Monkeybread Software - DynaPDF Manual

DynaPDF Manual - Page 484

Function Reference

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character. As long as the text is not rotated it is relatively easy to determine whether a text record

lies on the same y-axis, but finding an arbitrary rotated text that is also stored in several different

text objects requires further math.

The position of a text object is calculated from the two transformation matrices ctm and tm. The

global transformation matrix ctm represents the current coordinate system when a text showing

operator was found. The matrix ctm is already pre-multiplied because GetPageText() does not return

when a new transformation matrix is applied.

The text transformation matrix tm represents the text coordinate system in which text properties

such as text width, font size, character spacing, word spacing, or the space width are calculated. All

text positioning operators are already included in this matrix.

The combination of both matrices represents the final user space in which the text is rendered. Both

matrices must be combined to enable the calculation of the text position and orientation (see the

examples on the following pages to determine how the matrices must be combined).

Organization of content streams and pages

A PDF page consists of a content stream and a resource array which contains the resources such as

fonts, images, and so on which can be used by the page. The content stream contains the PDF

operators which paint the contents of a PDF page.

The PDF format supports two object types which support vector graphics and images: ordinary

pages and the so called "Form XObjects" which act as a template (we call this object type template

here). A template consists in turn of a content stream and a resource array like a page object and it is

possible to convert a page to a template. A page object can display an arbitrary number of templates

and a template can in turn display arbitrary other templates. It is important to understand that the

content of a template is physically stored in another content stream because the function InitStack()

prepares only the currently open content stream of the page or template for editing.

Only this content stream can be parsed and edited. Templates which occur in a page or other

template must be parsed separately. Because templates can contain other templates it is usually best

to parse templates recursively.

However, if texts must be deleted or replaced you must make sure that a template is not edited

twice if it occurs in another page or template. Such a duplicate check is strongly required and it

must be applied every time a template should be processed.

Whether a page or template contains templates can be determined with GetTemplCount(). Such

subsequent templates can then be opened for editing with EditTemplate(). When finish, the template

must be closed with EndTemplate().

Organization of text objects

A text object consists of a transformation matrix and the text. Several other properties are taken from

the current graphics state such as the font, font size, character spacing, word spacing and so on.