How to PDF text search API in VB.NET with PDF.co Web API

The tutorial below will demonstrate how to PDF text search API in VB.NET

We made thousands of pre-made source code pieces for easy implementation in your own programming projects. PDF.co Web API is the Web API with a set of tools for documents manipulation, data conversion, data extraction, splitting and merging of documents. Includes image recognition, built-in OCR, barcode generation and barcode decoders to decode bar codes from scans, pictures and pdf. It can PDF text search API in VB.NET.

The SDK samples like this one below explain how to quickly make your application do PDF text search API in VB.NET with the help of PDF.co Web API. Just copy and paste the code into your VB.NET application’s code and follow the instruction. Enjoy writing a code with ready-to-use sample VB.NET codes.

Trial version of PDF.co Web API can be downloaded for free from our website. It also includes source code samples for VB.NET and other programming languages.

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ByteScoutWebApiExample.sln

      

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
# Visual Studio 15
VisualStudioVersion = 15.0.26730.10
MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1
Project("{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}") = "ByteScoutWebApiExample", "ByteScoutWebApiExample.vbproj", "{9B91124C-66C3-4BD9-B29E-168C1ABB15AC}"
EndProject
Global
	GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
		Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU
		Release|Any CPU = Release|Any CPU
	EndGlobalSection
	GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
		{9B91124C-66C3-4BD9-B29E-168C1ABB15AC}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
		{9B91124C-66C3-4BD9-B29E-168C1ABB15AC}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
		{9B91124C-66C3-4BD9-B29E-168C1ABB15AC}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
		{9B91124C-66C3-4BD9-B29E-168C1ABB15AC}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
	EndGlobalSection
	GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
		HideSolutionNode = FALSE
	EndGlobalSection
	GlobalSection(ExtensibilityGlobals) = postSolution
		SolutionGuid = {4576C9BB-A42D-46A8-9198-7E2982E122FA}
	EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal

ByteScoutWebApiExample.vbproj

      
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProjectGuid>{9B91124C-66C3-4BD9-B29E-168C1ABB15AC}</ProjectGuid>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <StartupObject>ByteScoutWebApiExample.Module1</StartupObject>
    <RootNamespace>ByteScoutWebApiExample</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>ByteScoutWebApiExample</AssemblyName>
    <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
    <MyType>Console</MyType>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <DefineDebug>true</DefineDebug>
    <DefineTrace>true</DefineTrace>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DocumentationFile>ByteScoutWebApiExample.xml</DocumentationFile>
    <NoWarn>42016,41999,42017,42018,42019,42032,42036,42020,42021,42022</NoWarn>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <DefineDebug>false</DefineDebug>
    <DefineTrace>true</DefineTrace>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release\</OutputPath>
    <DocumentationFile>ByteScoutWebApiExample.xml</DocumentationFile>
    <NoWarn>42016,41999,42017,42018,42019,42032,42036,42020,42021,42022</NoWarn>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OptionExplicit>On</OptionExplicit>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OptionCompare>Binary</OptionCompare>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OptionStrict>Off</OptionStrict>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OptionInfer>On</OptionInfer>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="Newtonsoft.Json, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
      <HintPath>packages\Newtonsoft.Json.10.0.3\lib\net40\Newtonsoft.Json.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Deployment" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Import Include="Microsoft.VisualBasic" />
    <Import Include="System" />
    <Import Include="System.Collections" />
    <Import Include="System.Collections.Generic" />
    <Import Include="System.Data" />
    <Import Include="System.Diagnostics" />
    <Import Include="System.Linq" />
    <Import Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="Module1.vb" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="packages.config" />
    <None Include="sample.pdf">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </None>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.VisualBasic.targets" />
</Project>

Module1.vb

      
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Net
Imports Newtonsoft.Json
Imports Newtonsoft.Json.Linq

Module Module1

    ' The authentication key (API Key).
    ' Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co/documentation/api
    Const API_KEY As String = "***********************************"

    ' Source PDF file
    Const SourceFile As String = ".\sample.pdf"

    ' Comma-separated list of page indices (or ranges) to process. Leave empty for all pages. Example: '0,2-5,7-'.
    Const Pages As String = ""

    ' PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
    Const Password As String = ""

    ' Search string.
    Const SearchString As String = "\d{1,}\.\d\d" 'Regular expression To find numbers Like '100.00'
    ' Note: Do Not use `+` char in regex, but use `{1,}` instead.
    ' `+` char Is valid for URL And will Not be escaped, And it will become a space char on the server side.

    ' Enable regular expressions (Regex) 
    Const RegexSearch As Boolean = True

    Sub Main()

        ' Create standard .NET web client instance
        Dim webClient As WebClient = New WebClient()

        ' Set API Key
        webClient.Headers.Add("x-api-key", API_KEY)

        ' 1. RETRIEVE THE PRESIGNED URL TO UPLOAD THE FILE.
        ' * If you already have a direct file URL, skip to the step 3.

        ' Prepare URL for `Get Presigned URL` API call
        Dim query As String = Uri.EscapeUriString(String.Format(
            "https://api.pdf.co/v1/file/upload/get-presigned-url?contenttype=application/octet-stream&name={0}",
            Path.GetFileName(SourceFile)))

        Try
            ' Execute request
            Dim response As String = webClient.DownloadString(query)

            ' Parse JSON response
            Dim json As JObject = JObject.Parse(response)

            If json("error").ToObject(Of Boolean) = False Then
                ' Get URL to use for the file upload
                Dim uploadUrl As String = json("presignedUrl").ToString()
                ' Get URL of uploaded file to use with later API calls
                Dim uploadedFileUrl As String = json("url").ToString()

                ' 2. UPLOAD THE FILE TO CLOUD.
                webClient.Headers.Add("content-type", "application/octet-stream")
                webClient.UploadFile(uploadUrl, "PUT", SourceFile) ' You can use UploadData() instead if your file is byte array or Stream

                ' Set JSON content type
                webClient.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

                ' 3. MAKE UPLOADED PDF FILE SEARCHABLE

                ' Prepare URL for PDF text search API call.
                ' See documentation: https : //app.pdf.co/documentation/api/1.0/pdf/find.html
                Dim url As String = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/find"

                ' Prepare requests params as JSON
                ' See documentation: https : //apidocs.pdf.co
                Dim parameters As New Dictionary(Of String, Object)
                parameters.Add("password", Password)
                parameters.Add("pages", Pages)
                parameters.Add("url", uploadedFileUrl)
                parameters.Add("searchString", SearchString)
                parameters.Add("regexSearch", RegexSearch)

                ' Convert dictionary of params to JSON
                Dim jsonPayload As String = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parameters)

                ' Execute POST request with JSON payload
                response = webClient.UploadString(url, jsonPayload)

                ' Parse JSON response
                json = JObject.Parse(response)

                If json("error").ToObject(Of Boolean) = False Then
                    For Each item As JToken In json("body")
                        Console.WriteLine({code}quot;Found text {item("text")} at coordinates {item("left")}, {item("top")}")
                    Next
                Else
                    Console.WriteLine(json("message").ToString())
                End If

            End If

        Catch ex As WebException
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString())
        End Try

        webClient.Dispose()

        Console.WriteLine()
        Console.WriteLine("Press any key...")
        Console.ReadKey()

    End Sub

End Module

packages.config

      
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="10.0.3" targetFramework="net40" />
</packages>

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