VB.NET Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Get a PDF Field Value by its Label (Value to the Right)

See more PDF Text Extraction Examples

Demonstrates the "label" option, which captures the text that belongs to a caption such as "Invoice Number:" without needing coordinates. With labelValue "right", the value is the rest of the label's line. Label matching ignores case, extra spaces and a trailing colon. VB.NET

Dim success As Boolean = False

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

'  The invoice used in this example is available at invoice_labels.pdf

Dim pdf As New Chilkat.Pdf
success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/invoice_labels.pdf")
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Dim json As New Chilkat.JsonObject
Dim jsonOut As New Chilkat.JsonObject

'  The invoice has lines such as "Invoice Number:   INV-2026-0412".
'  The label option restricts the "text" operation to the text belonging to the label.
json.UpdateString("label","Invoice Number")

'  "right" means the value is the rest of the label's line.
'  (The default, "auto", uses the rest of the line if there is text there, otherwise the block below.)
json.UpdateString("labelValue","right")

success = pdf.ExtractText("text",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  The value is returned as the text.
Debug.WriteLine("Invoice Number: " & jsonOut.StringOf("text"))

'  The labelMatches array tells where the label was found and how it appeared in the PDF.
Debug.WriteLine("Found on page " & jsonOut.IntOf("labelMatches[0].page") & " as """ & jsonOut.StringOf("labelMatches[0].label") & """")

'  Matching ignores case and the trailing colon, so these all work:
json.UpdateString("label","CUSTOMER:")
success = pdf.ExtractText("text",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("Customer: " & jsonOut.StringOf("text"))

json.UpdateString("label","due date")
success = pdf.ExtractText("text",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("Due Date: " & jsonOut.StringOf("text"))

'  The totals at the foot of the invoice are right-aligned labels with the amount beside them.
json.UpdateString("label","Total Due")
success = pdf.ExtractText("text",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("Total Due: " & jsonOut.StringOf("text"))

'  A label that is not found is not an error.  The text is empty, labelMatches is empty,
'  and the quality report has an issue with the code "labelNotFound".
json.UpdateString("label","Tracking Number")
success = pdf.ExtractText("text",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

If (jsonOut.SizeOfArray("labelMatches") = 0) Then
    Debug.WriteLine("Tracking Number: (not found) " & jsonOut.StringOf("quality.pages[0].issues[0].code"))
End If


'  Sample output:

'  Invoice Number: INV-2026-0412
'  Found on page 1 as "Invoice Number:"
'  Customer: Northwind Traders
'  Due Date: April 13, 2026
'  Total Due: $1,234.53
'  Tracking Number: (not found) labelNotFound