find()

Method of the data object that finds the first occurrence of a string starting from the current position.

find(stringToFind, leftConstraint, rightConstraint)

Finds the first occurrence of a string starting from the current position. The search can be constrained to a series of characters (in a text file) or to a vertical strip (in a PDF file) located between the given constraints.
The method returns null if the string cannot be found. Otherwise it returns a RectValueText (if the data source is a text file) or RectValuePDF (if the data source is a PDF file) object. This object contains the absolute Left, Top, Right and Bottom coordinates of the smallest possible rectangle that completely encloses the first occurrence of the string. The coordinates are expressed in a number of characters if the data source is a text file, or in millimetres if the data source is a PDF file.

Partial matches are not allowed. The entire string must be found between the two constraint parameters.

The data.find() function only works on the current page. If the record contains several pages, you must create a loop that will perform a jump from one page to another to do a find() on each page.

stringToFind

String to find.

leftConstraint

Number indicating the left limit from which the search is performed. This is expressed in characters for a text file, or in millimetres for a PDF file.

rightConstraint

Number indicating the right limit to which the search is performed. This is expressed in characters for a text file, or in millimetres for a PDF file.

Examples

To look for the word "text" on an entire Letter page (8 1/2 x 11 inch), the syntax is:

data.find("text", 0, 216);

The numbers 0 and 216 are in millimeters and indicate the left and right limits (constraints) within which the search should be performed. In this example, these values represent the entire width of a page. Note that the smaller the area is, the faster the search is. So if you know that the word "text" is within 3 inches from the left edge of the page, provide the following:

data.find("text", 0, 76.2); //76.2mm =  3*25.4 mm

The return value of the function is:

Left=26,76, Top=149.77, Right=40,700001, Bottom=154.840302

These values represent the size of the rectangle that encloses the string in full, in millimeters relative to the upper left corner of the current page.