Parse PPD using vb or c# or vb.net?

[cainechow]

Hi.

I am attempting to parse PPD files for printer options. I am hoping to find a Microsoft solution, but all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[tgreer]

Any programming language on any platform that can do basic sequential file i/o can be used to "parse PPD files".



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

http://www.brownfedora.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting

 

[cainechow]

I suppose I should have been clearer that I didn't want to spend time writing the parsing methods my selfe and wanted to be lazy. I was looking for something like a PPD class or some such.

 

[tgreer]

I've never seen one. Plus, as each printer is different, I don't know what you could really return, generically.

Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

http://www.brownfedora.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting

 

[cainechow]

I know that Adobe has some sort of PPD sdk of some sort that has some kind of parser, but I am not feeling 500.00 rich enough to get it. I'll just have to see how I do writing my own parser.

If any one has any other ideas please don't hesitate to post.

 

[tgreer]

Since Adobe has abandoned PostScript development, I have no qualms about abandoning them! By all means write your own. PPDs are just text files.

Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

http://www.brownfedora.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting

 

[Guest_imported]

I wrote one a few years ago but it got lost. Wasn't too difficult- I used VB6.

I got the PPD spec from adobe.com. Once you understand the structure of the ppd, it's relatively simple to parse the file to look for the tags. You don't need to know anything about the printer and its specifics beforehand, because it's the structure you examine, and the printer specifics are the content of the ppd that you suck out.