XPDF Documentation

[Paul Dupuis]

XPDF was originally developed by Monte for Researchware, Inc. built on 
the open source Google PDFium library, to my specifications.

Later, Livecode acquired the XPDF external (and independently, Monte) 
:-) Actually, the order was Livecode acquired Monte and then, I 
presented Livecode with an offer for the XPDF external for a developer 
license extension since they had already hired the XPDF developer 
(Monte) and I didn't really want to try to find someone else.

Later still, Monte made the PDF Widget for Livecode.  The idea is that 
the Widget would have replaced the External, but I provided Livecode 
with a gap-analysis showing that the Widget lacked a number of features 
present in the External, which I have argued should be added to the 
Widget if they really want to replace the External.

I never included form support in what Researchware paid Monte to develop 
as it was not needed for our specific app (and money was and is still 
pretty tight in a tiny company).

In general, I think enhancements (vs bug fixes) to the XPDF external or 
the PDF widget by Livecode has been primarily driven by professional 
service engagements that paid for the added features, but I don't really 
know.


On 3/21/2025 11:06 AM, Bob Sneidar via use-livecode wrote:
> Thanks Paul, that is very helpful. You are correct of course, I cannot sele=
> ct the form data. Very unfortunate. I already have a request in to see if X=
> PDF can be made to do so. I seem to remember however that XPDF was done by =
> another developer and cannot be modified. I could be mistaken though. How u=
> nfortunate, and short sighted though. The one thing someone would want from=
>   a form is not the form but the data it contained.=20
>
> Bob S
>
>
>> On Mar 21, 2025, at 6:56 AM, Paul Dupuis via use-livecode <use-livecode at l=
> ists.runrev.com> wrote:
>> =20
>> To put XPDF in selection more, use
>> =20
>> XPDFViewer_ChooseMouseMode "Document1",pMode -- "browse", "selection", "i=
> mage"
>> =20
>> To select a range of text on (or across) page(s), use
>> =20
>> XPDFViewer_Select "Document1",item 1 of tPDFPageRef,item 2 of tPDFPageRef=
> ,item 3 of tPDFPageRef,item 4 of tPDFPageRef
>> =20
>> See the documentation for what the 4 items are above, but it's basically =
> startPageNum, startCharPositionNum, endPageNum, endCharPositionNum
>> =20
>> However, XPDF was not designed to get the values of form fields. Unless s=
> omething was added by Monte in the intervening years since Researchware tur=
> ned the XPDF external over to Livecode, I don't think there is a way to get=
>   form data.
>> =20
>> In any case, Monte at livecode is the definitive expert who could answer =
> this questions for the XPDF external and the PDF Widget (if they added form=
> s capability to that newer effort).
>> =20
>> =20
>> On 3/20/2025 7:44 PM, Bob Sneidar via use-livecode wrote:
>>> Hi all.=3D20
>>> =20
>>> I am able to load a fillable PDF form, and I see the actual form data, a=
> ll =3D
>>> well and good. There are functions that allow me to get the selection, b=
> ut =3D
>>> there is no way to select the text! I just get the hand icon for scrolli=
> ng =3D
>>> the page by dragging. Is there a way to switch to a selection tool?=3D20
>>> =20
>>> Bob S=3D
>>> =20
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>> =20
>> =20
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