Error invoking PDFTK when running from TextMate

Ruby
1

Hello,

I have some simple code that works perfectly from irb and from RoR, but
when I try to run it from TextMate (command R) I’m getting always the
error:

PDF::Toolkit::ExecutionError: Error invoking PDFTK

require “rubygems”
require ‘pdf/toolkit’
require “ActiveSupport”

…
my_pdf = PDF::Toolkit.open(absolute_path_filename)
…

Any idea of what I’m missing ?

thanks,

r.

2

I’m having a similar problem, although I’m getting the error
“PDF::Toolkit::ExecutionError: Error invoking PDFTK” directly when
running Ruby on the command line

Here’s my ruby script:

require ‘rubygems’
require ‘pdf/toolkit’
require “ActiveSupport”

my_pdf = PDF::Toolkit.open(“/Users/jason/MTY292323-04.pdf”)
puts “hello”
txt = my_pdf.to_text.read
puts txt

When I invoke this script I get the “Error invoking PDFTK”

$ ruby lib/test_pdf_toolkit.rb
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/pdf-toolkit-0.49/lib/pdf/toolkit.rb:556:in
read_data': Error invoking PDFTK (PDF::Toolkit::ExecutionError) from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/pdf-toolkit-0.49/lib/pdf/toolkit.rb:279:in reload’
from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/pdf-toolkit-0.49/lib/pdf/toolkit.rb:227:in
`open’
from lib/test_pdf_toolkit.rb:5

I tried making a symlink from /usr/bin/pdftk to the real pdftk
executable here: /usr/local/bin/pdftk

But still no luck. I’m on Mac OS X 10.5 and I installed PDFTK using the
package installer
(PDFtk - The PDF Toolkit)

I did notice in the readme for PDFTK that it says: “NOTE: The version of
pdftk installed by this package will only work on macs running OS X
10.3.” – I don’t suppose it means it really won’t work on 10.4 and 10.5
and if you like me, on 10.5, you really need to build it using
DarwinPORTS ? (I guess I assumed it work was forward compatible).

3

I’m glad I’m not alone with this problem …

With RubyMine it works, in command line it works, but in textmate it
doesn’t …

and yes, I’m with 10.5.x

and I’m still having the same problem …

r.

4

I had the same problem.

Turns out it was the security settings on the pdf I was attempting to
read.

I was getting the exact same error, so I resaved the pdf with NO
security settings and the problem went away!!!

I think you can supply the password to pdftk as well.

5

Brad Hodges wrote in post #961578:

I had the same problem.

Turns out it was the security settings on the pdf I was attempting to
read.

I was getting the exact same error, so I resaved the pdf with NO
security settings and the problem went away!!!

I think you can supply the password to pdftk as well.

I’m not sure now if my pdf had some security settings, I think not, I’ll
try to test again, thanks for sharing this info.

regards,

r.

6

Raimon Fs wrote:

Hello,

I have some simple code that works perfectly from irb and from RoR, but
when I try to run it from TextMate (command R) I’m getting always the
error:

PDF::Toolkit::ExecutionError: Error invoking PDFTK

require “rubygems”
require ‘pdf/toolkit’
require “ActiveSupport”

…
my_pdf = PDF::Toolkit.open(absolute_path_filename)
…

Any idea of what I’m missing ?

thanks,

r.

A year later and still no resolution is posted?

I am having the same problem as those above. I am using winxp, ruby 1.91
and pdftoolkit 0.49

Just like the above, if I type the code into irb it works just fine. If
I run it in an IDE(I use netbeans) then it returns the following error:
C:/Ruby19/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/pdf-toolkit-0.49/lib/pdf/toolkit.rb:556:in
read_data': Error invoking PDFTK (PDF::Toolkit::ExecutionError) from C:/Ruby19/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/pdf-toolkit-0.49/lib/pdf/toolkit.rb:279:inreload’
from
C:/Ruby19/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/pdf-toolkit-0.49/lib/pdf/toolkit.rb:227:in
open' from H:/NetBeansProjects/Beeprocessoradvanced/lib/main.rb:12:in’

Someone PLEASE give me an idea of how to resolve this problem. The worst
part is this code is part of a program that worked only a week ago. I
don’t know what changed but I went back to run the program and got this
error.
Code:
require ‘pdf/toolkit’
require ‘pp’

outcounter = 0
htmlcounter = 0
inputarray = []
outputarray = []
puts “0”
my_pdf = PDF::Toolkit.open(‘c:\process\b’)
puts “1”

The above code returns the error on the line “my_pdf =
PDF::Toolkit.open(‘c:\process\b’)” just after it outputs “0”.