OutputTarget (PDFxStream 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 directs all text extraction output to an Appendable of your choice, e.g. a Writer, StringBuilder, CharBuffer, and so on.

This 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.

Please note that OutputTarget makes no attempt to retain the visual layout or formatting of the text extracted from PDF documents. It 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:
```
 java.io.StringWriter text = new java.io.StringWriter(1024);
 OutputTarget tgt = new OutputTarget(text);
 
 Document pdf = com.snowtide.PDF.open();
 pdf.pipe(tgt);
 pdf.close();
 
  // do something with the extracted text...
 processText(text.toString());
 
```
Version:

©2004-2014 Snowtide

See Also:

Document.pipe(OutputHandler), Page.pipe(OutputHandler), Block.pipe(OutputHandler), Line.pipe(OutputHandler)

Field Summary

Fields
Modifier and Type Field and Description

protected java.lang.Appendable sink

Fields
Modifier and Type	Field and Description
`protected java.lang.Appendable`	`sink`

Constructor Summary

Constructors
Constructor and Description

OutputTarget(java.lang.Appendable sink)
Creates a new OutputTarget that directs output to the given Appendable instance.

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

Method Summary

All Methods Static Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods Deprecated Methods
Modifier and Type	Method and Description
`void`	`endPage(Page page)` Invoked when PDFxStream has finished processing a page
`static OutputTarget`	`forBuffer(java.lang.Appendable sb)` Deprecated. use `OutputTarget.OutputTarget(Appendable)`
`static OutputTarget`	`forWriter(java.io.Writer w)` Deprecated. use `OutputTarget.OutputTarget(Appendable)` instead
`Configuration`	`getConfig()` Returns the `Configuration` instance that this `OutputTarget` is currently using.
`java.lang.Appendable`	`getObject()` Returns the `Appendable` used to create this `OutputTarget`.
`void`	`linebreaks(int linebreakCnt)` Default implementation that writes specified number of line breaks (using the `linebreak String provided by the current configuration`) to the `Writer` or `Appendable` object that this OutputTarget wraps.
`void`	`setConfig(Configuration config)` Sets the `Configuration` instance this `OutputTarget` should use.
`void`	`spaces(int spaceCnt)` Default implementation that writes specified number of spaces to the `Writer` or `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 `Appendable` held by this `OutputTarget`.
`void`	`write(char c)` Writes the provided character to the `Appendable` used to create this `OutputTarget`.
`void`	`write(char[] buf)` Writes the provided character data to the `Appendable` used to create this `OutputTarget`.
`void`	`write(char[] buf, int start, int len)` Writes the provided character data to the `Appendable` used to create this `OutputTarget`.
`void`	`write(java.lang.CharSequence sb)` Writes the provided `CharSequence`'s character data to the `Appendable` used to create this `OutputTarget`.

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

- Field Detail
  - sink
```
protected final java.lang.Appendable sink
```
- Constructor Detail
  - OutputTarget
```
public OutputTarget(java.lang.Appendable sink)
```
    Creates a new OutputTarget that directs output to the given Appendable instance.
- Method Detail
  - forWriter
```
public static OutputTarget forWriter(java.io.Writer w)
```
    Deprecated. use OutputTarget.OutputTarget(Appendable) instead
    
    Creates a new OutputTarget that wraps a Writer instance.
  - forBuffer
```
public static OutputTarget forBuffer(java.lang.Appendable sb)
```
    Deprecated. use OutputTarget.OutputTarget(Appendable)
    
    Creates a new OutputTarget that wraps a Appendable instance.
  - write
```
public void write(java.lang.CharSequence sb)
```
    Writes the provided CharSequence's character data to the Appendable used to create this OutputTarget.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a Writer instance.
  - write
```
public void write(char[] buf,
                  int start,
                  int len)
```
    Writes the provided character data to the Appendable used to create this OutputTarget.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a Writer instance.
  - write
```
public final void write(char[] buf)
```
    Writes the provided character data to the Appendable used to create this OutputTarget.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - if an error occurs writing the character data; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a Writer instance.
  - write
```
public void write(char c)
```
    Writes the provided character to the Appendable used to create this OutputTarget.
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - if an error occurs writing the character; only possible in connection with an OutputTarget instance that wraps a Writer instance.
  - getObject
```
public java.lang.Appendable getObject()
```
    Returns the Appendable used to create this OutputTarget.
  - textUnit
```
public void textUnit(TextUnit tu)
```
    Default implementation that writes the character run specified by the given TextUnit instance to the Appendable held by this OutputTarget.
    
    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 Writer or Appendable object that this OutputTarget wraps.
    
    Overrides:
    
    spaces in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    
    spaceCnt - the number of spaces that PDFxStream 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 Writer or Appendable object that this OutputTarget wraps.
    
    Overrides:
    
    linebreaks in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    
    linebreakCnt - the number of line breaks that PDFxStream 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 PDFxStream has finished processing a page
    
    Overrides:
    
    endPage in class OutputHandler
    
    Parameters:
    
    page - a reference to the Page that has been processed
  - getConfig
```
public Configuration getConfig()
```
    Returns the Configuration instance that this OutputTarget is currently using. Unless an OutputTarget instance is explicitly provided with a particular configuration via OutputTarget.setConfig(Configuration), it will synchronize its configuration with the configuration of a Document instance any time an OutputTarget is provided to either Document.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 PDFxStreamConfig instance until a different configuration is set via OutputTarget.setConfig(Configuration).
  - setConfig
```
public void setConfig(Configuration config)
```
    Sets the Configuration 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 Document and Page objects from which it is used to pipe content.

Class OutputTarget

Field Summary

Constructor Summary

Method Summary

Methods inherited from class com.snowtide.pdf.OutputHandler

Field Detail

sink

Constructor Detail

OutputTarget

Method Detail

forWriter

forBuffer

write

write

write

write

getObject

textUnit

spaces

linebreaks

startPage

endPage

getConfig

setConfig