VBScript Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

Check a PDF Text Replacement Before Applying It

See more PDF Text Replacement Examples

Demonstrates the "check" operation, which finds every placeholder and label and applies the font rule but changes nothing, and how to read its report: "ok" says whether "apply" would succeed, "replacements" lists what would be replaced, and "problems" lists what prevents it, each with a reason. Here the first check fails because a placeholder on the page was given no value; the value is added and the check passes, and only then is "apply" called. VBScript

Dim fso, outFile
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Create a Unicode (utf-16) output text file.
Set outFile = fso.CreateTextFile("output.txt", True, True)

success = 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

set pdf = CreateObject("Chilkat.Pdf")
success = pdf.LoadFile("qa_data/pdf/invoice_template.pdf")
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

'  Values for most of the template's placeholders -- but not {{po}}, {{qty2}}, {{desc2}}, {{price2}} or {{amount2}}.
set json = CreateObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.customer","Acme Corp")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.date","2026-10-18")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.qty1","2")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.desc1","Cordless drill, 18 V")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.price1","$460.00")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.amount1","$920.00")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.subtotal","$920.00")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.taxRate","7.35%")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.tax","$67.62")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.total","$987.62")

'  "check" reports what "apply" would do, without changing the PDF.
set jsonOut = CreateObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")
success = pdf.TextReplace("check",json,jsonOut)
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

outFile.WriteLine("ok: " & jsonOut.BoolOf("ok"))
outFile.WriteLine("would replace: " & jsonOut.SizeOfArray("replacements") & " placeholders")

'  Each problem names the placeholder (field) or label, and a reason:
'    notFound - the placeholder or label is not on the selected pages
'    unusedPlaceholder - a placeholder on the page was given no value
'    missingGlyph, notInEncoding, nonStandardUnembeddedFont, unsupportedFont - the font rule
'    placeholderSpansFonts - the text is drawn with more than one font or size
i = 0
count_i = jsonOut.SizeOfArray("problems")
Do While i < count_i
    jsonOut.I = i
    outFile.WriteLine("problem: " & jsonOut.StringOf("problems[i].field") & jsonOut.StringOf("problems[i].label") & " - " & jsonOut.StringOf("problems[i].reason") _
         & " (page " & jsonOut.IntOf("problems[i].page") & ")")
    i = i + 1
Loop

'  Give the missing placeholders their values and check again.
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.po","PO-88213")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.qty2","0")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.desc2","(no second item)")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.price2","")
success = json.UpdateString("placeholders.amount2","")
success = pdf.TextReplace("check",json,jsonOut)
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

outFile.WriteLine("ok after adding the values: " & jsonOut.BoolOf("ok"))

'  Now apply.
If (jsonOut.BoolOf("ok") = 1) Then
    success = pdf.TextReplace("apply",json,jsonOut)
    If (success = 0) Then
        outFile.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
        WScript.Quit
    End If

    outFile.WriteLine("applied: " & jsonOut.BoolOf("applied"))
    success = pdf.WriteFile("qa_output/invoice_checked.pdf")
    If (success = 0) Then
        outFile.WriteLine(pdf.LastErrorText)
        WScript.Quit
    End If

End If

'  Sample output:

'  ok: false
'  would replace: 10 placeholders
'  problem: po - unusedPlaceholder (page 1)
'  problem: qty2 - unusedPlaceholder (page 1)
'  problem: desc2 - unusedPlaceholder (page 1)
'  problem: price2 - unusedPlaceholder (page 1)
'  problem: amount2 - unusedPlaceholder (page 1)
'  ok after adding the values: true
'  applied: true

outFile.Close