Question

Is it possible to create a custom XML output?

Answer

During the export to XML, it is possible to either use the default XML schema or create a custom one.

Default XML Schema

You can find the XML schema in the FineReader10-schema-v1.xsd file. This file is located in the Inc folder (Start > Programs > ABBYY FineReader Engine 12 > Installation Folders > Include Files Folder). For the description of XML tags see the XML Schema Description.

Modifying the Default XML Schema

It is possible to use the following properties of the XMLExportParams object to add or remove some elements from the default XML schema:

WriteCharacterRecognitionVariants
WriteCharAttributes
WriteCharFormatting
WriteNondeskewedCoordinates
WriteWordRecognitionVariants

Full information is in FineReader Engine Help, chapter "API Reference → Parameter Objects → Export Parameters → XMLExportParams".

Custom XML Schema

It is also possible to use a custom schema, by typing it in a text editor such as StreamWriter and saving it as an XML file.

This is illustrated by the code sample below.

The sample code does the following:

Saves pictures from a recognized document separately;
writes an XML file that looks like
...
<RasterPicture>
<D:\pictures\1.jpg>
</RasterPicture>
...
Visual Basic Sample Code

Imports System.IO.StreamWriter
 
Private Sub Export(ByVal FRDocument As FREngine.FRDocument, ByVal filePath As String)
 
 ' Declare a FileStream and create a XML document file named file with access mode of writing
 Dim fs As New FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write)
 ' Create a new StreamWriter and pass the filestream object fs as argument
 Dim s As New StreamWriter(fs)
 
 ' Write text to the newly created file
 s.WriteLine("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>")
 
 Dim imagesFolderName As String
 imagesFolderName = …
 Dim imagesPath As String
 
 Dim Blocks As FREngine.LayoutBlocks
 
 For PagesIndex As Integer = 0 To FRDocument.Pages.Count - 1
 Blocks = FRDocument.Pages(PagesIndex).Layout.Blocks
 For BlocksIndex As Integer = 0 To Blocks.Count - 1
 If Blocks(BlocksIndex).Type = FREngine.BlockTypeEnum.BT_RasterPicture Then
 s.WriteLine("<RasterPicture>")
 Dim ImageModification As FREngine.ImageModification
 ImageModification = Engine.CreateImageModification
 ImageModification.AddClipRegion(Blocks(BlocksIndex).Region)
 imagesPath = …
 FRDocument.Pages(PagesIndex).ImageDocument.ColorImage.WriteToFile(imagesPath,
FRDocument.Pages(PagesIndex).ImageDocument.SourceImageFileFormat,
ImageModification)
 s.WriteLine("<" + imagesPath + ">")
 s.WriteLine("</RasterPicture>")
 End If
 Next BlocksIndex
 Next PagesIndex
 
 ' Close the file
 s.Close()
 End Sub