[Zope] indexing pdf files

[Kapil Thangavelu]

Terry Kerr wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I need to be able to index the text within pdf files.  I assume I will
> somehow use PrincipiaSearchSource, but I need to know how to get the
> text out of the pdf when it is uploaded to the ZODB.  Has anyone done
> this before?  Are there any packages around that I can use that run in
> python or at least on a linux box that I can pipe to and from?
> 
> terry
>


from xml2pdf there are a multitude of ways in python

XSLT - check out the ibm.com/developer xmlzone they have an article in
the education lib for transforming xml to pdf.

platypus packages from
http://www.reportlab.com/

they might give you some help in going the other way..

as for implementation... 

looking at a pdf in a text viewer it appears to be formating text and
encoded display strings. 

you could write a subclass of file, which read its content upon upload
stripping the formatting string and decoding the display strings and
storing that as a property to be indexed. 


Kapil