RTTSoftware Support Forum

PDF Explorer => General => Topic started by: Bosoftware on May 25, 2009, 11:18:24 AM

Title: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: Bosoftware on May 25, 2009, 11:18:24 AM
I am evaluating PDF Explorer in order to buy it for our company.

I looks fine, but I found one thing that is missing and that would help me: I need the height and width in cm for each pdf file.

Our customers can have their plans scanned to a pdf. We invoice them by m2. So I have over 100 pdf files a month from which I need to know what the surface is for each pdf. I use the page size in the metadata of the pdf files (in cm) in order to calculate this using Excel. But I get the info by opening each file and look up the data. This takes me a lot of time.

Is it possible to get this metadata using PDF Explorer?

Regards

Jochen
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: RTT on May 25, 2009, 08:36:31 PM
There isn't a global PDF page size because page size is related to the document pages, not the document itself. We can have a multi-pages PDF document with all different size pages. Probably not your case, but this happens very often.

When you check the document properties in a PDF reader (Acrobat, etc.) , what you see, related to the page size, is the size of current active page. You see also global document metadata, the one indexed by PDF Explorer, on that properties pages because developers opted, probably wrongly,  to show that info together.

Because of this, impossibility do have a global page size constant, PDF Explorer don't gather that info. The possibility I see here is to have a specific tool to extract that info, and populate a user selected custom column(s) with it. Not the, impossible to define, page size, but the maximum, minimum, or average width and height values, of all the document pages. Then, and with the next PDF Explorer version, Dynamic Calculated Columns functionality, where we can enter mathematic expressions that can use other columns data to define its output, you will be able to easily calculate the area to invoice, and without the need to use Excel :)

Now that you mention the need, I'm going to see if I can evolve the current Search&Extract batch tool to accomplish also this get pages sizes task, and include it on next, almost ready, version.
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: Bosoftware on May 26, 2009, 07:11:48 AM
Please keep me informed!!! I spend hours and hours doing the invoicing. So if you can provide us a solution, then it would be very helpfull.

Indeed when it is a plan it is only 1 page in the pdf. When the pages are A4 we can have more than 1 page. But this is already covered.

I have now 500 print request to be invoiced, I spend 1 hour/10 request collecting all the required information:
1) what pdf documents are included in the print request
2) how many pages per pdf
3) when it is a plan: what are the measurements (height x width) I enter this in a Excel.


In the future! ;-) I can extract everything in a directory, let PDF Explorer collect all the data, do an export to CSV, import it in Excel and make an invoice.

I will gain a lot of time for sure. At this point we are also looking for a programmer who can help us. But your product is almost there I think.
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: Bosoftware on May 26, 2009, 07:13:21 AM
I you like I can pass you an example of a print request so you can see what I mean.
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: RTT on May 26, 2009, 03:22:15 PM
Feel free to send me the sample file. You can send it to my forum profile email address.
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: Bosoftware on May 26, 2009, 07:09:39 PM
I can not get your email address.
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: RTT on May 26, 2009, 09:12:23 PM
Oops, I forgot forum members list is hidden from regular members.
Anyway, is the same email address you can get from the PDF Explorer Help>About dialog, and almost all the site pages and program user's guides.
Title: Re: Can I retrieve the page size in any way?
Post by: RTT on May 31, 2009, 01:08:51 AM
Done. ;) Evolved Search&Extract batch tool can now collect, and export to user selected PDF metadata fields, or to a .csv or .txt external file, the maximum, minimum and average width and height values, and also total area, of the user selected page boundary.
Tool GUI screenshot is attached.