The new PDF Builder moves from the Beta stage in version 2022 to a proper GA release in 2022 R2. It now offers a full-set of objects and functions for generating and manipulating PDF documents with text, graphics, images, and interactive elements such as watermarks.
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The following are the features available with the PDF Builder:
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Importing a PDF document into a new PDF document;
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Importing data from DataWindow, DWChild, or DataStore;
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Merging PDF documents;
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Setting PDF document properties and security;
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Adding multilinetext, singlelinetext, richtext, or image to create a fillable PDF document;
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Compressing PDF documents;
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Inserting single-page(s) to an existing PDF;
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Creating links in a PDF document that points to other areas of the document (for example, adding a page number in the document that link to the relevant page);
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Adding text or image watermark;
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Attaching files to PDF
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The PDF Builder provides the following objects:
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PDFObject
PDFObject is the ancestor object of all the other PDF Builder objects. To view the full hierarchy of the PDF Builder objects, find "pdfobject" in the Browser, right-click the object, and then select "Show Hierarchy" in the pop-up menu.
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PDFObject has these immediate child objects: PDFContext, PDFDocExtractor and PDFModel objects.
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Note that the PDFModel object was renamed from PDFModelObject in version 2022.
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PDFModel has these immediate child objects:
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PDFAttachment, PDFColor, PDFContent, PDFDocument, PDFDocumentProperties, PDFFont, PDFPage, PDFSecurity, PDFTableOfContents, PDFTableOfContentsItem, PDFTextBlock, PDFTextLayout, PDFWatermark;
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PDFContent has these immediate child objects: PDFInvisibleContent, and PDFVisibleContent;
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PDFVisibleContent has these immediate child objects: PDFImage, PDFImportContent, PDFMultilineText, PDFRichText, PDFSharedText, and PDFText.
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You may click the link at each object to view its properties and functions.
Note
The compression level setting on a PDF document mainly affects the high-resolution images in the document. There is little compression difference on text.
Note
When you add a PDF Builder object (such as adding a PDFPage object) into a PDF document, the object can only be added once. If you want to add it again, please clone it and then add.
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These enumerated datatypes are specific to the PDF Builder:
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PDFStandard, with these values: PDF_None!, PDFA_1a!, PDFA_1b!, PDFA_3a!, PDFA_3b!, PDFA_3u!
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PDFPageSize, with these values: PDFPage_A1!, PDFPage_A2!, PDFPage_A3!, PDFPage_A4!, PDFPage_Letter!, and PDFPage_Legal!
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PDFTextAlignment, with these values: PDFTextAlignLeft!, PDFTextAlignCenter!, PDFTextAlignRight!, and PDFTextAlignJustify!
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PDFImageFitMethod, with these values: PDFImageFitmethod_Clip!, PDFImageFitmethod_Entire!, and PDFImageFitmethod_Meet!
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PDFTableOfContentsStyle, with these values: PDFTableOfContentsStyle_Classic!, and PDFTableOfContentsStyle_Simple!
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PDFDocInformation, with these values: PDFDocInfo_All!, PDFDocInfo_Properties!, PDFDocInfo_Security!
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The following runtime files are added for PDF Builder support: pdflib.dll, pbpdfbuilder.dll, NotoSans-Bold.ttf, NotoSans-Regular.ttf.
Each PDFDocument object stands for a PDF document.
The Example Sales App included in the product contains an example user case that creates PDF documents with the PDF Builder features. If you are interested, please run the application, open the Statistics window, and then select the Create PDF button in the RibbonBar.
For the latest documentation, please refer to the section called “Building PDF documents in the application” in Application Techniques.
