# PDF file manipulation

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-file-manipulation/68579>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [September 13, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-file-manipulation/68579 "2006-09-13T18:54:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mlopke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@mlopke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mlopke)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-file-manipulation/68579/1 "2006-09-13T18:54:52Z")

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I’ve looked at PDF::Writer, ruby FPDF, etc.

Are there any ruby tools for manipulation of existing PDF files? Php  
has the fpdi extention.

Thanks,  
Mike

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**Author:** ![mlopke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@mlopke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mlopke)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-file-manipulation/68579/2 "2006-09-13T20:02:02Z")

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Mike L. wrote:

> I’ve looked at PDF::Writer, ruby FPDF, etc.
> 
> Are there any ruby tools for manipulation of existing PDF files? Php  
> has the fpdi extention.
> 
> Thanks,  
> Mike
> 
> –  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).

If you can’t find any Ruby tools, then one way out, though could take  
more time and be difficult, depending on your level of skill with  
writing Ruby extensions, would be to find a C or C++ lib and wrap it as  
a Ruby extension.

A simpler way than writing a Ruby extension, though not trivial either,  
could be to do XML-RPC calls to a lib wrapped as an XML-RPC server,  
written in another language that has PDF manipulation support. This  
would have some performance overhead though.

Vasudev Ram

> **[dancingbison.com](http://ww38.dancingbison.com/)**
>
> Learn Python Programming

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mlopke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@mlopke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mlopke)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-file-manipulation/68579/3 "2006-09-13T21:30:50Z")

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vasudevram wrote:

> Mike L. wrote:
> 
> > I’ve looked at PDF::Writer, ruby FPDF, etc.
> > 
> > Are there any ruby tools for manipulation of existing PDF files? Php  
> > has the fpdi extention.
> > 
> > Thanks,  
> > Mike
> > 
> > –  
> > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
> 
> If you can’t find any Ruby tools, then one way out, though could take  
> more time and be difficult, depending on your level of skill with  
> writing Ruby extensions, would be to find a C or C++ lib and wrap it as  
> a Ruby extension.
> 
> A simpler way than writing a Ruby extension, though not trivial either,  
> could be to do XML-RPC calls to a lib wrapped as an XML-RPC server,  
> written in another language that has PDF manipulation support. This  
> would have some performance overhead though.
> 
> Vasudev Ram  
> [http://www.dancingbison.com](http://www.dancingbison.com)

I’ve also considered doing a port of the fpdi from php to ruby. A ruby  
version of the fpdf has already been done. I’ve no idea really how much  
work that would be, though. I just fishing a bit to see if there is any  
effort under way not to add this functionality.

Mike