So far we have only used FileConverterPro (FCpro) as a Windows service with a REST/SOAP web service interface. Now we have also made it an independent C# / .NET component. This allows us to implement all document conversion functions available in FileConverterPro (FCpro) directly in other applications. Based on this, we will soon create the FCpro converter as an independent application with a command line and as a Windows service with directory monitoring (hotfolder). We will also integrate this converter component directly into PDFMerge / EasyMerge or in EMailArchiver and other applications.

This FCpro C# / .NET component is not offered by us as an independent product and is only used in our applications and in individual software projects. An example & test application is available for the FCpro converter component, with which all FCpro conversion functions can be tried out interactively.

 

Functions of the FCpro component test application:

• Standalone test application to interactively test the FCpro PDF & to be able to test PDF/A conversion functions
• Creates – PDF, PDF/A, text, image preview, thumbnail view from various file and container formats (ZIP, EML, MSG…)
• FCpro convert profile functions: create, copy, edit, export/import profile
• Configuration of the number of parallel processes for conversion
• One or more files can be dragged & Drop area to be dragged. The resulting files (PDF, TXT, JPEG, PNG) are placed in the source file folder.

Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) Component test application ~600MB >>>
Download – OmniPage OCR Engine as an option for FCpro (ca. 235MB) >>>

New features of FCpro version 1.0.118:

• Extensions for placeholder pages when processing container (ZIP, MSG, EML..) files – Previously, container files in which one of the contained files could not be converted or could not be processed further could not be processed , only be selected whether a placeholder page is inserted or not. The status of the job never showed an error and a PDF result file was always generated. In the job query, there was no additional information about whether individual parts were not converted or whether placeholder pages were inserted.

The FCpro conversion profile can now be configured:

• • Whether to include placeholder pages or not.
  • Whether always a PDF result file (with or without placeholder pages), or whether no PDF should be generated. If a component of the container cannot be converted or processed, the job receives the status “Error”,
  • In addition to files that cannot be converted, PDF files that cannot be processed further are also recognized for containers. e.g. if they have a PDF restriction / password protection and therefore cannot be combined into one PDF file.
  • A separate placeholder page log can be activated on the server in which the use of placeholder pages is logged.
  • Every use of a placeholder page can also be logged via an SMTP email.
  • If a placeholder page was added to a job, you get this information via the web service job query.

   

• Web Service – REST – Improvements / Enhancements:

REST endpoint UploadJobEx6 – Previously, some parameters were always overwritten by the FCpro service if they were not configured. This has now been changed so that only those parameters that are passed and set via the REST endpoint UploadJobEx6 overwrite the job parameters.

GetJob function(jobGuid) call provides more information:

There are some new lines in the job information

• • PlaceholderUsed (true/false)
  • ProcessId
  • ProcessName
  • SettingsName (name of the FCpro converter profile used)

ProcessName provides information about which converter was used to convert the PDF. Either “FileConverterPro” (internal) or by an “external” component (e.g. MS Office)

Sample response to a GetJob function(jobGuid) call:

{
“GetJobResult”: {
“ConversionStartedDate”: “/Date(1637056353767+0200)/”,
“ConversionStartedDateISO”: “2021-11-16T11:52:33+02:00”,
“CreationDate”: “/Date(1637056352797+0200)/”,
“CreationDateISO”: “2021-11-16T11:52:32+02:00”,
“Errors”: “”,
“FinishedDate”: “/Date(1637056366843+0200)/”,
“FinishedDateISO”: “2021-11-16T11:52:46+02:00”,
“JobGuid”: “84726eef-0383-4094-b15f-de7ce122dce7”,
“JobID”: 255,
“JobLabel”: “C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Local\\DropConverterProE\\Downloads\\211116-115230\\20211116115232058.pdf”,
“PageCount”: 1,
“PdfData”: null,
“PlaceholderUsed”: false,
“ProcessId”: -1,
“ProcessName”: “FileConverterPro”,
“SettingsName”: “default”,
“Status”: 5,
“UserName”: “admin”
}
}

 

• Update of all basic components (PDF2PDFA</a >, OCR, PDFCompressor, PDFSign )

• Quit MS Office automatically – Sometimes it happens that the FCpro service is installed on a workstation on which a user is working. During FCPro processing, MS Office applications are “cleaned up” at regular intervals and automatically terminated. Previously also if MS Office was not configured and used as a converter. That has now changed. MS Office processes are only cleaned up if MS Office is also configured and used as a converter.

• Common PDF2PDFA component – The FCpro PDF to PDF/A converter was developed by our PDF2PDFA standard component to use the same unified converter in all our applications. FCpro is now also able to create ZUGFeRD 2.1.1-compliant files with XRechnung profiles.

• FCPro version number can be used as a variable for the creator / creator field to be able to store in the PDF with which FCpro version the document was created.

• SWF – Flash file generation has been removed – Since the Flash SWF format is no longer supported in IT for security reasons, the generation of this additional file format has been removed from all FCpro functions.

• iOCR – Recognizing and correcting defective text in existing PDFs – For more information, see AutoOCR >>>

• Terminating OCR processes that have been running for too long due to timeout – If the OCR process for a job takes too long and the specified timeout value is reached, the job and all associated sub-processes are aborted terminated automatically.

Corrections and bug fixes:

• Access problems have arisen with the parallel processing of ZIP containers, with TIFF files and parallel processes. – Error “Can not access the file”
• The PDF (password) protection was not executed for the PDFExport settings and PDFSign.
• The container sorting (ZIP, MSG, EML…) by file name / folder did not work.
• The configurable JPEG quality settings for the additional preview and thumbnail images to be generated were not applied.
• Setup – When installing without an internet connection, the iOCR engine was not automatically installed.

Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) ~600MB >>>
Download – OmniPage OCR Engine als Option für FCpro (ca. 235MB) >>>

Innovations FCpro Version 1.0.108:

• Attach files: This makes it possible to attach one or more PDF files to the file generated by FCpro at the end and to return them as a complete PDF file. The conversion profile controls whether and which files are attached. An option controls whether the PDF export settings are only to be applied to the file converted by FCpro or to the entire file. Area of application e.g. be: to convert an MS-Word file to PDF. to store the stationery via the PDF export settings and to attach “General Terms and Conditions” via this function and to deliver it back as a complete file.

• Direct Export of the conversion results in a configurable folder: This function enables e.g. the asynchronous post-processing of the PDFs, e.g. via a downstream AutoOCR processing. For the initial processing, a PDF version without OCR and thus with a short processing time is returned via web service. The time-consuming, additional OCR processing that is required can then take place asynchronously in the background. The connection between the PDF files is retained via the unique JobID or GUID. The quickly generated preview can then be replaced by the OCRte PDF and exchanged. Variables for “JobID”, “GUID” and “Label Name” are available for naming the files. In addition to the PDF result, additional files with the text content, an image preview and an image miniature can also be output.

• Signed EML / MSG: The “smime.p7m” attachment in emails (MSG, EML) is ignored and no attempt is made to convert or no placeholder page is inserted for it.

• Update of the FCpro basic components – PDF2PDFA, OCR, PDFCompressor, PDFSign .

Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) ~600MB >>>
Download – OmniPage OCR Engine as option for FCpro (ca. 235MB) >>>

Innovations FCpro Version 1.0.98:

• DWG to PDF – option to repair the data structure. Some DWG files can only be converted to PDF after the data structure has been repaired. If DWG files cannot be converted, this option should be set. However, this increases the processing time.

 

• Email – adjustable time zone – local / UTC / individual: So far, the time display for email reception during PDF conversion was always given in UTC format. Now there is the possibility to configure the display of the time and thus adapt the display in PDF. “Local” – The local time of the FCpro server is used, “UTC” – The globally unique UTC time is taken. The location time is shown with the +/- correction and “Individual” – an individual location / time correction for the UTC representation can be selected.

 

• Convert individual pages / page area from MS Office documents: When converting MS Office files, there is now the option of converting only individual pages or a page area. The new UploadJobEx9 REST function is available for this. this supports both “direct” and “MS Office” conversion.

/UploadJobEx9?ext={ext}&settingsName={settingsName}&gfiName={gfiName}&maxPage={maxPage}&outExts={outExts}&label={label}&priority={priority}&pageFrom={pageFrom}&pageTo={pageTo}

pageFrom must be <= pageTo and pageFrom >= 1. example: pageFrom=1 and pageTo=2, – pages 1 and 2 are converted. If all pages are to be processed then PageFrom = 0 and PageTo = 0 must be set. The gfiname can remain empty.

• Download source file: Previously, only the files generated from the uploaded source file (PDF, TXT, JPEG, PNG) could be downloaded as a result of the processing. Now there is a web service function to download the original file again. The files uploaded for processing are retained for a set period of time and can therefore also serve as a backup if, for example the original file has already been deleted on the client.

GetResultEx(jobGuid, -1, false) returns the source file. The second parameter is the parameter for the result index that starts with 0. If the function is called with -1, the original file is returned. The third parameter is “removeFile”. However, this has no meaning when index = -1. The original file cannot be deleted using this web service function. The jobs and the associated files are automatically deleted by the server after a configured number of days.
GetResultExt(jobGuid, -1) provides the file extension of the original file, e.g .: docx, msg, etc.

• Display / call of the JobID: The files get a unique GUI-ID when uploading, which can be used to query the status and download the result files. The jobs are stored on the server in folders that are numbered using the job ID. To assign a folder on the FCpro server to a job, the server job (folder) ID is now also returned and displayed when the job is queried.

• Reprocessing of canceled jobs: As long as processing has not started for a job (status = uploaded), processing can be canceled. Jobs whose processing has already started (status = processing) can no longer be canceled. The web service function is now available to trigger the reprocessing of canceled jobs ReprocessCancelledJobs().

  

• Troubleshooting – Jobs / Temporary folder cleanup: If other than the default folders (work, job, temp folder) were configured, they have not been cleaned automatically after the preset time. This has been fixed.

Download – OmniPage OCR Engine als Option für FCpro (ca. 235MB) >>>
Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) ~600MB >>>

Innovations in FCpro version 1.0.93:

• Image processing integrated: Until now, individual image processing functions were part of the OCR engines. Now all image processing functions are generally available for all image to PDF conversions (with or without OCR) via independent ImageProcessing component, regardless of the OCR processing and the selected OCR engine. See overview of functions >>>.

 

• Digital signature – PDFSign component integrated: By integrating the PDFSign component, the generated PDF and PDF/A files can also be signed, confirmed, encrypted, provided with a password and restrictions. A time stamp can also be applied. The PDF signature can be visible or invisible. All signature settings are managed via profiles. In order to be able to use the PDF signature quickly and easily, you can create your own certificates directly from the component. As the FileConverterPro runs as a service, it must be ensured that the certificates for the (user) account used are also available and accessible. Like PDF/A, PDFCompressor and OCR, the PDFSign functionality is an option that must also be licensed. If there is no valid license, the PDF will be signed, but a demo stamp will be added. See overview of functions >>>

• Update of the basic components (PDF2PDFA, OCR, PDFCompressor) to the current status.

• Images embedded in the body of email messages are not processed as attachments. No additional pages are attached to the PDF for this.

• When rendering encrypted PDF files, AES 256 encrypted PDF files can now also be processed.

• In addition to the resolution, the image compression of the generated images can now be configured for PDF/A rendering.

• New REST/SOAP web service function to query jobs with multiple status values at once:
  • For REST GetAllJobs2?status=5,6,7…,
  • For SOAP GetAllJobs2?status is an int array (int[]) that is rendered in C#.

Download – OmniPage OCR Engine as option for FCpro (ca. 235MB) >>>
Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) ~600MB >>>

Innovations FCpro Version 1.0.91:

• Updated and corrected components for OCR, PDF to PDF/A, HTML to PDF and Office to PDF
• PDFCompressor functionality enables the PDF optimization and thus the generation of smallest, highly compressed PDF files. (Additional license required)

• Using the GenOCR component as a common basis with AutoOCR.
• OmniPage a very fast and accurate OCR engine: OmniPage can be licensed and unlocked in addition to the existing Tesseract iOCR. The additional OmniPage OCR setup must be downloaded and installed. Then the OmniPage OCR engine will be displayed as “Available” and can be used. The OmniPage standard license allows use on 64 bit Microsoft client operating systems – Windows 7/10 up to max. 25,000 pages per month.

• Order of email attachments in the total PDF document can be specified via a parameter. “None / Filename / Date & Time” are available. This determines whether the order in the PDF document is controlled by the order in the message or by the file name or the creation date and time of the attachments.

• Encrypted PDF can be processed via “Rendering”. Normally it is not possible to process an encrypted PDF without knowing the administrator password. Well protected, e.g. all functions except “Display” will be blocked. Via the display function it is possible to create a “rendering” of the PDF file. The PDF is converted to a PDF image file with underlying text, but then no longer has encryption and processing restrictions. However, PDF files that have password protection for viewing / opening can not be processed.

• Generating ZUGFeRD 2.0 E-Invoice PDF with selection of the ZUGFeRD profile (MINIMUM, BASIC WL, BASIC, EN 16931, EXTENDED).

• CHTML = Compressed HTML (ZIP file): Convert HTML to PDF incl. the locally referenced files / components with the help of a ZIP file with the extension CHTML = Compressed HTML. Several HTML files in the CHTML are merged into a PDF total file. The names of the HTML files contained in the CHTML determine the order in the result document. All external files referenced in the HTML must be included in the ZIP file.

• Proxy Support – When converting HTML documents or email messages (MSG, EML), it may be necessary for e.g. images from the Internet to be reloaded because they are externally referenced and not included in the message. Now a proxy can be configured and used for these internet accesses.

• Regular cleanup of temporary folders: Corrections have been made to periodically clean up the temporary folders used for processing to ensure that data does not accumulate over the longer term.
• PDF conversion of „Apple .Pages“ documents via LibreOffice.

 

• ZIP files created on Apple iOS are converted correctly. The “__MACOSX” folder and the “.DS_Store” file are ignored and not converted.
• Hyphenation: DOCX – direct conversion. If a hyphenation dictionary is missing or unassigned, the document can still be converted to PDF.
• REST web-service, job-label for placeholder pages: If a job can not be converted, either an error is reported or a placeholder page is returned. There is now an additional indicator “placeholder = true/false” for the job query via the REST API. With this, the job status “Successful” can be used to detect whether a placeholder page or the converted document has been returned.

Download – OmniPage OCR engine as option for FCpro (ca. 235MB) >>>
Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) ~600MB >>>

The FileConverterPro (FCpro) provides a central service for converting many document formats to PDF or PDF/A via its web service interface. The FCpro Explorer Extension (FCpro EE) is a free Windows client application available for the FCpro converter. The FCPro EE integrates MS-Windows clients, via the context menu in Windows Explorer, with the FCPro PDF conversion service and enables easy and direct PDF(/A) conversion for a variety of documents and container formats.

Download – FileConverterPro Explorer Extension (FCpro EE) >>>
Download – FileConverterPro (FCpro) ~150MB >>>