Articolo tecnico

PDFlibPas: text, image, and font extraction in Delphi

losLab PDF Library offre ai team Delphi e C++Builder un motore PDF con sorgente disponibile per workflow desktop, server, DLL, ActiveX e Dylib, con controlli PDF/A e PDF/UA integrati, supporto PAdES e scelta dei renderer senza un servizio PDF esterno.

Questo articolo è rivolto a teams building PDF analysis, migration, search, evidence capture, or support-inspection tools. Tratta text, image, and font extraction come ingegneria documentale di produzione, non come una semplice chiamata al componente.

Il rischio pratico è che extraction output is easy to over-trust even though PDF content order, font encoding, image color spaces, and page resources rarely match user-visible reading order exactly. Per questo il flusso richiede un contratto scritto, diagnostica osservabile e file di regressione realistici.

Decisioni architetturali

Separate extraction facts from interpretation. whether output needs visual order, content-stream order, or search-oriented order / image extraction format, color conversion, compression retention, and naming

  • whether output needs visual order, content-stream order, or search-oriented order
  • image extraction format, color conversion, compression retention, and naming
  • font subset naming, encoding diagnostics, and missing ToUnicode handling
  • confidence flags for OCR layers, hidden text, clipped content, and rotated pages

Percorso di implementazione

Preserve page and resource context. The order below keeps the workflow reviewable for Delphi and C++Builder teams.

  1. scan page resources and content streams while preserving object references
  2. extract text runs with coordinates, font identity, Unicode mapping, and style signals
  3. extract images with page location, dimensions, color space, and original object data when needed
  4. classify fonts by subset, embedded status, and encoding behavior
  5. produce an analysis report that distinguishes facts from inferred reading order

Evidenze di validazione

Extraction evidence that remains explainable. Keep these fields with the output or support record.

  • page number, object reference, coordinates, decoded text, font, and confidence
  • image size, color space, compression, mask, and export filename
  • font subset name, embedded state, encoding map, and ToUnicode status
  • warnings for hidden, clipped, rotated, or overlapping content

Extracted text is not always authored text

A professional extraction workflow should record where each text run, image, and font resource came from, how it was decoded, and which assumptions were used to group it into searchable or reviewable content.

Support package design

Once PDFlibPas is deployed, the most valuable support package is the one that explains the input, profile, output, and exact stage that failed.

  • page number, object reference, coordinates, decoded text, font, and confidence
  • image size, color space, compression, mask, and export filename
  • font subset name, embedded state, encoding map, and ToUnicode status
  • warnings for hidden, clipped, rotated, or overlapping content
  • terminology snapshot: text extraction, image extraction, font resource, ToUnicode

Engineering review notes for text, image, and font extraction

Use these review notes to make sure the feature has moved beyond a demo and can be defended during release, support, and customer escalation.

  • Decision: whether output needs visual order, content-stream order, or search-oriented order. Implementation pressure point: extract text runs with coordinates, font identity, Unicode mapping, and style signals. Acceptance evidence: font subset name, embedded state, encoding map, and ToUnicode status. Regression trigger: OCR layers can contain stale or misaligned text over scanned pages
  • Decision: image extraction format, color conversion, compression retention, and naming. Implementation pressure point: extract images with page location, dimensions, color space, and original object data when needed. Acceptance evidence: warnings for hidden, clipped, rotated, or overlapping content. Regression trigger: PDF drawing order may not equal human reading order
  • Decision: font subset naming, encoding diagnostics, and missing ToUnicode handling. Implementation pressure point: classify fonts by subset, embedded status, and encoding behavior. Acceptance evidence: page number, object reference, coordinates, decoded text, font, and confidence. Regression trigger: ligatures and custom encodings can make copied text differ from visible text
  • Decision: confidence flags for OCR layers, hidden text, clipped content, and rotated pages. Implementation pressure point: produce an analysis report that distinguishes facts from inferred reading order. Acceptance evidence: image size, color space, compression, mask, and export filename. Regression trigger: images may be masks, soft masks, or repeated resources rather than standalone pictures
  • Decision: whether output needs visual order, content-stream order, or search-oriented order. Implementation pressure point: scan page resources and content streams while preserving object references. Acceptance evidence: font subset name, embedded state, encoding map, and ToUnicode status. Regression trigger: OCR layers can contain stale or misaligned text over scanned pages
  • Decision: image extraction format, color conversion, compression retention, and naming. Implementation pressure point: extract text runs with coordinates, font identity, Unicode mapping, and style signals. Acceptance evidence: warnings for hidden, clipped, rotated, or overlapping content. Regression trigger: PDF drawing order may not equal human reading order
  • Decision: font subset naming, encoding diagnostics, and missing ToUnicode handling. Implementation pressure point: extract images with page location, dimensions, color space, and original object data when needed. Acceptance evidence: page number, object reference, coordinates, decoded text, font, and confidence. Regression trigger: ligatures and custom encodings can make copied text differ from visible text

Casi limite

  • PDF drawing order may not equal human reading order
  • ligatures and custom encodings can make copied text differ from visible text
  • images may be masks, soft masks, or repeated resources rather than standalone pictures
  • OCR layers can contain stale or misaligned text over scanned pages

Delphi / C++Builder notes

PDFlibPas should sit behind a small service boundary that receives files, streams, profiles, and credentials, then returns output paths, warnings, metrics, and validation status. Important terms include text extraction, image extraction, font resource, ToUnicode, content stream, coordinates.

Esempio di codice Delphi

Il seguente schema Delphi mostra un confine di servizio pratico per questo argomento. Mantieni controlli di policy, logging e validazione fuori dal blocco ristretto che chiama il prodotto, così il flusso resta verificabile.

procedure ExtractForIndexing(const FileName, OutputDir: string);
var
  Pdf: TPDFlib;
begin
  Pdf := TPDFlib.Create;
  try
    Pdf.LoadFromFile(FileName, '');
    SaveExtractedText(OutputDir, ExtractDocumentText(Pdf));
    SaveEmbeddedImages(OutputDir, ExtractDocumentImages(Pdf));
    SaveFontInventory(OutputDir, BuildFontInventory(Pdf));
  finally
    Pdf.Free;
  end;
end;

Checklist di produzione

  • Run the workflow on an empty file, a normal customer file, and a worst-case file
  • Open the generated PDF with the target viewer, validator, printer, or downstream application
  • Log product version, profile version, input hash, output path, elapsed time, and warning count
  • Keep passwords, certificates, temporary files, and customer data under explicit retention rules
  • Add regression documents when a customer file exposes a new edge case

Product documentation

PDFlibPas