I see three directions to pulling images out of PDF files on Windows:
1. Use a command-line utility and shell() plus file I/O
2. Loosely parse the PDF file
3. Create an external
I recommend starting with #1 and seeing how it works for you. All are
possible.
Dar
On Sep 29, 2011, at 8:01 AM, Graham Samuel wrote:
> Folks, for some months now (it seems even longer) I have been seeking a
> solution to the problem of reading PDF-formatted images into Livecode stacks.
> What I'm looking for is solution that looks like an 'import paint' command:
> in other words, I want to be able to load a small subset of the possible
> contents of a PDF - just bitmap images - into a stack via script. Sadly I
> want to do this on a PC, running at a minimum Windows XP. My users want a
> simple solution that makes reading from a PDF no more complicated than
> reading a JPG.
>
> I have explored several possibilities, including using a 'free' PDF reader
> that is somehow hidden from the user of my app, and using say 'shell' to
> control it and to pass an image to LiveCode. However I have not found a
> realistic way of doing this, particularly when I include the need to have a
> very simple installation process - the user should not see any additional
> application, nor be obliged to provide substantial additional resources, as
> would be true for example if one used ImageMagick in this way in a PC context.
>
> Short of RunRev itself extending input formats to include PDF (not
> impossible, but not likely in the short term), the solution would seem to be
> to licence a third-party library component and integrate it into my app by
> the use of bridging ('glue') code. I got pretty near with this one, having
> identified a component with suitable licensing terms and functionality (Sorax
> DLL). RunRev suggested that I could do the gluing with the aid of a 'C'
> programmer. It turns out after a lot of research by Thierry Douez, who has
> been helping me, that what I need is a person familiar with Visual Studio to
> accomplish this - but I despair of finding such a person who would also be
> familiar with the externals interface of the LiveCode engine. Maybe I will
> find such a person, but the trail does seem to have gone cold.
>
> Has anyone any suggestion as to how I might proceed? My app works so nicely
> with JPG and PNG files, and I have (a little) belief that I could make it
> work with TIFF files, but without PDF input I am dead in the water.
>
> TIA
>
> Graham
>
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---------------------------
Dar Scott
dba
Dar Scott Consulting
8637 Horacio Place NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111
Lab, home, office phone: +1 505 299 9497
For Skype and fax, please contact.
d...@swcp.com
Computer Programming and tinkering,
often making LiveCode libraries and
externals, sometimes writing associated
microcontroller firmware.
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