We often contacted by developers who are building a program that will look for document files in a folder and convert these files to PDF. To illustrate how this can be done we have made a small C# program that will do just that.

The example source code is not bullet proof. You will need to add your own configuration and error handling. Nevertheless it serves the purpose of showing how this problem can be solved.

When you run the program it will look for files in the input folder ..\bin\Debug\input and convert them to PDF documents in the output folder ..\bin\Debug\input. In case something goes wrong the input document is copied to the errors folder. If the conversion is a success, then the input document is copied to the done folder.

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Text;
    using System.IO;
    using pdf7.PdfWriter;
    using System.Reflection;
    
    namespace Converter
    {
        class Program
        {
            static void Main(string[] args)
            {
                string applicationFolder = 
                    new Uri(Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Program)).CodeBase)).LocalPath;
                string inputFolder = Path.Combine(applicationFolder, "input");
                string outputFolder = Path.Combine(applicationFolder, "output");
                string doneFolder = Path.Combine(applicationFolder, "done");
                string errorFolder = Path.Combine(applicationFolder, "errors");
    
                // Check that folders exist
                if (!Directory.Exists(inputFolder)) Directory.CreateDirectory(inputFolder);
                if (!Directory.Exists(outputFolder)) Directory.CreateDirectory(outputFolder);
                if (!Directory.Exists(doneFolder)) Directory.CreateDirectory(doneFolder);
                if (!Directory.Exists(errorFolder)) Directory.CreateDirectory(errorFolder);
    
                // Get the printer name
                string printerName = PdfUtil.DefaultPrinterName;
    
                // Get file names from input folder
                string[] inputFileNames = Directory.GetFiles(inputFolder);
    
                foreach (string inputFileName in inputFileNames)
                {
                    bool isError = false;
                    string errorMessage = null;
    
                    Console.Write(string.Format("Printing {0}... ", Path.GetFileName(inputFileName)));
    
                    string outputFileName = 
                        Path.Combine(outputFolder, Path.GetFileName(inputFileName) + ".pdf");
                    PdfSettings settings = new PdfSettings();
                    settings.PrinterName = printerName;
    
                    // Set the output file name
                    settings.SetValue("Output", outputFileName); 
    
                    // Disable all dialogs
                    settings.SetValue("ShowSettings", "never");
                    settings.SetValue("ShowSaveAS", "never");
                    settings.SetValue("ShowProgress", "no");
                    settings.SetValue("ShowProgressFinished", "no");
                    settings.SetValue("ShowPDF", "no");
                    settings.SetValue("ConfirmOverwrite", "no");
    
                    // Get the name of a status file and delete it if it already exist
                    string statusFileName = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "converter_status.ini");
                    if (File.Exists(statusFileName))
                        File.Delete(statusFileName);
    
                    // Make the printer write a status file
                    settings.SetValue("StatusFile", statusFileName);
    
                    // Write the settings to the printer
                    settings.WriteSettings(PdfSettingsFileType.RunOnce);
    
                    try
                    {
                        // Print the file using the associated program for the specific file type
                        PdfUtil.PrintFile(inputFileName, printerName);
    
                        // Wait for the status file to appear. This means that the print has finished
                        PdfUtil.WaitForFile(statusFileName, 60000);
    
                        // Check if output file exists
                        isError = !File.Exists(outputFileName);
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        isError = true;
                        errorMessage = ex.Message;
                    }
    
                    // Move the input file
                    if (isError)
                        File.Move(inputFileName, Path.Combine(errorFolder, Path.GetFileName(inputFileName)));
                    else
                        File.Move(inputFileName, Path.Combine(doneFolder, Path.GetFileName(inputFileName)));
    
                    // Write a status
                    if (isError)
                    {
                        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(errorMessage))
                            Console.WriteLine("Error");
                        else
                            Console.WriteLine(errorMessage);
                    }
                    else
                        Console.WriteLine("Done");
                }
            }
        }
    }
    

Example source files are included in the zip file that can be downloaded here.

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Example file 321.4 KB

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