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Native .Net Library

Prerequisites​

pdf2Data .NET SDK requires .NET Framework v4.6.1 to be installed on your system. pdf2Data SDK doesn't support .NET Core runtime.

System Requirements​

  • Recommended minimal hardware configuration:
    • 2 core CPU
    • Memory: 2 GB
    • Temp storage: 2 GB free disk space

Installation​

For .NET iText pdf2Data is distributed as a NuGet package which is available at NuGet.org or at iText Artifactory.

You can browse for the desired NuGet package manually or install it with the Install-Package itext7.pdf2data NuGet Package Manager command. In addition, if you are going to use remote license volume reporting (recommended) you need to run Install-Package itext.licensing.remote -Version <compatible-licensing-version> (see Compatibility Matrix for exact version).

Using pdf2Data from your code​

As from pdf2Data 4.0, the format of extraction templates has been changed, compared to pdf2Data 3.*. Please see the Migration guide to get to know more

With the pdf2Data UI (pdf2Data 4.0+), you can download templates optimized for use in the pdf2Data SDK.

1. Load the pdf2Data license​

Make sure to load the license file before invoking any code

LicenseKey.LoadLicenseFile(pathToLicenseFile);

2. Create an extractor​

pdf2Data extractor can be created using an extraction template downloaded from pdf2Data UI

The initialization of the Pdf2DataExtractor instance from a processed template should now be done with one function call:

Pdf2DataExtractor extractor = Pdf2DataExtractor.Create(new FileInfo(P2D_TEMPLATE_PATH));
tip

The extractor can be re-used multiple times, to process batch of pdf files in the loop

3. Extract data from PDF​

RecognitionResultHolder result = extractor.Extract(new FileInfo(PDF_PATH));

You can use extracted values directly from the result or save them in one of two structured formats.

4. Get results for specific data field​

You can get all results as sorted dictionary by calling:

SortedDictionary<String, DataFieldResult> allResults = result.GetDataFieldResults();

To get results for specific data field use this call:

IList<AbstractValueResult> dataFieldResult = allResults.Get(DATAFIELD_NAME).GetResults();

Results objects have similar structure to described in Recognition result specification.

5. Save extracted data​

tip

By default, your data will be saved without metadata. To include it in the result, you should use method overloads with passing next SerializationProperties:

SerializationProperties properties = new SerializationProperties().SetIncludeMetaData(true);
XML​
// If you want to write results directly into file
result.WriteToXml(new FileInfo(RESULT_XML_PATH));

// writing result directly to HTTP response
result.WriteToXml(Response.Body); // any other Stream implementation can be passed here

To save result with metadata

// save to file
result.WriteToXml(new FileInfo(RESULT_XML_PATH), properties);

// writing result directly to HTTP response
result.WriteToXml(Response.Body, properties); // any other Stream implementation can be passed here
JSON​
// If you want to write results directly into file
result.WriteToJson(new FileInfo(RESULT_JSON_PATH));

// writing result directly to HTTP response
result.WriteToJson(Response.Body); // any other Stream implementation can be passed here

To save result with metadata

// save to file
result.WriteToJson(new FileInfo(RESULT_JSON_PATH), properties);

// writing result directly to HTTP response
result.WriteToJson(Response.Body, properties); // any other Stream implementation can be passed here

Full code sample​

LicenseKey.LoadLicenseFile(pathToLicenseFile);

Pdf2DataExtractor extractor = Pdf2DataExtractor.Create(new FileInfo(P2D_TEMPLATE_PATH));
RecognitionResultHolder result = extractor.RecognizeOnPdf(new FileInfo(PDF_PATH));

// If you want to write results directly into file.
result.WriteToXml(new FileInfo(RESULT_XML_PATH));
result.WriteToJson(new FileInfo(RESULT_JSON_PATH));

// If you want to write results directly to HTTP response (or other Stream)
result.WriteToXml(Response.Body);
result.WriteToJson(Response.Body);

// If you want directly access result objects to further save to e.g. DB or other structured storage:
// all results:
SortedDictionary<String, DataFieldResult> allResults = result.GetResult().GetDataFieldResults();
IList<AbstractValueResult> dataFieldResult = allResults.Get(DATAFIELD_NAME).GetResults();

Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR)​

In order to be able to use OCR you will need to do additional configurations in your application.

1. Create OCR engine instance​

OcrWithPostProcessingEngine engine = Tesseract4BasedEngine.CreateBuilder(JavaCollectionsUtil.SingletonList<String>("eng"), new FileInfo(PATH_TO_TRAINED_DATA)).Build();

2. Create an extractor​

// Engine can be null if you want to perform standard pdf data extraction.
Pdf2DataExtractor extractor = Pdf2DataExtractor.Create(new FileInfo(P2D_TEMPLATE_PATH), engine);

3. Create recognition properties​

// If you want extract data from standard pdf
RecognitionProperties recognitionProperties = RecognitionProperties.CreateForPdfFile();
// If you want extract data from image
RecognitionProperties recognitionProperties = RecognitionProperties.CreateForImageFile();
// If you want extract data from scanned document
RecognitionProperties recognitionProperties = RecognitionProperties.CreateForPdfFileWithOcr();

4. Extract data from sample​

RecognitionResultHolder result = extractor.Extract(new FileInfo(PATH_TO_SAMPLE_FILE), recognitionProperties);

Full code sample with OCR​

LicenseKey.LoadLicenseFile(pathToLicenseFile);

OcrWithPostProcessingEngine engine = Tesseract4BasedEngine.CreateBuilder(JavaCollectionsUtil.SingletonList<String>("eng"), new FileInfo(PATH_TO_TRAINED_DATA)).Build();

// Engine can be null if you want to perform standard pdf data extraction.
Pdf2DataExtractor extractor = Pdf2DataExtractor.Create(new FileInfo(P2D_TEMPLATE_PATH), engine);

// If you want extract data from standard pdf
RecognitionProperties recognitionProperties = RecognitionProperties.CreateForPdfFile();
// If you want extract data from image
RecognitionProperties recognitionProperties = RecognitionProperties.CreateForImageFile();
// If you want extract data from scanned document
RecognitionProperties recognitionProperties = RecognitionProperties.CreateForPdfFileWithOcr();

RecognitionResultHolder result = extractor.Extract(new FileInfo(PATH_TO_SAMPLE_FILE), recognitionProperties);

// If you want to write results directly into file.
result.WriteToXml(new FileInfo(RESULT_XML_PATH));
result.WriteToJson(new FileInfo(RESULT_JSON_PATH));

// If you want to write results directly to HTTP response (or other Stream)
result.WriteToXml(Response.Body);
result.WriteToJson(Response.Body);

// If you want directly access result objects to further save to e.g. DB or other structured storage:
// all results:
SortedDictionary<String, DataFieldResult> allResults = result.GetResult().GetDataFieldResults();
IList<AbstractValueResult> dataFieldResult = allResults.Get(DATAFIELD_NAME).GetResults();