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Parse and Enumerate Objects in a PDF - Console C#

This tutorial shows how to parse the PDF document structure, enumerate through the PDF Objects , and display information about the objects in a C# Windows Console application using the LEADTOOLS SDK.

Overview
Summary	This tutorial covers how to parse the objects in a PDF document in a C# Windows Console application.
Completion Time	30 minutes
Visual Studio Project	Download tutorial project (2 KB)
Platform	C# Windows Console Application
IDE	Visual Studio 2017, 2019, 2022
Development License	Download LEADTOOLS
Try it in another language	C#: .NET Framework (Console) Java: Java

Required Knowledge

Get familiar with the basic steps of creating a project by reviewing the Add References and Set a License tutorial, before working on the Parse and Enumerate Objects in a PDF - Console C# tutorial.

Definition

PDF Objects in the context of this tutorial include images, bookmarks, internal links, fonts and embedded files in a PDF file.

Create the Project and Add LEADTOOLS References

Start with a copy of the project created in the Add References and Set a License tutorial. If you do not have that project, follow the steps in that tutorial to create it.

The references needed depend upon the purpose of the project. References can be added by one or the other of the following two methods (but not both).

If using NuGet references, this tutorial requires the following NuGet package:

Leadtools.Pdf

If using local DLL references, the following DLLs are needed.

The DLLs are located at <INSTALL_DIR>\LEADTOOLS23\Bin\net:

Leadtools.dll
Leadtools.Core.dll
Leadtools.Pdf.dll

For a complete list of which DLL files are required for your application, refer to Files to be Included in your Application.

Set the License File

The License unlocks the features needed for the project. It must be set before any toolkit function is called. For details, including tutorials for different platforms, refer to Setting a Runtime License.

There are two types of runtime licenses:

Evaluation license, obtained at the time the evaluation toolkit is downloaded. It allows the toolkit to be evaluated.
Deployment license. If a Deployment license file and developer key are needed, refer to Obtaining a License.

Note: Adding LEADTOOLS NuGet and local references and setting a license are covered in more detail in the Add References and Set a License tutorial.

Add the Enumeration Code

With the project created, the references added, and the license set, coding can begin.

In the Solution Explorer, open Program.cs. Add the following statements to the using block at the top of Program.cs:

// Using block at the top 
using Leadtools; 
using Leadtools.Pdf;

Add the following global variable to the class:

private static PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions options;

Create five new methods to the Program class named ParseImages(PDFDocument document), ParseBookmarks(PDFDocument document), ParseInternalLinks(PDFDocument document), ParseFonts(PDFDocument document), and ParseEmbeddedFiles(PDFDocument document). All of these methods populate properties of a PDFDocument object and display information regarding these properties. These methods will be called inside the Main() method as shown below.

static void Main(string[] args) 
{ 
    try 
    { 
        string pdfLocation = @"C:\LEADTOOLS23\Resources\Images\leadtools.pdf"; 
 
        SetLicense(); 
 
        PDFDocument pdfDocument = new PDFDocument(pdfLocation); 
        ParseImages(pdfDocument); 
        ParseBookmarks(pdfDocument); 
        ParseInternalLinks(pdfDocument); 
        ParseFonts(pdfDocument); 
        ParseEmbeddedFiles(pdfDocument); 
    } 
    catch (Exception ex) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); 
    } 
    Console.Write("Press ENTER to end program"); 
    Console.Read(); 
}

Handling Streams

To handle the file using MemoryStream, replace the existing code in the Main() method with the following:

static void Main(string[] args) 
{ 
    try 
    { 
        string pdfLocation = @"C:\LEADTOOLS23\Resources\Images\leadtools.pdf"; 
        byte[] data = File.ReadAllBytes(pdfLocation); 
        using MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(data); 
        SetLicense(); 
 
        PDFDocument pdfDocument = new(ms); 
        ParseImages(pdfDocument); 
        ParseBookmarks(pdfDocument); 
        ParseInternalLinks(pdfDocument); 
        ParseFonts(pdfDocument); 
        ParseEmbeddedFiles(pdfDocument); 
 
    } 
    catch (Exception ex) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); 
    } 
    Console.Write("Press ENTER to end program"); 
    Console.Read(); 
}

Parse Images

Add the below code to the ParseImages method to populate the PDFDocument.Images property of the provided document and display the object information.

private static void ParseImages(PDFDocument document) 
{ 
    options = PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions.Images; 
    document.ParseDocumentStructure(options); 
 
    Console.WriteLine("=======================IMAGES=======================\n"); 
    foreach (PDFImage image in document.Images) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"BitsPerComponent: {image.BitsPerComponent} bits"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"BitsPerPixel: {image.BitsPerPixel} bits"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"ColorDevice: {image.ColorDevice}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"ComponentCount: {image.ComponentCount}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Height: {image.Height}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"ImageType: {image.ImageType}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"ObjectNumber: {image.ObjectNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"PageNumber: {image.PageNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"StreamLength: {image.StreamLength}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"StreamOffset: {image.StreamOffset}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Width: {image.Width}"); 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################\n"); 
    } 
    Console.WriteLine("\n====================================================\n"); 
}

Parse Bookmarks

Add the below code to the ParseBookmarks method to display PDF bookmarks information to the console.

private static void ParseBookmarks(PDFDocument document) 
{ 
    options = PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions.Bookmarks; 
    document.ParseDocumentStructure(options); 
 
    Console.WriteLine("=======================BOOKMARKS=======================\n"); 
    foreach (PDFBookmark bookmark in document.Bookmarks) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"BookmarkStyle: {bookmark.BookmarkStyle}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Level: {bookmark.Level}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetPageFitType: {bookmark.TargetPageFitType}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetPageNumber: {bookmark.TargetPageNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetPosition: {bookmark.TargetPosition}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Title: {bookmark.Title}"); 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################\n"); 
    } 
    Console.WriteLine("\n====================================================\n"); 
}

Parse Internal Links

Add the below code to the ParseInternalLinks method to display PDF internal links information to the console.

private static void ParseInternalLinks(PDFDocument document) 
{ 
    options = PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions.InternalLinks; 
    document.ParseDocumentStructure(options); 
 
    Console.WriteLine("=======================INTERNAL LINKS=======================\n"); 
    foreach (PDFInternalLink internalLink in document.InternalLinks) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"BorderColor: {internalLink.BorderColor}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"BorderDashLength: {internalLink.BorderDashLength}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"BorderWidth: {internalLink.BorderWidth}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"SourceBounds: {internalLink.SourceBounds}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"SourcePageNumber: {internalLink.SourcePageNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetPageFitType: {internalLink.TargetPageFitType}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetPageNumber: {internalLink.TargetPageNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetPosition: {internalLink.TargetPosition}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"TargetZoomPercent: {internalLink.TargetZoomPercent}%"); 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################\n"); 
    } 
    Console.WriteLine("\n==========================================================\n"); 
}

Parse Fonts

Add the below code to the ParseFonts method to display PDF fonts information to the console.

private static void ParseFonts(PDFDocument document) 
{ 
    options = PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions.Fonts; 
    document.ParseDocumentStructure(options); 
 
    Console.WriteLine("=======================FONTS=======================\n"); 
    foreach (PDFFont font in document.Fonts) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"DescendantCID: {font.DescendantCID}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"EmbeddingType: {font.EmbeddingType}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Encoding: {font.Encoding}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"FaceName: {font.FaceName}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"FontType: {font.FontType}"); 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################\n"); 
    } 
    Console.WriteLine("\n==================================================\n"); 
}

Parse Embedded Files

Add the below code to the ParseEmbeddedFiles method to populate the PDFDocument.EmbeddedFiles property of the provided document and display the information regarding the embedded files to the console.

private static void ParseEmbeddedFiles(PDFDocument document) 
{ 
    options = PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions.EmbeddedFiles; 
    document.ParseDocumentStructure(options); 
 
    Console.WriteLine("=======================EMBEDDED FILES=======================\n"); 
    foreach (PDFEmbeddedFile file in document.EmbeddedFiles) 
    { 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Created: {file.Created}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Description: {file.Description}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"FileName: {file.FileName}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"FileNumber: {file.FileNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"FileSize: {file.FileSize}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"Modified: {file.Modified}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"ObjectNumber: {file.ObjectNumber}"); 
        Console.WriteLine($"SchemaValues: {file.SchemaValues}"); 
        Console.WriteLine("###########################################\n"); 
    } 
    Console.WriteLine("\n==========================================================\n"); 
}

Run the Project

Run the project by pressing F5, or by selecting Debug -> Start Debugging.

If the steps were followed correctly, the application runs and loads the specified PDF document from C:\LEADTOOLS23\Resources\Images\leadtools.pdf, parses its structure for all PDF Objects , and displays the information to the console.

Wrap-up

This tutorial showed how to load a PDF document, parse the document for all PDFDocument properties, and display the information. Also, we covered how to use the PDFDocument, PDFParseDocumentStructureOptions, PDFEmbeddedFile classes and the PDFImage , PDFBookmark , PDFInternalLink , and PDFFont structures.