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# Class ElementReader

ElementReader can be used to parse and process content streams. ElementReader provides a convenient interface used to traverse the Element display list of a page. The display list representing graphical elements (such as text-runs, paths, images, shadings, forms, etc) is accessed using the intrinsic iterator. ElementReader automatically concatenates page contents spanning multiple streams and provides a mechanism to parse contents of sub-display lists (e.g. forms XObjects and Type3 fonts).

##### Inheritance

object
ElementReader

##### Implements

IDisposable

##### Inherited Members

object.ToString()
object.Equals(object)
object.Equals(object, object)
object.ReferenceEquals(object, object)
object.GetHashCode()
object.GetType()
object.MemberwiseClone()

###### Namespace: pdftron.PDF

###### Assembly: PDFNet.dll

##### Syntax

    public class ElementReader : IDisposable

##### Examples

For a full sample, please refer to ElementReader and ElementReaderAdv sample projects. A sample use case for ElementReader is given below:

    ...
    ElementReader reader=new ElementReader();
    reader.Begin(page);
    for (Element element=reader.next(); element!=null;element=reader.next()) {
    Rect bbox;
    if((bbox=element.getBBox())!=null) System.out.println("Bounding Box: " + bbox.getRectangle());
    switch (element.getType())	{
    case Element.e_path: { // Process path data...
    double[] data = element.getPathPoints();
    }
    break;
    case Element.e_text:
    // ...
    break;
    }
    }
    reader.End();

### Constructors

#### ElementReader()

Instantiates a new element reader.

##### Declaration

    public ElementReader()

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

### Methods

#### Begin(Page)

Begin processing a page.

##### Declaration

    public void Begin(Page page)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
Page | page | A page to start processing.

##### Remarks

When page processing is completed, make sure to call ElementReader.End().

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Begin(Page, Context)

##### Declaration

    public void Begin(Page page, Context ctx)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
Page | page |
Context | ctx |

#### Begin(Obj)

Begin processing given content stream. The content stream may be a Form XObject, Type3 glyph stream, pattern stream or any other content stream.

##### Declaration

    public void Begin(Obj content_stream)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
Obj | content_stream | A stream object representing the content stream (usually a Form XObject).

##### Remarks

When page processing is completed, make sure to call ElementReader.End().

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Begin(Obj, Obj)

Begin processing given content stream. The content stream may be a Form XObject, Type3 glyph stream, pattern stream or any other content stream.

##### Declaration

    public void Begin(Obj content_stream, Obj resource_dict)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
Obj | content_stream | A stream object representing the content stream (usually a Form XObject).
Obj | resource_dict | An optional '/Resource' dictionary parameter. If content stream refers to named resources that are not present in the local Resource dictionary, the names are looked up in the supplied resource dictionary.

##### Remarks

When page processing is completed, make sure to call ElementReader.End().

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Begin(Obj, Obj, Context)

##### Declaration

    public void Begin(Obj content_stream, Obj resource_dict, Context ctx)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
Obj | content_stream |
Obj | resource_dict |
Context | ctx |

#### ClearChangeList()

Clear the list containing identifiers of modified graphics state attributes. The list of modified attributes is then accumulated during a subsequent call(s) to ElementReader.Next().

##### Declaration

    public void ClearChangeList()

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Current()

Current.

##### Declaration

    public Element Current()

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Element | the current Element or a 'NULL' Element. The current element is the one returned in the last call to Next().

##### Remarks

Every call to ElementReader::Next() destroys the current Element. Therefore, an Element becomes invalid after subsequent ElementReader::Next() operation.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Dispose()

Releases all resources used by the ElementReader

##### Declaration

    public override sealed void Dispose()

#### Dispose(bool)

##### Declaration

    [HandleProcessCorruptedStateExceptions]
    protected virtual void Dispose(bool A_0)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
bool | A_0 |

#### End()

Close the current display list.

If the current display list is a sub-list created using FormBegin(), PatternBegin(), or Type3FontBegin() methods, the function will end the sub-list and will return processing to the parent display list at the point where it left off before entering the sub-list.

##### Declaration

    public bool End()

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
bool | true if the closed display list is a sub-list or false if it is a root display list.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### ~ElementReader()

##### Declaration

    protected ~ElementReader()

#### FormBegin()

When the current element is a form XObject you have the option to skip form processing (by not calling FormBegin()) or to open the form stream and continue Element traversal into the form.

To open a form XObject display list use FormBegin() method. The Next() returned Element will be the first Element in the form XObject display list. Subsequent calls to Next() will traverse form's display list until NULL is returned. At any point you can close the form sub-list using ElementReader::End() method. After the form display list is closed (using End()) the processing will return to the parent display list at the point where it left off before entering the form XObject.

##### Declaration

    public void FormBegin()

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### GetChangesIterator()

Gets the changes iterator.

##### Declaration

    public GSChangesIterator GetChangesIterator()

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
GSChangesIterator | an iterator to the beginning of the list containing identifiers of modified graphics state attributes since the last call to ClearChangeList(). The list can be consulted to determine which graphics states were modified between two Elements. Attributes are ordered in the same way as they are set in the content stream. Duplicate attributes are eliminated.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### GetColorSpace(string)

Gets the color space.

##### Declaration

    public Obj GetColorSpace(string name)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
string | name | the name

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Obj | the color space

##### Remarks

see ElementReader::GetFont

#### GetExtGState(string)

Gets the ext g state.

##### Declaration

    public Obj GetExtGState(string name)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
string | name | the name

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Obj | the ext g state

##### Remarks

see ElementReader::GetFont

#### GetFont(string)

Gets the font.

##### Declaration

    public Obj GetFont(string name)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
string | name | the name

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Obj | SDF/Cos object matching the specified name in the current resource dictionary. For 'Page' the name is looked up in the page's /Resources/<Class> dictionary. For Form XObjects, Patterns, and Type3 fonts that have a content stream within page content stream the specified resource is first looked-up in the resource dictionary of the inner stream. If the resource is not found, the name is looked up in the outer content stream's resource dictionary. The function returns NULL if the resource was not found.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### GetPattern(string)

Gets the pattern.

##### Declaration

    public Obj GetPattern(string name)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
string | name | the name

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Obj | the pattern

##### Remarks

see ElementReader::GetFont

#### GetShading(string)

Gets the shading.

##### Declaration

    public Obj GetShading(string name)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
string | name | the name

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Obj | the shading

##### Remarks

see ElementReader::GetFont

#### GetXObject(string)

Gets the x object.

##### Declaration

    public Obj GetXObject(string name)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
string | name | the name

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Obj | the x object

##### Remarks

see ElementReader::GetFont

#### IsChanged(GStateAttribute)

Checks if is changed.

##### Declaration

    public bool IsChanged(GState.GStateAttribute attrib)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
GState.GStateAttribute | attrib | the gstate_attrib

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
bool | true if given GState attribute was changed since the last call to ClearChangeList().

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Next()

Next.

##### Declaration

    public Element Next()

##### Returns

Type | Description
--- | ---
Element | a page Element or a 'NULL' element if the end of current-display list was reached. You may use GetType() to determine the type of the returned Element.

##### Remarks

Every call to ElementReader::Next() destroys the current Element. Therefore, an Element becomes invalid after subsequent ElementReader::Next() operation.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### PatternBegin(bool)

Pattern begin.

##### Declaration

    public void PatternBegin(bool fill_pattern)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
bool | fill_pattern | the fill_pattern

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### PatternBegin(bool, bool)

A method used to spawn the sub-display list representing the tiling pattern of the current element in the ElementReader. You can call this method at any point as long as the current element is valid.

##### Declaration

    public void PatternBegin(bool fill_pattern, bool reset_ctm_tfm)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
bool | fill_pattern | If true, the filling pattern of the current element will be spawned; otherwise, the stroking pattern of the current element will be spawned. Note that the graphics state will be inherited from the parent content stream (the content stream in which the pattern is defined as a resource) automatically.
bool | reset_ctm_tfm | An optional parameter used to indicate whether the pattern's display list should set its initial CTM and transformation matrices to identity matrix. In general, we should leave it to be false. To open a tiling pattern sub-display list use PatternBegin() method. The Next() returned Element will be the first Element in the pattern display list. Subsequent calls to Next() will traverse pattern's display list until NULL is encountered. At any point you can close the pattern sub-list using ElementReader::End() method. After the pattern display list is closed, the processing will return to the parent display list at the point where pattern display list was spawned.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

#### Type3FontBegin(CharData)

A method used to spawn a sub-display list representing a Type3 Font glyph. You can call this method at any point as long as the current element in the ElementReader is a text element whose font type is type 3.

##### Declaration

    public void Type3FontBegin(CharData char_data)

##### Parameters

Type | Name | Description
--- | --- | ---
CharData | char_data | The information about the glyph to process. You can get this information by dereferencing a CharIterator.

##### Exceptions

Type | Condition
--- | ---
PDFNetException | PDFNetException the PDFNet exception

### Implements

IDisposable