iTextSharp merge and preserve plugins - pdf

Question

I have a PDF that has a plugin control on one page. I need to merge it with another pdf but when I do, the plugin is redendered as a blank rectangle. Is there a way to merge and preserve the plugin control? If important, the plugin is a Dessault Systemes 3D Via Composer Player control as installed from http://www.3ds.com/products/3dvia/3dvia-composer/resource-center/
The code I'm using is simple writer getinstance, contentbyte directcontent, getimportedpage, addtemplate. Nothing fancy.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream(#"C:\Temp\Merged.pdf", FileMode.Create);
Document newDocument = new Document(PageSize.A4.Rotate());
PdfWriter pdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(newDocument, docStream);
try
{
newDocument.Open();
PdfContentByte pdfContentByte = pdfWriter.DirectContent;
newDocument.NewPage();
PdfReader mainPage = new PdfReader(#"C:\Temp\PageWithPlugin.pdf");
PdfImportedPage importedPage1 = pdfWriter.GetImportedPage(mainPage, 1);
pdfContentByte.AddTemplate(importedPage1, 0, 0);
mainPage.Close();
PdfReader smgPages = new PdfReader(#"C:\Temp\MorePages.pdf");
for (int page = 1; page <= smgPage.NumberOfPages; page++)
{
newDocument.NewPage();
PdfImportedPage importedPage = pdfWriter.GetImportedPage(smgPages, page);
pdfContentByte.AddTemplate(importedPage, 0, 0);
}
smgPages.Close();
}
finally
{
docStream.Flush();
if (newDocument != null)
newDocument.Close();
docStream.Close();
}

Answer 1

Give this a try.
List<byte[]> fileList = new List<byte[]>();
using (FileStream fileSteam = File.OpenRead((#"C:\Temp\PageWithPlugin.pdf")))
{
Byte[] byteArray = new byte[fileSteam.Length];
fileSteam.Read(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);
fileList.Add(byteArray);
}
using (FileStream fileSteam = File.OpenRead((#"C:\Temp\MorePages.pdf")))
{
Byte[] byteArray = new byte[fileSteam.Length];
fileSteam.Read(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);
fileList.Add(byteArray);
}
using(MemoryStream msOutput = new MemoryStream())
{
PdfReader pdfFile = new PdfReader(fileList[0]);
Document doc = new Document();
PdfWriter pCopy = new PdfSmartCopy(doc, msOutput);
doc.Open();
for (int k = 0; k < fileList.Count; k++)
{
for (int i = 1; i < pdfFile.NumberOfPages + 1; i++)
{
pdfFile = new PdfReader(fileList[k]);
((PdfSmartCopy)pCopy).AddPage(pCopy.GetImportedPage(pdfFile, i));
pCopy.FreeReader(pdfFile);
}
}
pdfFile.Close();
pCopy.Close();
doc.Close();
fileList.Clear();
byte[] form = msOutput.ToArray();
using (FileStream fileSteam = new FileStream(#"C:\Temp\Merged.pdf", FileMode.Create))
{
fileStream.Write(form, 0, form.Length);
}
}

Answer 2

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but... In case anyone else uses the solution, there is a small problem with the k loop. The numberofpages would be off by one document after the zeroth one and the pdfReader keeps getting freed and reread for every page, which isn't necessary. I think this is an improvement for that part of the code:
using (MemoryStream msOutput = new MemoryStream())
{
Document doc = new Document();
PdfWriter pCopy = new PdfCopy(doc, msOutput);
doc.Open();
for (int k = 0; k < fileList.Count; k++)
{
PdfReader pdfFile = new PdfReader(fileList[k]);
for (int i = 1; i < pdfFile.NumberOfPages + 1; i++)
{
((PdfCopy)pCopy).AddPage(pCopy.GetImportedPage(pdfFile, i));
}
pCopy.FreeReader(pdfFile);
pdfFile.Close();
}
pCopy.Close();
doc.Close();
fileList.Clear();