PowerShell 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. PowerShell

Add-Type -Path "C:\chilkat\ChilkatDotNet47-x64\ChilkatDotNet47.dll"

$success = $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

$pdf = New-Object Chilkat.Pdf
$success = $pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/invoice_template.pdf")
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($pdf.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

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

$jsonOut = New-Object Chilkat.JsonObject

#  The default, "error": the unfilled {{po}} is a problem and nothing would be applied.
$success = $pdf.TextReplace("check",$json,$jsonOut)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($pdf.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

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

#  "keep": {{po}} stays on the page, literally.
$json.UpdateString("unusedPlaceholders","keep")
$success = $pdf.TextReplace("check",$json,$jsonOut)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($pdf.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$("keep: ok = " + $jsonOut.BoolOf("ok"))

#  "blank": {{po}} is replaced by nothing, leaving "PO Number:" with an empty value.
$json.UpdateString("unusedPlaceholders","blank")
$success = $pdf.TextReplace("apply",$json,$jsonOut)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($pdf.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$("blank: applied = " + $jsonOut.BoolOf("applied"))

$success = $pdf.WriteFile("qa_output/invoice_no_po.pdf")
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($pdf.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Sample output:

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