Automate PDF to Text VB.net - vb.net

Question

I'm currently using the below code in a VB.Net console app that takes the contents of a text file and extracts certain info and then exports it to a CSV.
All seems to work well but the problem is the file originally comes through as a PDF (only option possible) and i have to manually open the file in Adobe and 'Save as Text'.
Is there a way of either automating the conversion of PDF to text file or reading the PDF in place of the text file.
Any guidance or options would be appreciated
Dim iLine, iEnd, c, iField As Integer
Dim iSecs, iMax As Long
Dim sText, sTemp, sSchema As String
Dim sHotel, sEndDate, sMon, sPLU, sTots, sValue, sDept, sFile, sOutFile, sDesc As String
Dim tdate As Date
Dim con As New OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; Data Source=C:\temp\TX.accdb;")
Dim LUse As Boolean
sHotel = "Unknown Hotel"
sEndDate = "01/01/2015"
sMon = "MAR"
sPLU = ""
sTots = "0"
sValue = "0"
sDept = "Unknown Dept"
sDesc = ""
LUse = True
sTemp = ""
iField = 0
sSchema = "Chester"
'Open input file
sFile = "c:\temp\input.txt"
Dim InFile As New System.IO.StreamReader(sFile)
'Open lookup data table
con.Open()
Dim dbAdapter As OleDbDataAdapter = New OleDbDataAdapter( _
"SELECT * FROM Plookup", con)
Dim dsTX As DataSet = New DataSet()
Dim changes As DataTable
Dim cmdbuilder As OleDbCommandBuilder = New OleDbCommandBuilder(dbAdapter)
dbAdapter.FillSchema(dsTX, SchemaType.Source, "Plookup")
dbAdapter.Fill(dsTX, "Plookup")
Dim rstx As DataTable = dsTX.Tables(0)
iMax = rstx.Rows.Count
Dim productrow() As Data.DataRow
'Open Output file
iSecs = Timer
sOutFile = "c:\temp\TX" & Format$(Now, "yymmdd") & Trim$(Str$(iSecs)) & ".csv"
FileCopy(sFile, "c:\temp\TX" & Format$(Now, "yymmdd") & Trim$(Str$(iSecs)) & ".txt")
Dim OutFile As New System.IO.StreamWriter(sOutFile)
'Write header
OutFile.WriteLine("outlet,dept,epos,tots sold,total price,date of sales")
iLine = 0
Do While InFile.Peek() <> -1
'Read in text
iLine = iLine + 1
sText = InFile.ReadLine
sText = sText.Replace(",", "")
If Len(sText) > 2 And Len(sText) < 9 Then
If Mid$(sText, 3, 1) = "-" Then ' Department Name
sText = sText & Space(9 - Len(sText))
End If
End If
'Process all rows except header row - read data into array
If Len(sText) > 8 Then
Select Case Left(sText, 7)
Case "Consoli" ' Ignore
Case "Quanti " ' Ignore
Case "Group b" ' Ignore - but next row is the Hotel Name
iLine = iLine + 1
sText = InFile.ReadLine
sText = sText.Replace(",", "")
sHotel = Trim$(Left(sText, 20)) 'The username follows so we may truncate the hotel name
Case "Date ra" ' End date
sEndDate = Mid$(sText, 29, 2) & "/" & Mid$(sText, 32, 2) & "/" & Mid$(sText, 35, 4)
tdate = CDate(sEndDate).AddDays(-1)
sEndDate = tdate.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy")
Case Else 'Possible Code
If Mid$(sText, 3, 1) = "-" Then ' Department Name
sDept = Trim(sText)
Else
If IsNumeric(Left(sText, 7)) Then 'Got a code
sPLU = Trim(Str(Val(Left(sText, 7))))
'We don't know where the description ends as it contains spaces
'So best way is to start at the end and work back...
iEnd = Len(sText)
iField = 0
For c = iEnd To 9 Step -1
If Not (Mid(sText, c, 1) = " ") Or iField > 10 Then
sTemp = Mid(sText, c, 1) & sTemp
Else
iField = iField + 1
If iField = 9 Then
sValue = sTemp
ElseIf iField = 11 Then
sTots = sTemp
End If
sTemp = ""
End If
Next
If iField = 10 Then
sTots = Trim(sTemp)
sDesc = ""
Else
sDesc = Trim$(sTemp)
End If
'lookup code
productrow = rstx.Select("FileID = 'Chester' and PLU = '" & sPLU & "'")
If productrow.Length = 0 Then ' product not found
iMax = iMax + 1
rstx.Rows.Add(sSchema, sPLU, sDesc, False)
LUse = True
Else
LUse = Not productrow(0)("Exclude")
End If
If (Val(sTots) + Val(sValue) > 0) And LUse Then ' We have a non-zero sale or value and it is not excluded
OutFile.WriteLine(sHotel & "," & sDept & "," & sPLU & "," & sTots & "," & sValue & "," & sEndDate)
End If
End If
End If
End Select
End If
Loop
'dbAdapter.Update(dsTX.Tables(0))
'Close input / output csv files
'rstx.Rows.Add("303030", "Another Test", False)
dbAdapter.UpdateCommand = cmdbuilder.GetUpdateCommand(True)
dbAdapter.InsertCommand = cmdbuilder.GetInsertCommand(True)
dbAdapter.DeleteCommand = cmdbuilder.GetDeleteCommand()
changes = rstx.GetChanges()
If changes IsNot Nothing Then dbAdapter.Update(changes)
InFile.Close()
OutFile.Close()
con.Close()

Answer 1

Try itextSharp. itextSharp is a .NET DLL with the help of which you can extract content from PDF. Click here for reference & sample code(although code is in c#, its just a reference to give you an idea).