PDF Stamps, as seen on the video, enable users to place digitally created stamp marks on documents similar to ordinary rubber stamps. However, users can also automate and make interactive stamps using PDF scripts. Example features highlighted on the video are the capability of users to customize buttons which when used, automatically stamp a digital signature of the current user complete with the company logo,  date and time the document was stamped.

To see this video, click here: http://www.pdfscripting.com/public/images/Video/PDFStampsGoneWild.cfm

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PDFScripting.com releases introductory video of PDF Stamps

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“The original version of Quick PDF Tools was and still is freeware — it’s a simple right-click utility for doing PDF-related tasks,” said Rowan Hanna, Debenu CTO, “it’s very popular, something we’re really pleased to put our name to”.

“… But in building this version we took what was mighty, and also made it professional — something a business user could use,” quipped Hanna, “in fact, Karl De Abrew our CEO said to me, if we didn’t make this ourself he’d actually buy a copy himself.”

It will let you preview PDF files, merge and split PDF files, crop and rotate pages, extract form field data, edit JavaScript, convert PDF to text and much more.

The professional version is available for $59 USD from the official Quick PDF Tools website – http://www.quickpdftools.com/

Disclosure: 4xPDF.com is run by Debenu.com the makers of Quick PDF Tools

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A mighty professional box of PDF tools

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The pdf-Office Professional is a cost-effective alternative to Adobe Acrobat which can handle from simple text fields to complex programming in PDF forms. The pdf-Office Professional offers MS-Word like graphical interface for designing and creation of PDF forms. In addition, the pdf-Office Professional provides an option to create, edit and migrate bookmarks in PDF documents.

The pdf-Office Professional software is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux at EUR 117.81 (incl. VAT).

The press release can be read at http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100228005055&newsLang=en

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pdf-Office Professional now includes JavaScript Interpreter

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The protectedpdf software allows the users to control and track the distribution of PDF files to protect the intellectual property and prevent the misuse of confidential information. Foxit has implemented JavaScript in its Reader which is required to unlock and view the protectedpdf documents in a secure environment.

The press release can be read at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vitrium-systems-announces-new-partnership-with-foxit-corporation-85213687.html

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Vitrium Systems and Foxit Corporation announces partnership

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The application allow users to create PDF documents and recognize text from pre-existing image- or paper-based documents, making it possible for them to be searched, edited, archived, and published. The document consolidation and archival process is streamlined with the use of I.R.I.S. technology, allowing fully-compliant, easily-archived PDF/A documents creation from disparate documents and images. It supports multi-language and can be used on documents written in English, German, French, and Spanish.

Along with the implementation of all-new OCR technology, the release inhabits all the features of Nitro Pro like creating, converting, editing, combining, securing, form-filling, reviewing and saving industry-standard PDF files.

Gina O’Reilly, Nitro’s SVP, Sales & Marketing said “As the single most requested feature, by an overwhelming majority, from our users, it was never a question of whether or not we add OCR to our feature set – simply, “how quickly can we build it?”. He also added “Our flagship product, Nitro Pro, has been firmly established as an incredibly persuasive, fully-featured offering within the desktop PDF software marketplace, so the addition of OCR further cements its status as the leading PDF solution for enterprise while reinforcing our commitment to meeting the needs of our users.”

To buy the latest from Nitro PDF software visit http://www.nitropdf.com/store/nitro_pdf_professional_ocr.htm

Source of Information [http://www.nitropdf.com/corporate/pr/pr_090210.htm]

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Nitro PDF Professional OCR with Optical Character Recognition released by Nitro PDF Software

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Company’s CEO, Eugene Xiong said “Compatible with Windows 7, Foxit Phantom will provide users of our business ready PDF software enhanced functionality and significant value. For businesses that need to create and use professional PDF documents, Foxit Phantom provides PDF document creation from hundreds of file formats, direct content editing, electronic forms design, and enhanced document security.”

Foxit has been involved with Microsoft Corp. and delivered different PDF solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem which includes iFilter, Foxit PDF Security Suite, and the Foxit Reader. Foxit Phantom is the latest software to be fully functional in the Microsoft workspace.

To know more about the solution or download the 30-day trial version, visit www.foxitsoftware.com/phantom

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Foxit announces PDF software compatible with Windows 7

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A limited number of users also received a beta-updater which Adobe says is going to assist in ensuring that security updates were efficient and accessible.

Adobe also launched the Reader/Acrobat JavaScript Blacklist Framework which allows users to prevent certain JavaScript function calls — this will allow IT decision makers to make these high-level decisions.

Gone are the days where a PDF was as safe as a printed page…

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A mammoth patch for Reader (and family)

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But for now you can keep the pirates at bay by:

… users should use the “general preferences” dialog menu option to disable JavaScript – Edit > Preferences > JavaScript, and uncheck “Enable Acrobat JavaScript”.

ComputerWeekly.com report that according to Adobe — those running Data Execution Prevention (DEP) on Vista have nothing to fear…

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Lockdown! Adobe says to disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader (yet again)

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The new release includes enhanced support for dynamically creating tables in PDFs, extra support for working with annotations and numerous bug fixes and performance improvements. A complete list of changes in this release can be found on the Quick PDF Library blog and the latest release can be downloaded from the updates page.

This update is a free for all existing version 7.x license owners.

Disclosure: the author of this post is an employee of Debenu.

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Quick PDF Library 7.16 Released By Debenu

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Special Offer

4xPDF readers who purchase Quick PDF Library before the 8th of May, 2009, will receive a 10% discount when using this coupon 4XPDF713 during the payment process. This offer applies to the single developer, multi-developer, upgrade, site and source code versions.

The changes in this new version include:

• Delphi 2009 support
• New functionality for GetAnnotStrProperty and GetAnnotIntProperty to handle GoToR and Launch annotations and speed improvements
• New EmbeddedFileCount function
• New GetEmbeddedFileStrProperty function
• New GetEmbeddedFileIntProperty function
• New GetEmbeddedFileContentToFile function
• New GetEmbeddedFileContentToString function
• New GetEmbeddedFileContentToStream function
• Improvements to internal outline navigation
• New GetNamedDestination function
• Internal support for name objects directly following the obj keyword
• Bug fix and improvements to encryption fingerprint functions
• Option to load images using GDI+ instead of internal image handling functions
• Support for type 3 functions
• Improvements to image decoding
• Support for inverted JPEG palettes
• Faster page location when page tree is a single array
• Support for loading 8-bit alpha mask from PNG images
• Better rendering of encrypted documents
• Support for alternate ICC based color space in renderer
• Support for W=4 in cross reference stream
• Speed improvements to object decoding
• Bug fix for text extraction with option 4 to return single words

More information about this release can be found on the Quick PDF Library blog.

Disclosure: Quick PDF Library and 4xPDF are both owned by Debenu and the author of this post is an employee of Debenu.

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Popular PDF SDK, Quick PDF Library 7.13 Released

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Resource: http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/04/update_on_adobe_reader_issue.html

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Adobe cautions users of Adobe Reader vulnerability first discussed on the Adobe PSIRT blog

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“We released Quick PDF Library 7.12 beta for preview in January, 2009 – since then, we’ve been working extremely closely with our customer base to ensure that our final PDF API release is first-class,” stated Karl De Abrew, Debenu CEO. “I’m now pleased to say that this is definitely our best offering to date, and is now an almost limitless PDF toolkit suitable for almost all forms of PDF development.”

The PDF Developer API offers an extensive set of functionality:

• Specifically targeted for ASP, C++, C#, Delphi, PowerBASIC, PowerBuilder and Visual Basic
• Save-to-stream and Load-from-stream support for web serving
• Advanced PDF rasterizer with RenderPageToDC and gradient support
• Advanced PDF page combining, cloning, extraction, imposition and merging technology
• Advanced PDF encryption, decryption (including 128-bit encryption) and digital signatures
• TrueType font support (including font embedding)
• Support for Japanese fonts and Turkish codepage (1254)
• Comprehensive form field and JavaScript support
• Built-in PDF barcode support
• Advanced drawing, including circles and arcs
• Rotated text, multi-line paragraph text, word-wrapped paragraph text
• Outline and hypertext functions
• Embedded image, file grouping and links
• Blazing performance increase and much more…

Quick PDF Library 7.12 is available for immediate download and purchase. Each license costs US$149 and entitles you to use the library within your applications, royalty-free. All existing customers who purchased version 5.11 after Feb 3, 2009, are entitled to receive a free upgrade to version 7.12.

Disclosure: 4xPDF Blog is owned and operated by Debenu. See the disclosures page.

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Debenu Releases Version 7.12 Of Its Popular PDF SDK, Quick PDF Library

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Editors note: Yet another valuable contribution by Thom Parker, CEO of

By Thom Parker, www.pdfscripting.com

For Acrobat/PDF forms, Don’t miss the Live Sample at end of the article.

One of the biggest issues that PDF newcomers face is understanding the relationship between Acrobat, PDF, and scripts. It’s not just you, this really is a confusing issue. It turns out that scripting is unbelievably useful for all kinds of stuff. Since its introduction in Acrobat 3, Adobe has continued to find new ways to use scripts in the Acrobat/PDF environment, stuffing them into the most unlikely places.

Copying functionality from a sample PDF to your own document almost always means finding scripts on the sample. But for 99% of PDF functionality you don’t need to be an expert to do this. Really, there are only a few key ideas that are necessary.

PDF Scripting Locations

First, JavaScript (Acrobat’s scripting language) is event driven. All scripts are run as a direct result of some action, such as the user clicking on a button or entering data into a field. Second, in the scripting world, a PDF is viewed as a hierarchy, or tree of objects. There is an object for the whole document. Inside the document object, there is an object for each form field, each bookmark, each annotation, each multimedia display, etc. So to put this all together, in a PDF a script is associated with an action on an object. For example, if you enter data into a form field and then click or tab out of the field, you might get popup message that says the data is invalid and you need to re-enter it. This is the result of a “Validation” event script on that field.

So now we know how scripts are associated with things on the PDF, but how do we access those scripts?

Accessing Scripts

Select Object Tool

The sample document on the next page is a live PDF form, with lots of scripts. There are Note annotations explaining how to find those scripts and some alternatives on where a script that performs a particular action may be located.
 
To help you find scripts associated with a form field you’ll need to use the “Select Object.” This tool is activated from the Advanced Editing Toolbar. This is the arrow button at the far left on the toolbar. Activating it puts Acrobat into a kind of edit mode. All the form fields are outlined and the field names are displayed. Right click on any form field and from the popup menu select “Properties.”

The properties dialog has several tabs across the top. Some of these are for accessing scripts associated with events on the form field. The “Actions” tab is for mouse and focus events, the validate tab is for the validation script, the calculate tab is for a calculation script, etc. Not all fields have all of these tabs. It depends on the field type.

You’ll find that the properties dialogs for other scripting locations are similar.

You can download a complete live sample, including this article along with a JavaScript enabled PDF file at, “Finding Scripts on a PDF page” (right-cick and Save As to download to your computer).

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How to Find Scripts in a PDF

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Editors note: I’d like to start out by giving Thom Parker, CEO of

One of the particular areas of pdfscripting.com of which I’m a fan, is the Copy-n-Paste Script section. Based on this, I’ve asked Thom to give us here at 4xPDF, the occasional tip, script and example to get you going with PDF Scripting.

Today Thom steps us through how to copy pdf scripts….

How to Copy PDF Scripts

By Thom Parker, www.pdfscripting.com (For Acrobat/PDF forms)

In a PDF file, and this is doubly true for LiveCycle forms, all the fancy features (and some of the ordinary ones) are implemented with custom scripts. The most popular way to acquire these fancy features for your own PDFs is to copy a script from another PDF.  If you see a PDF with something you like, or someone publishes a script in a forum or an article, you just copy the script, paste it into your PDF, and you’re off to the races.  No pain, no sweat, just instant success

Unhappily, it really doesn’t work that way

Half the questions I answer on the forums are failed attempts to copy functionality from another source.   Unless you are properly equipped, trying to copy someone else’s code can result in a great deal of pain, suffering (mostly for the other people in the office), and occasionally, the destruction of company property.

But don’t lose hope.  Copying scripts is still a viable way to implement functionality that’s far beyond your current scripting knowledge.  To make it work you only need to have a few basic tools at hand.  Listen closely and I will provide you with the keys to ultimate success, promotions, riches, celebrity marriages, and all the other grand rewards of electronic documentation.

The Essentials for Copying a PDF Script

The scripting language for Acrobat is JavaScript.  However, just any old JavaScript won’t do.  JavaScript is a programming language specifically designed to be used as an application’s scripting language.  As such, each application that uses it has its own special version.  JavaScript for a Web page has absolutely nothing to do with Acrobat and PDF.  So don’t even think about trying to use a script that comes from anything other than a PDF file or an article on Acrobat JavaScript.

Along these same lines, Acrobat supports two different form technologies- traditional AcroForms (since Acrobat 3), and LiveCycle (XFA) forms (since Acrobat 7).  The scripting models for these technologies are so different from one another it’s like they were developed by two completely different companies for two completely different applications, and in two completely different countries.  And in fact, they were.   Trying to use a script from one technology in the other is like trying to get your dog to use the kitty litter box.   You might get it to work, but it’s a mess.  Always make sure you’re copying scripts from the right technology.

The next thing you have to understand about scripts is that they are usually written for a specific PDF.  This means that you will, in all likelihood, have to modify the script in some way.  This is the source of most failures. PDF scripts will almost always depend on a certain document setup, or on certain document elements being present. Form fields are the most common dependency, but there are others such as attachments, bookmarks, and disclosure to name a few.  You’ll know that an AcroForm script requires a form field if it has any code that looks like this:

this.getField(“MyField”)

In this case you have two choices.  Change “MyField” to the name of the equivalent field on your form or change the name of your field to “MyField.”  There are other ways to reference form fields in scripts.  So if you see something you think might be a field name but aren’t sure, then you’re going to have to get your hands a little dirty.

I know that many of you are going to find this next task onerous and repugnant, but like cleaning out that litter box, it’s just something you have to do every so often.  I am of course talking about using the Acrobat JavaScript Reference.  You don’t have to understand the reference.  All you have to do is look up the name of the thing that looks like it might reference a custom document feature you’re going to need to change.  And then read the text.  This should give you enough info to decide if, and what, changes may be needed.

Another thing about modifying scripts is that programming languages (not just JavaScript but all programming languages) are notoriously finicky about minor, seemingly insignificant details.  Have a comma in the wrong place, forget to capitalize a name, or don’t end a line in a semi-colon and you could inadvertently bring down the corporate network.  You’d think Acrobat could kind of figure out what you really meant to do with the script and be nice about it, but it doesn’t work that way.  A language interpreter is a bit like a sadistic master (which might explain a bit about programmers), so keep your eye on the details. Don’t make partial copies of scripts or make changes you don’t understand.

If you are going to make modifications, it’s a good idea to get into the correct mindset.  Programmers are obsessed with obscure symbols and non-intuitive structures, i.e., languages are specifically designed to be as unintelligible as possible.  This is a job security thing so it’s not going to be getting any easier any time soon.  But there are some little tidbits that can help.  For example, anything that you would normally think starts with “1” like page numbers, starts with a “0” in a script.  Proper names of things will almost always appear in double quotes, and not just any quotes.  They have to be plain text quote marks.  If you copied a script from a word processing program like Word, you might be in trouble.  Look at the script in Acrobat’s JavaScript editor, if the original quotes have been replaced by funny looking characters you’ll have to replace them all with real quote marks, and make sure you have both quotes there.

Finally, it’s rare that a script is just this single thing that’s off by itself in its own world.  A PDF is a very diverse environment and contains a large number of places where a script can be used.  It’s quite normal to have scripts that depend on other scripts, and this is especially true for forms.   So it’s important that when copying a script from another PDF that you identify all of the scripts that need to be copied, and their correct locations inside the PDF.  Here’s a link to an article that will help:

http://www.acrobatusers.com/tutorials/2006/where_js_goes

Probably the most common situation is a script that uses functions, variables and data that are defined in a global area.  In an AcroForm the global area is called a Document Level Script.   In a LiveCycle form it’s not so definite.  The Pseudo-Global area is called a Scripting Object, and one of these puppies can be attached to practically any object in the form.

Now you’re ready to do some power script copying.  Good luck and don’t get discouraged.  Remember all the cool stuff that will be coming your way once you get this down.

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PDFScripting.com Demonstrates How To Copy PDF Scripts

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I like the way he’s put it together — the instructions and the working example are contained within a single page PDF,  Using a Calculation to Hide/Show a Field (right-click and choose save-as).

Acrobat provides easy, non-scripting methods for adding many types of calculations to a form, such as summing entries in a column or adding tax into a total. But what do you do if you want a calculation that does something that’s not just math? For example, maybe you have a form on which you want to show a field only when the field’s calculation result is greater than zero. While the calculation itself might be straightforward, the total result of the calculation is not. For this we need to use JavaScript…

As he says, it’s simple, and this same technique can be used to control all kinds of form field properties through calculation results…. Thanks Thom!

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Tip: Using a Calculation to Hide/Show a Field

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