Convert PDF 2 PDF/A

ceider

Hi,

is there a way to convert a PDF to a PDF/A using reportbuilder, especially in 18.0?

From my point of view this should not be possible out of the box, but there might be a hidden way to do it.

Tia Carsten

nicocizik

Hi Carsten,

ReportBuilder does not support direct PDF/A conversion.

Using RB 21 or later, it would be possible to use the PDFComponent to load an existing PDF into an empty report, then export that report (as PDF/A) to file as needed.

This is not the intended use of the PDFComponent as it was designed to simply view/print existing PDF files from within a report, however it could provide the functionality you need in a round-about way.

ceider

Hi Nico,

thank you for your valuable feedback.
You were able to confirm both my hope on a "workaround" to get it done and my fear that 18.x is not able to do it.

Thanks a lot!

ceider

Hi Nico,

as our product is on XE using RB 18.x I would like to test it

I would like use a DX10 or even DX12 iDE with RB23.x on my system to build a prof of concept.
My questions are:
- Will the RB23 installation interfere with my RB18 installation?
- Where or how could I can da demoversion of RB23 to do the test?

Tia Carsten

nicocizik

Hi Carsten,

Will the RB23 installation interfere with my RB18 installation?

No, as long as RB 23 is installed for a different version of Delphi they can coexist.

Where or how could I can da demoversion of RB23 to do the test?

The trial version of ReportBuilder can be downloaded at the following location: https://www.digital-metaphors.com/download/trial

ceider

Hi Nico,

can you provide me wit a example how to load the pdf into the report and export it to pdfa?

I just cannot find the components to do it.

Tia Carsten

nicocizik

Hi Carsten,

There is only one component to use, the TppPDFComponent. Treat this as a section style subreport and place it inside an empty report with a detail band only.

Next, load the existing PDF file into the PDFComponent and export the report as PDF/A.

See the following article on PDFComponent fundamentals as well as the included help topic installed with ReportBuilder. Below is some pseudo code.

https://rbwiki.digital-metaphors.com/rcl/pdfcomponent/fundamentals/

uses
  ppTypes;

procedure TForm2.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  //Load PDF file into the PDF Component
  ppPDFComponent1.PDFFileName := [Original PDF Filename];

  ppReport1.DeviceType := dtPDFA; //Export directly to PDF/A1
  ppReport1.TextFileName := [PDF/A FileName];

  //Set up Report properties
  ppReport1.AllowPrintToFile := True;
  ppReport1.ShowPrintDialog := False;
  ppReport1.OpenFile := True;

  //Export to file
  ppReport1.Print;

end;