PDF thumbnails from VBA

I was asked to develop a form where user can see a pdf thumbnail of a pdf file. It was pretty far from what I have been developing so I decided to use "uncle" google to find a solution. There are some solutions but nothing what was expecting. You can use paid version of Adobe or free Adobe Acrobat ActiveX (Acropdf1) or some others free tools that can work along a pdf file. I tested only the free version of Acrobat ActiveX component and it was really nightmare. Then I found a C# project using the GhostScript tool for creating a pdf thumbnail. Unfortunatelly VBA cannot work with this project directly. Read more to find solution.

As I mentioned you can use the Acropdf1 activeX which is automatically installed with the Adobe Reader application.

Acropdf1.PNG, 35kB

How to add the Acropdf1 activeX on a VBA form

At the first time the activeX seemed to be a good solution but then I found two "bugs". The first one is more important than the second one. The activeX takes focus and never give it back and if you press the "TAB" key, then the whole application will crash. It's very known bug but Adobe cannot fix it for some reason. And the second bug rather behavior - of the activeX control is uncomfortable - it always takes focus and never give it back and also you don't have option to find out if a pdf document is fully loaded or not. My client was complaining about that for many times so I decided to find another solution.

I found code from Matthew Ephraim. where he uses a free tool Ghostscrip and .NETFramework 3.5 and C#. Form Visual Studio you can use his tool without any problems just include it into your project. Unfortunately we cannot use his dll directly from VBA. That was the reason why I took his code and made a little adjustment to expose methods from his project to the COM object.
Now - after registration the dll to your system - you can reference the dll as usually and use it !!! And it works great.

GhostScriptSharp_reference.PNG, 17kB

Who is interested how to create a C# dll that can work with VBA I attached the zip file with entire C# solution. Look at the Attachment section.
And who just want to use it as soon as possible, download the installer and install it. I also prepare a sample and you can find everything in the Attachment section.
The installer just check if your system contains the .NETFramework 4 and if not, it will suggest to download it and then register the dlls into your system.

Your code can look like this one
and then you can take the output file as an ordinary image file and load it - for example - to an image control.

Option Explicit
'********************************************************************************
'TestPDFThumbnailGeneration
'
' Purpose:  It uses reference to GhostscriptWrapper library.
'           From a pdf file creates a jpg file that represents a thumbnail of the pdf.
'           You can set page number and DPI quality.
'
' Inputs:   -none-
'
' Outputs:  -none-
'
' Created:  02/10/2011  Premysl Lazecky
'
' Modified: .
'
'********************************************************************************
Sub TestPDFThumbnailGeneration()

    Dim PDF             As GhostscriptWrapper
    Dim strPath         As String
    Dim strInputFile    As String

    strInputFile = "Test.pdf"
    strPath = ActiveWorkbook.Path
    If Right$(strPath, 1) <> Application.PathSeparator Then
       strPath = strPath & Application.PathSeparator
    End If

    Set PDF = New GhostscriptWrapper

    PDF.GeneratePDFThumb inputPath:=strPath & strInputFile, _
                         outputPath:=strPath & "Output.jpg", _
                         Page:=1, _
                         Width:=72, Height:=72


    Set PDF = Nothing

End Sub

As the result of this code you will get a jpg file called Output.jpg with thumbnail of defined page in the pdf file - in this case page 1 - with defined resolution.

Attachments

Installer and sample files
C# project

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線上賭場

(ThomasPer, 10. 6. 2023 13:36)

線上賭場
台灣娛樂城/線上賭場（現金網）的特殊稱呼以及其歷史：

台灣對於線上賭場的特殊稱呼是「娛樂城/線上賭場（現金網）」。這種稱呼的背後有其原因，主要是因為線上賭場在台灣架設及經營是違法的。在早期經營線上博弈被抓的風險非常高，因此業者採用了「娛樂城」這樣的模糊代稱，以規避警方的注意。當時的網絡搜尋引擎尚未普及，這樣的代稱在一定程度上能夠達到避免被發現的效果。

台灣娛樂城/線上賭場的歷史可以分為幾個時期：

1. 網路未興盛時代：
- 現場賭場時期（1980年代）：賭博活動主要發生在實體賭場，包括家庭電話上的BB CALL呼叫器、六合彩、大家樂等方式。
- 電銷賭場時期（21世紀）：隨著手機的普及，人們開始使用手機進行博弈，主要包括中華職棒簽賭和六合彩等。

2. 線上博弈時期（2013年開始）：
- 網際網路普及後，原本的信用版博弈業者開始轉戰線上賭場（娛樂城），開啟了線上博弈的時代。
- 由於在台灣，線上賭場架設和經營是違法的，合法的線上賭場通常選擇在合法的國家進行架設。
- 開設線上賭場主要採用「現金儲值」的方式，以規避法律風險。玩家將現金兌換成賭資，進行投注。

3. 娛樂城商業模式的轉變：
- 早期的娛樂城業者往往將客服人員與金流（出入款）的職責綁在一起，

容易成為執法機關定罪的基礎。
- 現代的娛樂城業者開始將客服人員、金流服務商以及廣告行銷外包，以降低定罪風險。
- 由於遠端工作的普及以及區塊鏈技術的應用，未來娛樂城業者可能更加難以被追查，這也凸顯了博弈產業合法化的必要性。

娛樂城業者面臨的風險主要來自以下幾個方面：

- 架站主機：娛樂城業者通常在合法的國家進行架設，使執法機關難以從此方面下手追查。
- 客服人員：娛樂城業者可能在台灣設立辦公室提供客服服務，這也是執法機關可能進行搜索的目標之一。
- 金流（出入款）：娛樂城業者使用人頭帳戶進行金流操作，以規避監管機構的追蹤，但也存在風險。
- 行銷推廣：娛樂城業者需要進行廣告推廣來吸引玩家，行銷推廣方式也可能成為執法機關追查的一環。

娛樂城業者商業模式的轉變也反映了博弈產業的發展趨勢。隨著網路技術的成熟和商業模式的創新，博弈產業可能朝著合法化和監管的方向發展，以確保公信力、保護玩家權益並徵收相應的稅收。
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