How to access bookmarks using C#

[holmesd@adobeforums.com]

Hi,

I'm trying to access the list of bookmarks in a PDF. I've written my application in C#, and I'm having trouble figuring out how to access this part of a PDF document.

From reading the documentation, this forum, and a few other sources - my understanding is that the collection of bookmarks may only be access using C++, or JavaScript. (I'd love to be proven wrong here though...)

If I want to access the bookmarks from within my C# app, it seems that the advice is to use the JSObject from within my app.

I've seen a few examples around for VB, and lots for VBS, but I can't get them to work for C#.

Basically, as far as I get is:

AcroAVDoc acroAVDoc = new AcroAVDoc();
acroAVDoc.Open(inputFile, "");
CAcroPDDoc acroDoc = (CAcroPDDoc)acroAVDoc.GetPDDoc();
Object jsObj = pdDoc.GetJSObject();

This is where I get stuck. I don't know how to call into the javascript library from here. Looking at a few examples for VB, the answer seems to be something like:

bookMarkRoot = jsObj.BookmarkRoot

But that won't compile for C#. (Neither will bookMarkRoot = jsObj.BookmarkRoot();)

What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

But that won't compile for C#.




Yup. Because the JSObject is late-bound in C# you need to use the InvokeMember helper method.

[holmesd@adobeforums.com]

Thanks PDL. That was tremendously helpful.
I have two more related questions now.

First, is there anyway to execute the javascript without opening a new Acrobat window? (The code I have forces Acrobat to load.)

Second, I think I'm still missing something when calling the javascript.

I now have:

AcroAVDoc acroAVDoc = new AcroAVDoc();
acroAVDoc.Open(inputFile, "");
CAcroPDDoc acroDoc = (CAcroPDDoc)acroAVDoc.GetPDDoc();
Object jsObj = pdDoc.GetJSObject();

object[] param = new object[1];
param[0] = "";

object ret =
JsObj.GetType().InvokeMember("this.bookmarkRoot.ch ildren[0]",
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, jsObj,param);

However, this returns an unknown member exception (or something similar). I'm fairly certain that I should be able to call bookmarkRoot.children[0]. I suspect that I'm not correctly referencing the document though. I've tried this.bookmarkRoot, my.bookmarkRoot, doc.bookmarkRoot and just bookmartRoot, but none of them are found. Is there some other way to get a handle on the default pdf?

Thanks again in advance.

(Aandi, your suggestion is probably perfectly valid, but if I did that, I would be using COM, C#, VB and Javascript in a single app... perhaps a bit much for me. :) )

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

You need to use just "bookmarkRoot.children[0]", but you're using the InvokeMethod binding flag - this is not a method, it is a property, so use the GetProperty binding flag instead.

Here is a list of the available binding flags:
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.bindingflags.aspx>

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

You may want to simplify things by making use of document-level functions. Write your JS in a document-level function like:

function GetFirstBookmark( oDoc )
{
return oDoc.bookmarkRoot.children[0];
}

Then you can call this from your C#:

object[] param = new object[1];
param[0] = jsObj; // This is your JavaScript Doc object

object ret =
jsObj.GetType().InvokeMember("GetFirstBookmark",
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, jsObj,param);

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

The JavaScript interface is for VB. You might want to create a VB
application as a bridge.

Aandi Inston

[Reinhard_Franke@adobeforums.com]

...... jsObj.GetType().InvokeMember("GetFirstBookmark", ....

That may become very cumbersome if you have a nested bm-tree.
(Is that correct english?)

I would check if you can use: ExecuteThisJavaScript (in Acroabt FORMS reference).
Then you can write the AJS-code "dump all bookmarks" (in JS-Helpfile) to a C# variable and execute the AJS-code. Read the AJS variable for the bm-tree via jso into C# and do whatever you want with that.

HTH, Reinhard

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

(Is that correct english?)




Yup! :)

I was only providing the "GetFirstBookmark" function as an example. My intent was for them to have all the JS in document-level functions, then just invoke those functions as necessary. Much less cumbersome than doing the whole thing through either InvokeMember or ExecuteThisJavaScript.

[holmesd@adobeforums.com]

Huzzah!!!

It took me a while to figure out how to actually return a value back to the C# app. Getting a method to run was really easy, but actually getting a value back from a property took me a bit. I ended up with the following code.

AcroAVDoc acroAVDoc = new AcroAVDoc();
acroAVDoc.Open(inputFile, "");
CAcroPDDoc acroDoc = (CAcroPDDoc)acroAVDoc.GetPDDoc();

// Create a IAFormApp object. Required in order to create
// a Fields object.
IAFormApp formApp = new AFormAppClass();

// Get the IFields object associated with the form
IFields acrofields = (IFields)formApp.Fields;

// Values are returned to the app through the event. You
// must assign the return value to event.value in order
// to get something other than a null value.
String ret = acrofields.ExecuteThisJavascript(
"event.value = this.bookmarkRoot.children[0].name;");
Console.Out.WriteLine("Bookmark: " + ret.ToString());
acroAVDoc.Close(0);

Thanks PDL, Reinhard.

[Unregistered]

What are the references needed to use iField?