Visual Basic 6.0 Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Search for Text in a PDF

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates the "search" operation, which finds every occurrence of a string in a PDF and returns each match with its page number and the text around it. Matching ignores case unless caseSensitive is true. Visual Basic 6.0

Dim success As Long
success = 0

'  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
'  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

'  The three-page PDF used in this example is available at search_context.pdf

Dim pdf As New ChilkatPdf
success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/search_context.pdf")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print pdf.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Dim json As New ChilkatJsonObject
Dim jsonOut As New ChilkatJsonObject

'  The string to find.
success = json.UpdateString("query","chilkat")

'  The number of characters returned before and after each match.  The default is 40.
success = json.UpdateInt("context",30)

success = pdf.ExtractText("search",json,jsonOut)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print pdf.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  "count" is the number of matches.  Each match has the page, the matched text as it appears
'  in the PDF, and the text before and after it.
Debug.Print "Matches: " & jsonOut.IntOf("count")

Dim i As Long
i = 0
Dim count_i As Long
count_i = jsonOut.SizeOfArray("matches")
Do While i < count_i
    jsonOut.I = i
    Debug.Print "page " & jsonOut.IntOf("matches[i].page") & ": ..." & jsonOut.StringOf("matches[i].before") & "[" & jsonOut.StringOf("matches[i].text") & "]" & jsonOut.StringOf("matches[i].after") _
         & "..."
    i = i + 1
Loop

'  The search ignores case by default.  Set caseSensitive to find only the exact spelling.
success = json.UpdateBool("caseSensitive",1)
success = json.UpdateString("query","Chilkat")
success = pdf.ExtractText("search",json,jsonOut)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print pdf.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print "Case-sensitive matches for Chilkat: " & jsonOut.IntOf("count")

'  Sample output:

'  Matches: 5
'  page 1: ...[Chilkat] River Field Notes The Chilkat...
'  page 1: ...Chilkat River Field Notes The [Chilkat] River runs for about fifty mi...
'  page 2: ...DAY ONE: UPPER [CHILKAT] FLATS Clear and cold, minus e...
'  page 2: ...he river is sometimes spelled [chilkat] in older records, and the val...
'  page 3: ...y because the fish run on the [Chilkat] was thinning. Two tagged bird...
'  Case-sensitive matches for Chilkat: 3