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Split Document with Patch Codes - Console C#

This tutorial shows how to process patch codes in a document and apply the associated action in a C# Windows Console application using the LEADTOOLS SDK.

Note

When scanning a document with many pages, is best for organizational purposes to split the document into separate pages.

Overview
Summary	This tutorial covers how to use the LEADTOOLS Barcode SDK technology to process patch codes in a C# Windows Console application.
Completion Time	15 minutes
Visual Studio Project	Download tutorial project (3 KB)
Platform	Windows Console C# Application
IDE	Visual Studio 2019, 2022
Development License	Download LEADTOOLS
Try it in another language	C#: .NET Framework (Console) Apple: macOS Console C API: C DLL (Windows)

Required Knowledge

Get familiar with the basic steps of creating a project by reviewing the Add References and Set a License tutorial, before working on the Split Document with Patch Codes - Console C# tutorial.

Create the Project and Add LEADTOOLS References

Start with a copy of the project created in the Add References and Set a License tutorial. If that project is unavailable, follow the steps in that tutorial to create it.

The references needed depend upon the purpose of the project. References can be added by one or the other of the following two methods (but not both).

If using NuGet references, this tutorial requires the following NuGet package:

Leadtools.Barcode

If using local DLL references, the following DLLs are needed.

The DLLs are located at <INSTALL_DIR>\LEADTOOLS22\Bin\Dotnet4\x64:

Leadtools.dll
Leadtools.Barcode.dll
Leadtools.Barcode.OneD.dll
Leadtools.Codecs.dll
Leadtools.Codecs.Fax.dll
Leadtools.Codecs.Png.dll
Leadtools.Codecs.Tif.dll

For a complete list of which DLL files are required for your application, refer to Files to be Included With Your Application.

Set the License File

The License unlocks the features needed for the project. It must be set before any toolkit function is called. For details including tutorials for different platforms, refer to Setting a Runtime License.

There are two types of runtime licenses:

Evaluation license, obtained at the time the evaluation toolkit is downloaded. It allows the toolkit to be evaluated.
Deployment license. If a Deployment license file and developer key are needed, refer to Obtaining a License.

Add the Split Document Code

With the project created, the references added, and the license set, coding can begin.

In the Solution Explorer, open Program.cs. Add the following statements to the using block at the top.

// Using block at the top 
using System; 
using System.IO; 
using Leadtools; 
using Leadtools.Barcode; 
using Leadtools.Codecs;

Add the code below to the Main() method to load each page of the given image. For the purposes of this tutorial you can use this sample image.

static void Main(string[] args) 
{ 
   try 
   { 
      string _inputFile = @"INPUT DOCUMENT FILE PATH"; 
      SetLicense(); 
      SplitPatchDocument(_inputFile); 
   } 
   catch (Exception ex) 
   { 
      Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); 
   } 
   Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit..."); 
   Console.ReadKey(true); 
}

Add a new method called SplitPatchDocument() and then call the new method in the Main() method, as shown above. Add the below code to run patch code detection and split the document based on the results.

public static void SplitPatchDocument(string _inputFile) 
{ 
   using (RasterCodecs _codecs = new RasterCodecs()) 
   { 
      // Get page information 
      CodecsImageInfo _info = _codecs.GetInformation(_inputFile, true); 
 
      int fromPage = 1; 
 
      for (int _pageNum = 1; _pageNum <= _info.TotalPages; ++_pageNum) 
      { 
         // Load image page 
         RasterImage _image = _codecs.Load(_inputFile, _pageNum); 
 
         // Check for patch code 
         BarcodeEngine engine = new BarcodeEngine(); 
         BarcodeReader barcodeReader = engine.Reader; 
         BarcodeData[] data = barcodeReader.ReadBarcodes(_image, LeadRect.Empty, 0, new BarcodeSymbology[] { BarcodeSymbology.PatchCode }); 
 
         // If a patch code is present, change filename suffix to start writing to a new file 
         if (data.Length > 0) 
            fromPage = _pageNum; 
         else 
         { 
            // Append image page to current portion 
            string filename = string.Format("split_fromPage{0}.tif", fromPage); 
            string _splitDir = Path.Combine(@"C:\Temp\", filename); 
            _codecs.Save(_image, _splitDir, RasterImageFormat.Tif, 0, 1, -1, 1, CodecsSavePageMode.Append); 
         } 
      } 
   } 
}

Note

Since Patch Codes are commonly used when scanning documents. It might be of interest to use the code for the SplitPatchDocument(RasterImage image) method with the AcquirePage event handler of a TWAIN or WIA session. For more details, see the Acquire an Image From a TWAIN Source tutorial.

Handling Streams

To handle the files using MemoryStream, add a new method called SplitPatchDocumentStream and modify the existing code in the Main() method to call the new method:

static void Main(string[] args) 
{ 
   try 
   { 
      string _inputFile = @"INPUT DOCUMENT FILE PATH"; 
      SetLicense(); 
      byte[] _inputData = File.ReadAllBytes(_inputFile); 
      using (MemoryStream _inputStream = new MemoryStream(_inputData)) 
         SplitPatchDocumentStream(_inputStream); 
   } 
   catch (Exception ex) 
   { 
      Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); 
   } 
   Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit..."); 
   Console.ReadKey(true); 
} 
 
public static void SplitPatchDocumentStream(Stream _inputStream) 
{ 
   using (RasterCodecs _codecs = new RasterCodecs()) 
   { 
      // Get page information 
      CodecsImageInfo _info = _codecs.GetInformation(_inputStream, true); 
 
      // Open output Memory Stream that will hold each split portion 
      MemoryStream _outputStream = new MemoryStream(); 
 
      int fromPage = 1; 
 
      for (int _pageNum = 1; _pageNum <= _info.TotalPages; ++_pageNum) 
      { 
         // Load image page 
         RasterImage _image = _codecs.Load(_inputStream, _pageNum); 
 
         // Check for patch code 
         BarcodeEngine engine = new BarcodeEngine(); 
         BarcodeReader barcodeReader = engine.Reader; 
         BarcodeData[] data = barcodeReader.ReadBarcodes(_image, LeadRect.Empty, 0, new BarcodeSymbology[] { BarcodeSymbology.PatchCode }); 
 
         // If a patch code is present, change filename suffix to start writing to a new file 
         if (data.Length > 0) 
         { 
            // Use the output Memory Stream containing the intermediate portion here before it is cleared for the next portion 
            _outputStream.Dispose(); 
            _outputStream.Close(); 
            _outputStream = new MemoryStream(); 
 
            fromPage = _pageNum; 
         } 
         else 
         { 
            // Append image page to current portion 
            _codecs.Save(_image, _outputStream, RasterImageFormat.Tif, 0, 1, -1, 1, CodecsSavePageMode.Append); 
         } 
      } 
      // Use the output Memory Stream containing the final portion here before final stream is freed and closed 
      _outputStream.Dispose(); 
      _outputStream.Close(); 
   } 
}

Run the Project

Run the project by pressing F5, or by selecting Debug -> Start Debugging.

If the steps were followed correctly, the application runs and splits the input sample document according to the barcode detection results.

Wrap-Up

This tutorial showed how to use the BarcodeData class with the BarcodeSymbology enumeration.