inserting an entir pdf into another by raw text manipulation - pdf

Question

I need to include a pdf into another pdf that is being created by text manipulation, not through a package. (In particular, I'm using livecode, which is well suited to the generation of the information I need, and can easily do text manipulation).
Once included, I will be adding additional objects (primarily text, but also a few small squares).
I only need to be able to access the included pdf by page and area, such as (200,200) to (400,400) of page 5; I don't need any access to its objects.
Simply appending to the pdf won't do the job, as I'll actually be including multiple source pdfs into a single pdf output with my addition.
I would like to simply make the original pdf an indirect object in the output pdf, and then refer to and use it. In particular, I would like to avoid having to "disassemble" the source pdf into components to build a new cross-reference table.
Can this be done? Or do I need to make new absolute references for each object in every dictionary, and to every reference to them? (I only need to be able to refer to regions and page, not the actual objects).
something that could be used on a one-time basis to convert an entire multi-page pdf wold also be a usable (but inferior) solution.
I've found that search engines aren't yielding usable results, as they are swamped with solutions for individual products, and not the pdf itself.

Answer 1

First of all, PDFs in general are not text data, they are binary. They may look textual as they contain identifiers built from ASCII values of words, but treating them as text, unless one and one's tools are extremely cautious, is a sure way to damage them.
But even if we assume such caution, unless your input PDFs are internally of a very simple and similar structure, creating code that allows to merge them and manipulate their content essentially is complexity-wise akin to creating a generic PDF library/package.
I would like to simply make the original pdf an indirect object in the output pdf, and then refer to and use it.
Putting them into one indirect object each would work if you needed them merely as an unchanged attachment. But you want to change them.
In particular, I would like to avoid having to "disassemble" the source pdf into components to build a new cross-reference table.
You will at least have to parse ("disassemble") the objects related to the pages you want to manipulate, add the manipulated versions thereof, and add cross references for the changed objects.
And you only mention cross reference tables. Don't forget that in case of a general solution you also have to be able to handle cross reference streams and object streams.
Or do I need to make new absolute references for each object in every dictionary, and to every reference to them? (I only need to be able to refer to regions and page, not the actual objects).
If you really want to merge the source PDFs into a target one, you'll indeed need to renumber the objects from most source PDFs.
If as a target a portable collection (aka portfolio) of the source PDFs would suffice, you might not need to do that. In that case you merely have to apply the changes you want to the source PDFs (by means of incremental updates, if you prefer), and then combine all those manipulated sources in a result portfolio.
I've found that search engines aren't yielding usable results
The cause most likely is that you underestimate the complexities of the format PDF. Combining and manipulating arbitrary existing PDFs usually requires you to use a third-party library or create the equivalent of such a library yourself.
Only manipulating existing PDFs is a bit easier, and so is combining PDFs in a portfolio. Nonetheless, even in this case you should have studied the PDF specification quite a bit.
Restricting oneself to string manipulations to implement this makes the task much more complex - I'd say impossible for generic PDFs, daring for PDFs of simple and similar build.