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It would be far easier to get the original document[s], and edit them.

Because you want to replace hidden text, I'll assume that making the
existing text invisible isn't sufficient.  It has to be GONE.  Right?

Okay.  PDF pages are described in a postscript-like language.  That means
that the positioning of a given element can affect anything that appears
after it.  It also means that text does not have to be described in any
particular order.  It's legal to draw all the 'a's, then all the 'b's, and
so on (I've never heard of this being done, but it's possible).

It's still possible, just very difficult.  A number of third parties are
doing it in various ways, though they may not be removing the text either
(just hiding the original).

Programmatically speaking, you'd have to locate all the target text, and
replace it with whitespace of the exact same length (to maintain the rest of
the page).  You can then draw in your new text, and hope it doesn't run over
the remaining text in that line.

It sounds to me like you're just changing text inside figures (based on your
one example), so the whole 'rest of the line' issue probably doesn't apply
to you.  But that doesn't explain why you want to remove hidden text too.

Conclusion: Tough problem... get a third-party tool, or be prepared to
undertake a "non-trivial" programming task.  I'd guess that someone
experienced in the relevant APIs (acrobat, not windows) could come up with a
solution in a time frame measured in months (3 maybe).  And it sounds like
you're at the bottom of this particular learning curve.  (And if you base
any kind of schedule on my off-the-cuff estimate, don't come crying to me
when it's wrong, because it almost certainly IS wrong).

Even if you do program the thing yourself, you're still going to have to buy
a copy of Acrobat (Reader won't cut it, you need the full version)... so if
you can find a comparably priced tool, I'd take it... unless of course you
already have Acrobat.

Acrobat also makes it possible to edit these things by hand.  You might want
to look at getting a couple seats of acrobat and a couple digital migrant
workers.

--Mark Storer
  Software Engineer
  Cardiff Software
#include <disclaimer>
typdef std::disclaimer<Cardiff> Discard;


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon Anderson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003 8:46 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: [PDFdev] Searching and Replacing text in PDF Doc
> Programmatically
> 
> 
> 
> PDFdev is a service provided by PDFzone.com | http://www.pdfzone.com
> _____________________________________________________________
> 
> It could be done (not easily) if you had layout rules and possibly
> restrictions for the replaced text.
> 
> Jon Anderson
> http://www.bengtcg.com
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Khalid Abdul Hai
> > Sent: Mon, September 08, 2003 7:57 AM
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: [PDFdev] Searching and Replacing text in PDF Doc
> > Programmatically
> >
> >
> >
> > PDFdev is a service provided by PDFzone.com | http://www.pdfzone.com
> > _____________________________________________________________
> >
> > Team,
> >
> > We are in urgent requirement to suggest the possible
> > solution to our customer for following scenarios.
> >
> > 1. To search /find the text (May not be visible in PDF
> > documet) with in the PDF file programmatically (Windows).
> > Eg: Like coordinates of a box or a figure.
> >
> > 2. To replace this text programmatically (Windows).
> >
> > Please advise and suggest the possible solutions and
> > references to go ahead with this.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Khalid
> >
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________
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