PCL to TIFF or PDF Converter in .NET

Hello,
I am trying a evaulation copy of Group Docs for PCL to tiff converter.
We use C# with a legacy Visual studio 4 framework
I tried the version 19.9 and it seems to work with .net 4.0. I don’t need both .netstandard2.0 and .net framework right?. I could just use .net Framework without .netstandard. Is that correct?

Secondly, my document has 27 pages. Does the trial version only allow for 3 pages? First of all how do I get an evaluation key? I am trying to replace an existing converter for our applicatoin.

Third, Currently I am converting PCL to PDF using this sample code to get a start and proof of concept but my goal is to convert it to TIFF. How long would a 27 page PCL document take to convert to PDF or Tiff?
In addition to the 27 page document, I also a couple of more documents one page PCL, 3 page PCL files. For the one page PCL file there is nothing written to the output path and the program is stuck at convert(outputPath, convertOptions). For the 3 page PCL I am getting this error “Font Line Printer is absent.”

Please suggest. Thank you.

var str = @“C:\Users\schalla\Desktop\customer\MyWorking.PCL”;
var outputPath = @“C:\Users\schalla\Desktop\customer\Myworking.pdf”;
using (Converter converter = new Converter(str))
{
// GroupDocs.Conversion.Options.Convert.TiffOptions convertOptions = new TiffOptions();
PdfConvertOptions convertOptions = new PdfConvertOptions();
converter.Convert(outputPath, convertOptions);

                // GroupDocs.Conversion.Options.Convert.TiffOptions tiffOptions = new TiffOptions();
                //// tiffOptions.Compression = TiffCompressionMethods.Ccitt4;
                //converter.Convert(outputPath, tiffOptions);
            }

Thank you

1 Like

@schalla123

Yes, it depends on your development environment.

There are some trial limitations. Please have a look at this evaluation limitations.

You can avail a temporary license here. Secondly, we’d recommend you to use latest API version.

Document conversion time depends on the source file. A document with clip arts, graphs or tabular content will take more time than a simple document (doesn’t matter if both files are of same size).
In order to further investigate this scenario, we need a problematic file. Could you please share sample PCL files?

Hello Atir,

I am happy to use the latest API if it supports .Net Framework 4.0.
I will work on getting a license key for trial first.

Attached is the PCL we are trying to convert to TIFF preferably. NonWorking.PCL and MyICWorking.PCL are for the same document. NonWorking.PCL is from a AS400 system to our print driver. MyICWorkingPCL is printed straight from the document to a print driver. It is a lengthy workflow but I hope to make some sense.
Sourcedocument -> AS400 ->Print driver -> TIFF (NonWorking.PCL)
Source document -> Print driver ->TIFF (MyWorking.PCL)

Source document is the same in both cases. The problem is not the PCL in both cases. It is our legacy converter PCL to TIFF converter. Our legacy converter doesn’t recognize something from the AS400 system and this is the reason we need a new converter.

Also, We also need some text parsing from PCL. If nothing works we can try PCL to PDF for text extraction and then PDF to TIFF.ToGroupDocs-Atir.7z (2.2 MB)

Thank you

@schalla123

Please have a look at these system requirements.
Secondly, we have logged this PCL to PDF/TIFF conversion issue in our internal issue tracking system with ID CONVERSIONNET-4629. You’ll be notified in case of any update.

Hi Atir,

Since you recommended that I use the latest API, I downloaded GroupDocs Conversion version 21.3.1 DLL’s. But this version does not have a folder for .net framework.
Your system requirements say that it supports .net 4.0 but are there no libraries for .net framework 4.0 except .netstandard2.0? VS2010 with .net 4.0 doesn’t support .net standard 2.0. How do your requirements say .net 4.0? Please clarify.

image.png (5.7 KB)
image.png (3.8 KB)

I have another question. That is my code and I don’t see any output from the convert. What am I missing? A license key? There is no error but the output file is not there.
Is it possible to please send me a sample which converts PCL to PDF or Tiff? Please. This is what I have and like I said there is no output file.

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // load the PCL file
            try
            {
                string licensePath = "GroupDocs.Total.Product.Family.lic";
                GroupDocs.Conversion.License license = new GroupDocs.Conversion.License();
                license.SetLicense(licensePath);
                var str = @"C:\Users\k1\Desktop\bank\TestBill.PCL";
                var outputPath = @"C:\Users\k1\Desktop\bank\TestBill.pdf";
                using (Converter converter = new Converter(str))
                {
                   // GroupDocs.Conversion.Options.Convert.TiffOptions convertOptions = new TiffOptions();
                   PdfConvertOptions convertOptions = new PdfConvertOptions();
                    
                    converter.Convert(outputPath, convertOptions);

                    // GroupDocs.Conversion.Options.Convert.TiffOptions tiffOptions = new TiffOptions();
                    //// tiffOptions.Compression = TiffCompressionMethods.Ccitt4;
                    //converter.Convert(outputPath, tiffOptions);
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e1)
            {
                
                throw e1;
            }
            finally
            {
                
            }
          
        }

Thank you

@schalla123

There’s a folder net20, please use that DLL or simply install the NuGet package.

Could you please share the problematic PCL and we’ll investigate it at our end?

Atir,

See attached is my test PCL. First of all I cannot get the converter to work with any PCL.
Do you mind sending me a sample PCL which your converter works with?

TestPCl.7z (1.6 KB)
Thank you

1 Like

@schalla123

This issue was reproduced at our end, we are already investigating it. You’ll be notified in case of any update.

Thank you Atir,
Although it is great that you are able to reproduce the issue, I still need some clarifications.

  1. Has the converter ever worked for any PCL? If yes, can you give me a working PCL please?.

  2. May I get an idea of how many customers do you have for a PCL to Tiff conversion using groupDocs? We want to know if we are the only consumers of this PCL to Tiff converter before our management proceeds with management decisions.

  3. My project is a winforms application and this is the code.

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    try
    {
    string licensePath = “GroupDocs.Total.Product.Family.lic”;
    GroupDocs.Conversion.License license = new GroupDocs.Conversion.License();
    license.SetLicense(licensePath);

                var str = @"TestBill.PCL";
                var outputPath = @"TestBill.tiff";
    
                var converter = new GroupDocs.Conversion.Converter(str);
              // var c= converter.GetDocumentInfo();
                var convertOptions = converter.GetPossibleConversions()["tiff"].ConvertOptions;
                converter.Convert(outputPath, convertOptions);
    
            }
            catch (Exception e1)
            {
    
                throw e1;
            }
            finally
            {
    
            }
        }
1 Like

@schalla123

Yes, the conversion process works but still the output has some issues (for example try this PCL file.zip (460 Bytes)). We are also investigating this with ticket ID CONVERSIONNET-4630. You’ll be notified as there’s any update.

A lot of customers are using GroupDocs.Conversion for .NET API for multiple file formats conversion. Hence, we are not sure how many of them are explicitly working with PCL to PDF or TIFF.

Hi Atir,

Thank you very much for the sample PCL. Is that a blank Tiff file? Do you have any other samples with some data so I can show it to the team.

The sample TestBill.PCL is just a sample I found off the internet when I was testing other PageTech PCLworks. I don’t really need that TestBill.PCL resolved unless you want to make your product solid.

Attached is our real test case with 27 pages and I would need this resolved. Since it has 27 pages and a trial shows 3, can you tell me how it shows for your licensed copy? I have attached both PCL’s again. The 27 pages have to show for both attached PCL’s. It is the same document printed from different sources (one is our print driver and another is a AS400 printer). Whatever converter we end up with has to be able to convert AS400 PCl’s to Tiff. I think this is the first issue ConversionNet- 4629.
ToGroupDocs-Atir.7z (2.2 MB)

Also, do you have a timeline on when this could be resolved?

@schalla123

No, that’s what we mentioned in earlier message that there are some issues with the output and we are investigating it.

We are not getting any output. Conversion process stuck at converter.Convert(@"D:\output.pdf", options);

All the free support issues are handled on first come first served basis. You’ll be notified in case of any update.

Hi Atir,

In order for me to further continue my effort with groupdocs, does your converter pcl to tiff recognize or extract text?. We need the text to be available in an object in the code so we can further process and identify based on text.

@schalla123

API doesn’t support such a feature. However, we’ve logged a ticket in our internal issue tracking system to check if this could be implemented in future or not (or if there’s a workaround). Your investigation ticket ID is CONVERSIONNET-4634.