CheckFileCompliance

Compliance, Document inspection

Description

Reads an external PDF file and validates it against a chosen ISO compliance standard. The returned value is either zero (file passes the chosen test cleanly) or a non-zero StringListID handle that lists every issue detected. Each entry in the list is a short code, a colon, and a human-readable message — exactly the same code format used by GetPDFUADiagnostics. Enumerate the result with GetStringListCount and GetStringListItem.

The PDF/A test covers all six conformance modes (PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2a, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3a, PDF/A-3b) and reads the pdfaid:part/pdfaid:conformance XMP entries to decide which rule set to apply.

The PDF/UA-1 test (added in v3.56.0) checks an external PDF against ISO 14289-1 and emits diagnostic codes in the 10xxx range so they remain visually separate from the PDF/A 00xxx codes.

Syntax

Delphi

function TPDFlib.CheckFileCompliance(const InputFileName, Password: WideString; ComplianceTest, Options: Integer): Integer;

ActiveX

Function PDFlib::CheckFileCompliance(InputFileName As String, Password As String, ComplianceTest As Long, Options As Long) As Long

DLL

int DLCheckFileCompliance(int InstanceID, wchar_t * InputFileName, wchar_t * Password, int ComplianceTest, int Options);

Parameters

Return values

PDF/A issue codes (ComplianceTest = 1)

PDF/UA-1 issue codes (ComplianceTest = 2)

Remarks

The PDF/A test is intended as a fast self-check before delivery. It catches the document-level issues that disqualify a file outright (wrong PDF version, missing OutputIntent, missing structure tree at the A level, encryption, layers in PDF/A-1). It does not walk every content-stream operator nor verify font embedding or colour-space references for each painted object — those validations require a dedicated PDF/A validator (such as veraPDF). Use this function as a first-line check and as a regression gate in build pipelines. Use CreatePreflightReport or SavePreflightReport when you want the library to format the issue lists into a reusable text report. Use CreatePreflightReportEx or SavePreflightReportEx for text, JSON, HTML, or CSV report output, or see Preflight Reports for the complete report workflow.

The companion API GetPDFUADiagnostics performs analogous checks for PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1) on the in-memory document currently being built, rather than on an external file.

When producing PDF/A output with this library, call SetPDFAMode before adding any content. The generation-side guard inside SetPDFAMode blocks the operations forbidden by the chosen part, so a document built that way will normally pass CheckFileCompliance automatically.

Example

// Validate a delivered PDF/A file and print all issues
var
  Issues, Count, I: Integer;
begin
  Issues := PDF.CheckFileCompliance('archive.pdf', '', 1, 0);
  if Issues = 0 then
    WriteLn('archive.pdf: PDF/A conformant')
  else
  begin
    Count := PDF.GetStringListCount(Issues);
    WriteLn('archive.pdf: ', Count, ' PDF/A issue(s) detected:');
    for I := 1 to Count do
      WriteLn('  ', PDF.GetStringListItem(Issues, I));
  end;
end;

// Fast pass/fail gate in a CI pipeline — stop on the first issue
var
  Failed: Boolean;
begin
  Failed := PDF.CheckFileCompliance('build/output.pdf', '', 1, 1) <> 0;
  if Failed then
    Halt(1);
end;

See also

Preflight Reports, CreatePreflightReport, CreatePreflightReportEx, SavePreflightReport, SavePreflightReportEx, ComparePreflightReports, SetPDFAMode, GetPDFUADiagnostics, GetStringListCount, GetStringListItem, SetPDFUAMode