procedure RunDemo;
var
  success: Boolean;
  pdf: TPdf;
  json: TJsonObject;
  jsonOut: TJsonObject;
  rowSpan: Integer;
  colSpan: Integer;
  j: Integer;
  count_j: Integer;

begin
  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

  pdf := TPdf.Create;
  success := pdf.LoadFile('qa_data/pdf/spans_table.pdf');
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(pdf.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  json := TJsonObject.Create;
  jsonOut := TJsonObject.Create;

  //  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) then
    begin
      WriteLn(pdf.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  WriteLn('Tables found: ' + jsonOut.IntOf('count'));
  WriteLn(jsonOut.IntOf('tables[0].rows') + ' rows x ' + jsonOut.IntOf('tables[0].columns') + ' 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.

  j := 0;
  count_j := jsonOut.SizeOfArray('tables[0].cells');
  while j < count_j do
    begin
      jsonOut.J := j;
      rowSpan := jsonOut.IntOf('tables[0].cells[j].rowSpan');
      colSpan := jsonOut.IntOf('tables[0].cells[j].colSpan');
      if ((rowSpan > 1) or (colSpan > 1)) then
        begin
          WriteLn('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)');
        end;
      j := j + 1;
    end;

  //  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)


  pdf.Free;
  json.Free;
  jsonOut.Free;

end;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

begin

  try
    RunDemo;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      WriteLn('Unhandled exception: ', E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;

  WriteLn;
  {$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
  WriteLn('Press Enter to exit...');
  ReadLn;
  {$ENDIF}
end.