Delphi convert doc to pdf using Word ActiveX

Question

Did anyone already wrote code for converting doc or docx to pdf using Word 2007 or Word 2010 pdf export capabilities?

Answer 1

I haven’t so far, but it shouldn’t be difficult:

• Create a Word COM server object using CreateOLEObject('Word.Application')
• Open the document using Documents.Open
• Export the document to PDF using ExportAsFixedFormat

Here's a basic skeleton:

uses
  ComObj;
const
  wdExportFormatPDF = 17;
var 
  Word, Doc: OleVariant;
begin
  Word := CreateOLEObject('Word.Application');
  Doc := Word.Documents.Open('C:\Document.docx');
  Doc.ExportAsFixedFormat('C:\Document.pdf', wdExportFormatPDF);
end;

Note that I’ve declare both the Word and Doc variables as OleVariants, so as to be version-indepent (i.e. this code will work whether you’re using Word 2007 or 2010). You could also use the VCL Office component libraries if you wanted. If you were to do a lot of processing in the document itself, that would definitely be faster.

Answer 2

I do it with the following .vbs script. If you need it in Delphi code then it would be easy enough to convert:

Const wdDoNotSaveChanges = 0
Const wdRevisionsViewFinal = 0
Const wdFormatPDF = 17

Dim arguments
Set arguments = WScript.Arguments

Function DOC2PDF(sDocFile)

  Dim fso ' As FileSystemObject
  Dim wdo ' As Word.Application
  Dim wdoc ' As Word.Document
  Dim wdocs ' As Word.Documents

  Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
  sDocFile = fso.GetAbsolutePathName(sDocFile)
  sPdfFile = fso.GetParentFolderName(sDocFile) + "\" + fso.GetBaseName(sDocFile) + ".pdf"

  Set wdo = CreateObject("Word.Application")
  Set wdocs = wdo.Documents
  WScript.Echo "Opening: " + sDocFile
  Set wdoc = wdocs.Open(sDocFile)
  if fso.FileExists(sPdfFile) Then
    fso.DeleteFile sPdfFile, True
  End If
  WScript.Echo "Converting to PDF: " + sPdfFile
  Set wview = wdoc.ActiveWindow.View
  wview.ShowRevisionsAndComments = False
  wview.RevisionsView = wdRevisionsViewFinal
  wdoc.SaveAs sPdfFile, wdFormatPDF
  WScript.Echo "Conversion completed"
  wdo.Quit wdDoNotSaveChanges

  Set fso = Nothing
  Set wdo = Nothing

End Function

If arguments.Count=1 Then 
  Call DOC2PDF(arguments.Unnamed.Item(0))
Else
  WScript.Echo "Generates a PDF file from a Word document using Word PDF export."
  WScript.Echo ""
  WScript.Echo "Usage: doc2pdf.vbs <doc-file>"
  WScript.Echo ""
End If