PDF - Get PDF Information

Declaration

<AMPDF ACTIVITY="get_info" SOURCE="text" RESULTDATASET="text" />

Description: Gathers document properties of a PDF file, such as title, author, subject, keywords and security settings and loads the information onto a dataset.

Practical Usage

Commonly used as a conditional object that can alter workflow or task progression based on the information retrieved from the source PDF document. For example, if the Subject property states "please sign," then execute the Sign activity along with the Send e-mail activity to digitally sign the document then send it to the appropriate recipient. Otherwise, execute a Stop task activity to end the task.

Resource Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Resource

---

---

---

 ---

Indicates where the source PDF should originate from. This is a design mode parameter used only during task construction and configuration, thus, comprises no markup. The available options are:

  • File (default) - Specifies that the source PDF derives from a file located on the system. This option is normally chosen if only a single activity is required to complete an operation.

  • Session - Specifies that the source PDF is obtained from a pre-configured session created in an earlier step with the use of the PDF - Create session activity. This options is normally chosen if a combination of activities within the same action group are required. Linking several activities to a single session eliminates redundancy and improves efficiency. Several sessions can exist in a single task. In addition, multiple sessions can run simultaneously without interference.

Session

Text

Yes if Resource parameter is set to Session

PDFSession1

SESSION="mySession"

The name of an existing session to associate this activity with. This parameter is active only if the Resource parameter is set to Session.

Source PDF

Text

Yes if Resource parameter is set to File

(Empty)

 SOURCE="C:\temp\source.pdf"

The path and file name of an existing PDF document in which to extract contents from. This parameter is active only if the Use previously created session parameter is disabled.

Password (optional)

Text

Yes if Resource parameter is set to File

(Empty)

 PASSWORD="encrypted"

The password required to open the existing PDF document (if required).

Data Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Create and populate dataset

Text

Yes

(Empty)

 RESULTDATASET="docInfo"

The name of the dataset to create and populate with information about the PDF document. For more details, see Datasets below.

Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.

Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)

On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)

Datasets

A dataset is a multiple column, multiple row container object. This activity creates and populates a dataset with the following fields (rows).

Name

Type

Return Value

theDataset.Application

Text

The application used to create the PDF document.

theDataset.Author

Text

The author of the PDF document.

theDataset.CreationDate

Date

The date and time the PDF document was originally created.

theDataset.File

Text

The location and file name of the PDF document.

theDataset.IsEncrypted

Yes/No

Indicates whether the PDF document is encrypted.

theDataset.IsSign

Yes/No

Indicates whether the PDF document is signed.

theDataset.IsValidPDF

Yes/No

Indicates whether the PDF file is valid.

theDataset.ModificationDate

Date

The date and time the PDF document was last modified.

theDataset.NumberOfPages

Number

The total number of pages that the PDF document contains.

theDataset.PdfVersion

Number

The document's PDF version.

theDataset.Producer

Text

The program or application that produced the PDF document.

theDataset.Subject

Text

The subject of the PDF document.

theDataset.Title

Text

The title of the PDF document.

Example

The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Description: Create and populate dataset "thePDFInfo" with PDF information. Existing PDF "C:\temp\myDocument.pdf".

<AMPDF ACTIVITY="get_info" SOURCE="C:\temp\myDocument.pdf" 
RESULTDATASET="thePDFInfo" />