Problems with Type1 Font info (as returned by QP)

I think there some problem with the SaveFontToFile function or something is wrong with my code or PDF file may be; not sure. I attempted to view the extracted TTF fonts with Windows Font Viewer and it says those are not valid Font files. It's also apparent from the icons ... the extracted TTF files does not show proper TTF file icon.

Am I expecting something too much from this function? Please explain.

Here is my simple VB6 code for your ready reference:

Set oPDF = New PDFLibrary         With oPDF             .UnlockKey UNLOCK_KEY                 .LoadFromFile txtPDFFile.Text                 .FindFonts                 For iCnt = 1 To .FontCount                         lFontID = .GetFontID(iCnt)             .SelectFont lFontID                         If .FontType = 4 Then                 sSaveAs = txtSaveAsFolder.Text & "\" & .FontName & ".ttf"                 lRet = .SaveFontToFile(sSaveAs)             End If                         DoEvents                     Next iCnt                 End With     Set oPDF = Nothing

Hi!

Yes, I read about it ... is this limitation of QuickPDF or simply no method available to extract Type1 fonts from PDF?

Secondly, this method does extract the TTF fonts but the font files are treated invalid. I was expecting this function to extract font to TTF file which then I can take to my other computer and install the extracted font. However, there is some problem with the SaveFontToFile function ... did you try it? Were you able to extract TTF font to a valid font file? Try QuickPDF manual PDF file for example. Or am I doing anything wrong?

Regards,

Ruturaaj.

Thanks for your reply! I continued to search for this issue as I wanted to trace why my Font files are not saved as valid Font Files. Yes, I'm talking about the TrueType Fonts and still they are not saved as valid Font File.

While searching, I landed on a Blog and found following text about embedded fonts in PDF:

When a font is embedded in a PDF, not all of the font data are included. Obviously the font outline data are included as well as the font width tables. Other information, such as data about ligatures, are irrelevant within the PDF so those data do not get enclosed in a PDF.

So, I think the font information that's extracted to File is not the complete font, but just the outline of it and not the real character table and glyphs. So, when QP returned this information and saved to file, it didn't appear as valid font for Windows OS.

I'm not sure if this is the reason; just guessing that it's the reason. Any thoughts on this?

If QP continues to evolve on SaveFontToFile function scope then that's great ... but we cannot recreate the missing information to build a valid font file. So, if PDF is not carrying the entire Font file information for some obvious Font copyright issues then SaveFontToFile function looks of no use. Instead, if Developers concentrate to transfer the embedded font information from one PDF to another thereby allowing developers to simply copy the embedded fonts from one PDF to another then it will be more useful and practical too. This will especially prove helpful in case of splitting PDF files or merging one PDF file into a newly created PDF file.

In fact, I never paid attention to the Font issue when merging two PDF files with QP before! If you find any information related to "Font Extraction to a valid TrueType Fonts" then please share with me.

Regards,

Ruturaaj.




Edited by Ruturaaj - 22 Jun 10 at 1:55PM

Hi Wheeley,

Thanks for your reply. In my all tests, I didn't face any problem in retrieving Font names; all names are correctly returned by QP. The issue is related to the Font file when saved with SaveFontToFile function. Give it a try and let me know if you could import/install the extracted font correctly in your OS.

Regards,

Ruturaaj.