PDF - Search
Declaration
<AMPDF ACTIVITY="search" SOURCE="text" PASSWORD="encrypted text" FIND="text" RESULTDATASET="text" REGEX="YES/NO" PAGE="number" />
Description: Searches for the occurrence of one or more text strings (e.g., particular characters, words, or patterns of characters) in a PDF document and populates a dataset with the results. Regular expressions can be used to provide a more concise and flexible method of finding text.
Practical Usage
Commonly used to locate a word or phrase inside of a PDF document in order to retrieve relevant data (e.g., page(s) where text was found, font information, text position) and/or perform other operations referencing the found text (e.g., Insert Text, Clipboard - Copy, Clipboard - Paste).
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:
|
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 filename of the PDF document in which to extract contents from. This parameter is active only if the Resource parameter is set to File. |
Password (optional) |
Text |
No |
(Empty) |
PASSWORD="encrypted" |
The password required to open the existing PDF document (if applicable). This parameter is active only if the Resource parameter is set to File. |
Criteria Parameters
Property |
Type |
Required |
Default |
Markup |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Find |
Text |
Yes |
(Empty) |
FIND="Network Automation" |
The text string to search for. |
Use regular expression |
Yes/No |
No |
No |
REGEX="YES" |
If set to YES, indicates that the value entered in the Find parameter is a regular expression. If set to NO (default), the value is literal text. |
Create and populate dataset |
Text |
No |
(Empty) |
SIGNNAME="SignatureName" |
The name of the dataset to create and populate search results. See Datasets below for more details. |
Pages Parameters
Property |
Type |
Required |
Default |
Markup |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
All |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
If enabled, search will be performed on all pages of the PDF document. This is a visual mode parameter used only during design time, therefore, contains no properties or markup. |
Page(s) |
Text |
No |
(Empty) |
FIELDNAME="Field1" |
If enabled, search will be performed on an individual page or specific pages of the PDF document. Enter the page number to specify a single page. Use a comma (,) to specify more than one page (e.g., 1,3,5). Use a dash (-) to specify a range of pages (e.g., 5-10). |
Datasets
Similar to a database or spreadsheet, a dataset is a multiple column, multiple row container object used to populate a collection of data. Each column represents a particular variable (e.g., name, type, value). Each row corresponds to a given member of the dataset in question. This activity creates and populates a dataset with the following fields (rows):
Name |
Type |
Return Value |
---|---|---|
theDataset.FontIsAccessible |
True/False |
Indicates whether the font representing the found text is present (installed) in the system. |
theDataset.FontIsEmbedded |
True/False |
Indicates whether the font representing the found text is embedded. |
theDataset.FontIsSubset |
True/False |
Specifies whether the font representing the found text is a subset. |
theDataset.FontName |
Text |
The name of the font matching the found text. |
theDataset.FontSize |
Number |
The size of the font matching the found text. |
theDataset.ForegroundColor |
Text (Color) |
The HTML color value of the font matching the found text represented in |
theDataset.Page |
Number |
The page number where the matching text was found. |
theDataset.Position |
Number |
The position of the matching text represented in hash code. |
theDataset.Text |
Text |
The text found. |
theDataset.XIndent |
Number |
The X coordinate of the found text. |
theDataset.YIndent |
Number |
The Y coordinate of the found text. |
Example
The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.
Description: Search existing PDF "C:\temp\myDocument.pdf" for text "PDF Security" on page "1-5". Create and populate dataset "theDataset" with search result.
<AMPDF ACTIVITY="search" SOURCE="C:\temp\myDocument.pdf" FIND="PDF Security" RESULTDATASET="theDataset" PAGE="1-5" />