Visual FoxPro 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. Visual FoxPro

LOCAL lnSuccess
LOCAL loPdf
LOCAL loJson
LOCAL loJsonOut

lnSuccess = 0

*  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

loPdf = CreateObject('Chilkat.Pdf')
lnSuccess = loPdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/invoice_template.pdf")
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPdf.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPdf
    CANCEL
ENDIF

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

loJsonOut = CreateObject('Chilkat.JsonObject')

*  The default, "error": the unfilled {{po}} is a problem and nothing would be applied.
lnSuccess = loPdf.TextReplace("check",loJson,loJsonOut)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPdf.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPdf
    RELEASE loJson
    RELEASE loJsonOut
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? "error (default): ok = " + STR(loJsonOut.BoolOf("ok")) + ", problem: " + loJsonOut.StringOf("problems[0].field") + " " + loJsonOut.StringOf("problems[0].reason")

*  "keep": {{po}} stays on the page, literally.
loJson.UpdateString("unusedPlaceholders","keep")
lnSuccess = loPdf.TextReplace("check",loJson,loJsonOut)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPdf.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPdf
    RELEASE loJson
    RELEASE loJsonOut
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? "keep: ok = " + STR(loJsonOut.BoolOf("ok"))

*  "blank": {{po}} is replaced by nothing, leaving "PO Number:" with an empty value.
loJson.UpdateString("unusedPlaceholders","blank")
lnSuccess = loPdf.TextReplace("apply",loJson,loJsonOut)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPdf.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPdf
    RELEASE loJson
    RELEASE loJsonOut
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? "blank: applied = " + STR(loJsonOut.BoolOf("applied"))

lnSuccess = loPdf.WriteFile("qa_output/invoice_no_po.pdf")
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPdf.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPdf
    RELEASE loJson
    RELEASE loJsonOut
    CANCEL
ENDIF

*  Sample output:

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

RELEASE loPdf
RELEASE loJson
RELEASE loJsonOut