OutputTarget (PDFTextStream API Reference)

java.lang.Object
- com.snowtide.pdf.OutputHandler
- - com.snowtide.pdf.OutputTarget

Direct Known Subclasses:

SelectionOutputTarget
```
public class OutputTarget
extends OutputHandler
```
This is a base OutputHandler implementation that provides a common output interface for Writer and Appendable instances (such as StringBuilders and StringBuffers), allowing PDFTextStream to easily redirect output to either type of object. Not only does using an OutputTarget simplify your code, but it also minimizes the internal buffering that PDFTextStream might otherwise perform when being used as a java.io.Reader implementation.

Note that since this class provides a baseline OutputHandler implementation that will direct all text content to the provided Writer or Appendable, it is the ideal place to start when building a custom OutputHandler implementation. See the XMLOutputTarget class as an example of how this can be done.

Finally, please note that OutputTarget does not make any attempt to retain the visual layout or formatting of the text extracted from PDF documents. This OutputHandler implementation is focused on:
- Maximum performance
- Ensuring that extracted PDF text is yielded with the proper segmentation and read-ordering, for the benefit of most users whose applications are sensitive to the semantic ordering of the PDF content. This includes search, text analytics, summarization tools, and similar applications.
If your application requires PDF text extracts that retain the visual appearance of the text as it is laid out on each page, then VisualOutputTarget would be more suitable.

Example usage:
```
 StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(1024);
 OutputTarget tgt = new OutputTarget(sb);
 
 PDFTextStream stream = new PDFTextStream();
 stream.pipe(tgt);
 stream.close();
 
  // do something with the extracted text...
 processText(sb);
 
```
Version:

©2004-2012 Snowtide Informatics Systems, Inc.

See Also:
PDFTextStream.pipe(OutputHandler), Page.pipe(OutputHandler), Block.pipe(OutputHandler), Line.pipe(OutputHandler)

Constructor Summary

Constructors
Constructor and Description
`OutputTarget(java.lang.Appendable sb)` Creates a new OutputTarget that directs output to the given `java.lang.Appendable` instance.
`OutputTarget(java.io.Writer w)` Creates a new OutputTarget that directs output to the given `java.io.Writer` instance.

Method Summary

Methods
Modifier and Type	Method and Description
`void`	`endPage(Page page)` Invoked when PDFTextStream has finished processing a page
`static OutputTarget`	`forBuffer(java.lang.Appendable sb)` Deprecated. use `OutputTarget(Appendable)`
`static OutputTarget`	`forWriter(java.io.Writer w)` Deprecated. use `OutputTarget(Writer)` instead
`PDFTextStreamConfig`	`getConfig()` Returns the `PDFTextStreamConfig` instance that this `OutputTarget` is currently using.
`java.lang.Object`	`getObject()` Returns the output object that this instance wraps; will be an instance of either `java.io.Writer` or `java.lang.Appendable`.
`void`	`linebreaks(int linebreakCnt)` Default implementation that writes specified number of line breaks (using the `linebreak String provided by the current configuration`) to the `java.io.Writer` or `java.lang.Appendable` object that this OutputTarget wraps.
`void`	`setConfig(PDFTextStreamConfig config)` Sets the `PDFTextStreamConfig` instance this `OutputTarget` should use.
`void`	`spaces(int spaceCnt)` Default implementation that writes specified number of spaces to the `java.io.Writer` or `java.lang.Appendable` object that this OutputTarget wraps.
`void`	`startPage(Page page)` Invoked when a page is about to be processed.
`void`	`textUnit(TextUnit tu)` Default implementation that writes the character run specified by the given `TextUnit` instance to the `java.io.Writer` or `java.lang.Appendable` object that this OutputTarget wraps.
`void`	`write(char c)` Writes the provided character to the wrapped output object.
`void`	`write(char[] buf)` Writes the provided character data to the wrapped output object.
`void`	`write(char[] buf, int start, int len)` Writes the provided character data to the wrapped output object.
`void`	`write(java.lang.CharSequence sb)` Writes the provided CharSequence's character data to the wrapped output object.
`void`	`write(java.lang.String str)` Writes the provided String's character data to the wrapped output object.

Methods inherited from class com.snowtide.pdf.OutputHandler
endBlock, endLine, endPDF, startBlock, startLine, startPDF

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

- Constructor Detail
  - OutputTarget
```
public OutputTarget(java.io.Writer w)
```
    Creates a new OutputTarget that directs output to the given java.io.Writer instance.
  - OutputTarget
```
public OutputTarget(java.lang.Appendable sb)
```
    Creates a new OutputTarget that directs output to the given java.lang.Appendable instance.
- Method Detail
  - forWriter
```
public static OutputTarget forWriter(java.io.Writer w)
```
    Deprecated. use OutputTarget(Writer) instead
    
    Creates a new OutputTarget that wraps a java.io.Writer instance.
  - forBuffer
```
public static OutputTarget forBuffer(java.lang.Appendable sb)
```
    Deprecated. use OutputTarget(Appendable)
    
    Creates a new OutputTarget that wraps a java.lang.Appendable instance.
  - write
```
public void write(java.lang.String str)
           throws java.io.IOException
```
    Writes the provided String's character data to the wrapped output object.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a java.io.Writer instance.
  - write
```
public void write(java.lang.CharSequence sb)
           throws java.io.IOException
```
    Writes the provided CharSequence's character data to the wrapped output object.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a java.io.Writer instance.
  - write
```
public void write(char[] buf,
         int start,
         int len)
           throws java.io.IOException
```
    Writes the provided character data to the wrapped output object.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a java.io.Writer instance.
  - write
```
public final void write(char[] buf)
                 throws java.io.IOException
```
    Writes the provided character data to the wrapped output object.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a java.io.Writer instance.
  - write
```
public void write(char c)
           throws java.io.IOException
```
    Writes the provided character to the wrapped output object.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - - if an error occurs writing the character; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a java.io.Writer instance.
  - getObject
```
public java.lang.Object getObject()
```
    Returns the output object that this instance wraps; will be an instance of either java.io.Writer or java.lang.Appendable.
  - textUnit
```
public void textUnit(TextUnit tu)
```
    Default implementation that writes the character run specified by the given TextUnit instance to the java.io.Writer or java.lang.Appendable object that this OutputTarget wraps.
    
    This implementation is very straightforward; it is provided here for illustrative purposes only:
```
 if (tu.getCharacterSequence() == null) {
     // no mapped sequence, append direct character code conversion
     int cc = tu.getCharCode();
     if (cc >= 32) write((char)cc);
 } else {
     write(tu.getCharacterSequence());
 }
 
```
    Overrides:
    
    textUnit in class OutputHandler
  - spaces
```
public void spaces(int spaceCnt)
```
    Default implementation that writes specified number of spaces to the java.io.Writer or java.lang.Appendable object that this OutputTarget wraps.
    
    Overrides:
    
    spaces in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    spaceCnt - - the number of spaces that PDFTextStream recommends should be outputted
  - linebreaks
```
public void linebreaks(int linebreakCnt)
```
    Default implementation that writes specified number of line breaks (using the linebreak String provided by the current configuration) to the java.io.Writer or java.lang.Appendable object that this OutputTarget wraps.
    
    Overrides:
    
    linebreaks in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    linebreakCnt - - the number of line breaks that PDFTextStream recommends should be outputted
  - startPage
```
public void startPage(Page page)
```
    Description copied from class: OutputHandler
    
    Invoked when a page is about to be processed.
    
    Overrides:
    
    startPage in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    page - - a reference to the Page that is about to be processed
  - endPage
```
public void endPage(Page page)
```
    Description copied from class: OutputHandler
    
    Invoked when PDFTextStream has finished processing a page
    
    Overrides:
    
    endPage in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    page - - a reference to the Page that has been processed
  - getConfig
```
public PDFTextStreamConfig getConfig()
```
    Returns the PDFTextStreamConfig instance that this OutputTarget is currently using. Please note that unless an OutputTarget instance is explicitly provided with a particular configuration via setConfig(PDFTextStreamConfig), it will synchronize its configuration with the configuration of a PDFTextStream instance any time an OutputTarget is provided to either PDFTextStream.pipe(OutputHandler) or Page.pipe(OutputHandler).
    
    If an OutputTarget is to be used to pipe content only from Block contexts, then it will use the default PDFTextStreamConfig instance until a different configuration is set via setConfig(PDFTextStreamConfig).
  - setConfig
```
public void setConfig(PDFTextStreamConfig config)
```
    Sets the PDFTextStreamConfig instance this OutputTarget should use. Once this OutputTarget instance's configuration is set using this function, it will cease to synchronize its configuration with the configuration provided by PDFTextStream and Page objects from which it is used to pipe content.

Class OutputTarget

Constructor Summary

Method Summary

Methods inherited from class com.snowtide.pdf.OutputHandler

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

Constructor Detail

OutputTarget

OutputTarget

Method Detail

forWriter

forBuffer

write

write

write

write

write

getObject

textUnit

spaces

linebreaks

startPage

endPage

getConfig

setConfig