AutoIt Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

PDF Placeholders Without a Value: Error, Blank or Keep

See more PDF Text Replacement Examples

Demonstrates the "unusedPlaceholders" option, which decides what happens to a placeholder found on the page that has no value in "placeholders": "error" (the default) makes it a problem with the reason unusedPlaceholder, so nothing is applied; "blank" replaces it with nothing; "keep" leaves it on the page as it is. AutoIt

Local $bSuccess = False

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

;  The PDF used in this example is available at invoice_template.pdf

$oPdf = ObjCreate("Chilkat.Pdf")
$bSuccess = $oPdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/invoice_template.pdf")
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oPdf.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

;  Values for every placeholder except {{po}} (the purchase order number, which this customer has none of).
$oJson = ObjCreate("Chilkat.JsonObject")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.customer","Acme Corp")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.date","2026-10-18")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.qty1","2")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.desc1","Cordless drill, 18 V")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.price1","$460.00")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.amount1","$920.00")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.qty2","6")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.desc2","Galvanized hinge, 4 inch")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.price2","$12.50")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.amount2","$75.00")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.subtotal","$995.00")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.taxRate","7.35%")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.tax","$73.13")
$oJson.UpdateString("placeholders.total","$1,068.13")

$oJsonOut = ObjCreate("Chilkat.JsonObject")

;  The default, "error": the unfilled {{po}} is a problem and nothing would be applied.
$bSuccess = $oPdf.TextReplace("check",$oJson,$oJsonOut)
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oPdf.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

ConsoleWrite("error (default): ok = " & $oJsonOut.BoolOf("ok") & ", problem: " & $oJsonOut.StringOf("problems[0].field") & " " & $oJsonOut.StringOf("problems[0].reason") & @CRLF)

;  "keep": {{po}} stays on the page, literally.
$oJson.UpdateString("unusedPlaceholders","keep")
$bSuccess = $oPdf.TextReplace("check",$oJson,$oJsonOut)
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oPdf.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

ConsoleWrite("keep: ok = " & $oJsonOut.BoolOf("ok") & @CRLF)

;  "blank": {{po}} is replaced by nothing, leaving "PO Number:" with an empty value.
$oJson.UpdateString("unusedPlaceholders","blank")
$bSuccess = $oPdf.TextReplace("apply",$oJson,$oJsonOut)
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oPdf.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

ConsoleWrite("blank: applied = " & $oJsonOut.BoolOf("applied") & @CRLF)

$bSuccess = $oPdf.WriteFile("qa_output/invoice_no_po.pdf")
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oPdf.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

;  Sample output:

;  error (default): ok = false, problem: po unusedPlaceholder
;  keep: ok = true
;  blank: applied = true