Read

The Read function reads text, signatures and form data from Pdf documents.

Properties

Input

File path

Path to the PDF file.

Authentication type

PDF files can be protected using a password or a certificate, this field indicates which type of authentication to attempt when loading the PDF.

  1. None
    The document is unprotected and can be opened immediately.

  2. Password
    The document is protected by a password.

  3. Certificate
    The document is protected by a certificate.

Password

Only displayed when Authentication type is 'Password'.

Password

Password required to access the PDF file.

Note:

All passwords entered into this function's properties will be visible in plain text in the Linx solution file and in the compiled .Net assembly.

Certificate

Only displayed when Authentication type is 'Certificate'.

Certificate source

Source to load the certificate from:

  1. File
    Load a certificate from a .pfx file.
  2. Store
    Load a certificate from the windows certificate store.
File

Displayed when Certificate source is 'File'.

Certificate file path

Path to a .pfx file containing a certificate.

Certificate file password

Password needed to open the certificate file.


Store

Displayed when Certificate source is 'Store'.

Certificate

Certificate in the windows keystore.



Note:

Certificate protected files are not supported by the "Fill form", "Sign", "Add watermark" and "Concatenate" operations.

If you need to use the operations on a certificate protected document, first remove the certificate protection using the "Change protection" operation. The certificate must include the private key in order to be able to load the document.


Output

Read text

Reads the document text, and returns it an output parameter named "Text".

Read form data

Reads any form data preset in the document.

Read signatures

Reads any signatures present in the document.

Read form data

Only displayed when the Read form data property is selected.

Return form data as

Controls how the form data is returned.

Options:

  1. Custom type
    Form data is used to populate an existing Type.
  2. Infer type from a sample PDF
    Return type is constructed based on a sample PDF document.
  3. List
    Form data is returned as a list of entries.
Custom type

Displayed when 'Custom type' is selected for Read form data as.

Form data type

The expected type for the document's form data.

Property mapping

Specify the field names that the properties in the form data should map to.


Infer type from a sample PDF

Displayed when 'Infer type from a sample PDF' is selected for Read form data as.

Sample PDF

A sample PDF containing the empty form.

Property mapping

Specify the field names that the properties in the form data should map to.



Read text

Only displayed when the Read text property is selected.

Extraction strategy

Extraction strategy to use when reading the text from the document.

Options:

  • Location
  • Simple
  • Top to bottom

Split text

Controls how the document text is split.

Options:

  • Never
    Text is never split, all text in the document is returned as a single string value.
  • Per page
    Text is split per page, and returned in a list or strings with one entry per page.