asked on

How to read pdf/xls/doc files in my app and be able to read the contents?

Hi, I have an app that reads plain ascii text files (.txt, .csv) and does processing on the strings in those files. Is there a way in Delphi to directly read in .pdf/.xls/.doc files and have them readable as well?

Thanks
Shawn

P.S: I use D7.

SOLUTION

Sinisa Vuk

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

shawn857

ASKER

Thanks Sinisa, I will have a look at that.

I just want my app to internally read the strings... no need to show real thing to user.

Thanks!
Shawn

jimyX

Hi Shawn,
Do you need to extract all text from those files?

OR

Do all your files look alike, and you have a pattern for reading strings?

Could you give samples of what PDF, XLS and DOC files might look like?

Sinisa Vuk

one note - pdfs are zipped inside - so no clear text at all.

jimyX

Some pointers:

Doc: Automation will allow reading the content easily.

XLS: Reading xls files as table using ADO.

PDF: PDF is tough but could be parsed.
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=2169
http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/about.html
Extracting text with Quick PDF free sdk:
http://www.quickpdflibrary.com/faq/extract-text-and-images-and-insert-into-new-pdf.php

shawn857

ASKER

Jimy - yes I need to extract/read *all* the text from the files.

Thanks
Shawn

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

jimyX

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

shawn857

ASKER

Thank you gentlemen!

Cheers
Shawn