Is Perl's CAM::PDF able to aggregate Annotation objects?

Question

I have several copies of the same PDF file. These copies have annotations in it (Rect type with pop-up comments).

I want to know if I can get all these annotations from these copies and aggregate them into a single master copy using CAM::PDF (or another free tool).

an example to illustrate: I have file1_userA.pdf and file1_userB.pdf. They are both annotated.

I want to generate file1_allusers.pdf aggregating annotations from both files file1_userA.pdf and file1_userB.pdf. ps: I have the original un-annotated copy.

-- EDIT (Aug, 4):

I have developed an extension for CAM::PDF, namely CAM::PDF::Annot. It 'use base's CAM::PDF and adds extra functionality regarding Drawing Markup Annotations.

I am in the process of tidying up the code so I can post it to CPAN.

-- EDIT (Aug, 19)

I have finally submitted it to PAUSE, but I am running into some world writable related problems...

In any case, if anyone is interested in taking a look at the code, I will try and make it available somewhere... until then, just PM me and I will mail it to you.

geez, i'm getting such a thrill posting a module to cpan... i found the joy of working in working with Perl...

best regards,

Donato Azevedo

Answer 1

Hi, I'm the author of CAM::PDF. I have built only very limited support for annotations to date, specifically just for form field filling. So, no, that's not a supported feature today. The feature you describe is very interesting, though, and I can imagine that others would use it too, so I'd be interested in discussing it further with you offline.