Free C++ API to Create, Manipulate & Parse PDF Files.

Getting Started with PoDoFo

The recommend way to install PoDoFo is using CMake. Please use the following command for a smooth installation.

Install PPTXTemplater from GitHub

 vcpkg install fontconfig freetype libxml2 openssl libjpeg-turbo libpng tiff zlib
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=C:\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
cmake --build . --config Debug

Install PPTXTemplater from GitHub

 git clone https://github.com/podofo/podofo.git

You can also install it manually; download the latest release files directly from GitHub repository.

PDF Creation and Modification

The open source PoDoFo library has included complete support for PDF documents creation and manipulation inside C++ library. At its core, PoDoFo excels at creating new PDF documents and modifying existing ones. Software developers can add new pages, draw text, and insert various graphical elements, open encrypted document with ease. The following simple example demonstrates, how software developers can create a Simple PDF document inside C++ applications

#include 

using namespace PoDoFo;

int main() {
    PdfStreamedDocument document("HelloWorld.pdf");
    PdfPainter painter;
    PdfPage* pPage;

    try {
        pPage = document.CreatePage(PdfPage::CreateStandardPageSize(ePdfPageSize_A4));
        painter.SetPage(pPage);
        PdfFont* pFont = document.CreateFont("Arial");
        pFont->SetFontSize(18.0);
        painter.SetFont(pFont);
        painter.DrawText(56.69, pPage->GetPageSize().GetHeight() - 56.69, "Hello World!");
        painter.FinishPage();
        document.Close();
    } catch (const PdfError & e) {
        e.PrintErrorMsg();
        return e.GetCode();
    }

    return 0;
}
 

Text Extraction from PDF Files via C++

The PoDoFo library has included a powerful mechanism to load and extract text from PDF documents with just a couple of lines of C++ code. This feature is invaluable for applications that require content indexing, data mining, or document analysis. In the following code example, developers can load a PDF into a PdfMemDocument, iterate through its pages, and use the ExtractTextTo method to retrieve the text content.

#include 
using namespace PoDoFo;

PdfMemDocument pdf("document.pdf");
int pageCount = pdf.GetPageCount();
for (int i = 0; i < pageCount; ++i) {
    PdfPage* page = pdf.GetPage(i);
    PdfContentsTokenizer tokenizer(page);

    const char* token = nullptr;
    PdfVariant var;
    EPdfContentsType type;

    while (tokenizer.ReadNext(type, token, var)) {
        if (type == ePdfContentsType_Keyword) {
            printf("Operator: %s\n", token);
        } else if (type == ePdfContentsType_Variant) {
            // Examine var as needed
        }
    }
}

 

Add Digital Signatures to PDF via C++ API?

Security is paramount when dealing with official documents. The PoDoFo library supports the addition of digital signatures to PDF files, ensuring the authenticity and integrity of your documents. This is particularly useful for contracts, invoices, and other legal documents. While a full digital signature example is complex and requires a valid certificate, the following conceptual code illustrates the process.

 // Conceptual Code - Not a complete working example
#include 

using namespace PoDoFo;

int main() {
    PdfMemDocument document("unsigned.pdf");
    PdfPage* pPage = document.GetPage(0);

    // Create a signature field
    PdfSignatureField sigField(pPage,
        PdfRect(100, pPage->GetPageSize().GetHeight() - 100, 200, 50),
        &document);

    // Set signature properties
    // ...

    // Sign the document using a custom signer implementation
    // MySigner signer("my_certificate.pfx", "password");
    // document.Sign(sigField, signer);

    document.Write("signed.pdf");

    return 0;
}
 

Font Handling and Unicode Support

The free PoDoFo library provides robust support for various font types, including TrueType and Type1 fonts. The library also handles font subsetting, which helps to reduce the file size of the generated PDFs. Furthermore, its excellent Unicode support ensures that you can work with a wide range of languages and character sets. Full support for PDF signing (PAdES-B compliance), RSA/ECDSA encryption, and asynchronous or deferred signing workflows.