How to Use Ghostscript DLL to convert PDF to PDF/A

Question

How to user GhostScript DLL to convert PDF to PDF/A. I know I kind of have to call the exported function of gsdll32.dll whose name is gsapi_init_with_args, but how do i pass the right arguments? BTW, i'm using C#.

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 19 '11 at 00:07

3

pls, try to run this from the command line to test if it's doing what you need.

gswin32.exe -dPDFA -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=PDFA.pdf 1.pdf

A Simple C# Wrapper for Ghostscript

edited Jun 19 '11 at 00:07

Ken White

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answered Nov 13 '09 at 04:03

serge_gubenko

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Hi, I'm now using gsdll32.dll so no gswin32.exe is available. I have to call the gsapi_init_with_args. from the GhostScript website, i got something like this: gs -dPDFA -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOOUTERSAVE -dUseCIEColor -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=out-x3.pdf PDFA_def.ps input.pdf but when I use the arguments with gsapi_init_with_args the result PDF isn't right, it reports that it doesn't conform to any standard. So it's tricky. Anyone can help. – imgen Nov 13 '09 at 04:57
in fact it's not tricky at all, I gave you a command line for gswin32.exe in order to make sure -dPDFA and the rest of switches are working fine for you, you should have gswin32.exe with your installation as I see you're using ghostscript for win. Just run the line I gave you to check if it works. After you're shure the command works you can translate it into the gsapi_init_with_args call regards – serge_gubenko Nov 13 '09 at 14:23

Daniel Ballinger · Answer 2 · 2010-12-01T01:03:22.787

I've had it working using the following from ghostscriptsharp:

[DllImport("gsdll32.dll", EntryPoint = "gsapi_new_instance")]
private static extern int CreateAPIInstance(out IntPtr pinstance, IntPtr caller_handle);

[DllImport("gsdll32.dll", EntryPoint = "gsapi_init_with_args")]
private static extern int InitAPI(IntPtr instance, int argc, string[] argv);

[DllImport("gsdll32.dll", EntryPoint = "gsapi_exit")]
private static extern int ExitAPI(IntPtr instance);

[DllImport("gsdll32.dll", EntryPoint = "gsapi_delete_instance")]
private static extern void DeleteAPIInstance(IntPtr instance);

    private static void CallAPI(string[] args)
    {
        IntPtr gsInstancePtr;
        lock (resourceLock)
        {
            CreateAPIInstance(out gsInstancePtr, IntPtr.Zero);
            try
            {
                int result = InitAPI(gsInstancePtr, args.Length, args);

                if (result < 0)
                {
                    throw new ExternalException("Ghostscript conversion error", result);
                }
            }
            finally
            {
                Cleanup(gsInstancePtr);
            }
        }
    }

    private static object resourceLock = new object();

    private static void Cleanup(IntPtr gsInstancePtr)
    {
        ExitAPI(gsInstancePtr);
        DeleteAPIInstance(gsInstancePtr);
    }

args will be a array of strings like:

"-sDEVICE=pdfwrite"
"-dPDFA"
...

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 05 '10 at 21:46

Depends on what exact deviation from the standard your checker tools do report... You may need to alter your PDFA_def.ps to fit your environment (and you may need to dynamically re-write that file for every new PDF/A conversion). It's a short file, and well commented.

Try to add -Ic:/path/to/gsinstalldir/lib and the direct invocation of PDFA_def.ps to the commandline serge suggested:

 gswin32c.exe ^
    -Ic:/path/to/gsinstalldir/lib ^
    -dPDFA ^
    -dBATCH ^
    -dNOPAUSE ^
    -dUseCIEColor ^
    -sDEVICE=pdfwrite ^
    -sOutputFile=output-PDFA.pdf ^
    PDFA_def.gs ^
    input.pdf

or

 gswin32c.exe ^
    -Ic:/path/to/gsinstalldir/lib ^
    -dPDFA ^
    -dBATCH ^
    -dNOPAUSE ^
    -dUseCIEColor ^
    -sDEVICE=pdfwrite ^
    -sOutputFile=output-PDFA.pdf ^
    c:/path/to/customized/PDFA_def.gs ^
    input.pdf

Test commandline first, then do as serge recommended.

How to Use Ghostscript DLL to convert PDF to PDF/A

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