Sart PDF Converter

[raybo]

Has anyone tried this converter? It has a free trial.

Supposedly it converts from PDF to many other formats, including html, text, and .xls (Excel) with strict adherence to the original layout of the PDF.

Looks like something that lots of players here have been looking for, ie., converting the "free" Bris Ultimate PPs to Excel for data manipulation, etc..

The link to the site is on the PA home page today.

[ranchwest]

Has anyone tried this converter? It has a free trial.

Supposedly it converts from PDF to many other formats, including html, text, and .xls (Excel) with strict adherence to the original layout of the PDF.

Looks like something that lots of players here have been looking for, ie., converting the "free" Bris Ultimate PPs to Excel for data manipulation, etc..

The link to the site is on the PA home page today.

If you converted a PDF to XLS, there'd still be a whole lot of mapping work to be done. Remember, this would not be in a record format -- nothing to delimit the data sections. This could make it virtually impossible to actually use the data for any sort of manipulations. If you're not going to manipulate the data, then why do the conversion?

The free converters I've seen don't have a batch mode, so you have to convert files one at a time. And, the conversion process is a bit slow.

Someone might want to check into it, but I suspect it is a lot of work.

[netbet]

Ray,

I have not heard of this software. It does sound interesting....I can't find the link on the site.

NB

[GameTheory]

There is lots of software like that -- it never works right. I have found ways to convert Equibase PDF and DRF PDF charts to parseable text, but it is a several step process with custom programming involved. For a while after Equibase switched to PDF, I was able to convert them back to the old HTML format and still use my old chart parser on them. Don't know if that still works -- I just use comma-delimited charts now since they're a lot more affordable than they used to be back then. And one day I was curious if the free DRF PDF charts could be parsed, and they can, but again it is complicated. No off-the-shelf software is going to do this for you.

I've never tried it with the PPs -- that's probably even tougher with so many different fields to handle.

On a side note, does anyone know of any PPs (produced by software or just on display somewhere) in HTML format viewable in a browser? Just an example of a single race would suit my purposes.

[raybo]

Here's the link to the site I saw on the PA home page today:

http://www.pdftodocconverterpro.com/?gclid=CNW67YKh7Z8CFQmdnAod2S5DXw

[raybo]

Heck, someone send me a Bris Ultimate PPs PDF file and I'll check out the program.

rbaker529@msn.com

[Robert Goren]

I have tried a couple of these programs. They work, sort of. They all took a lot of time. Maybe you can figure out a way to speed it up. Good luck.

[raybo]

I have tried a couple of these programs. They work, sort of. They all took a lot of time. Maybe you can figure out a way to speed it up. Good luck.

Yup, I've tried other programs also, but, you never know until someone tries it.

I'd be interested if I can just get the Ultimates' summary converted, most of the the rest of the stuff you can get from the data files.

However, if it works for the whole PDF then your data is free, if you wager on that track that day.

[CBedo]

On a side note, does anyone know of any PPs (produced by software or just on display somewhere) in HTML format viewable in a browser? Just an example of a single race would suit my purposes.GT, I was (still am) actually working on writing a web app to do display pps in a user adjustable format. I figured it would be a good first project for me with regards to Ruby on Rails (web app framework). I'm somewhat delayed as I actually got some real programming work as a result of some of my other horse racing programming, and at the hourly rate people are paying me, I coudn't say no! Hopefully, I should be wrapping this project up soon and can get back to real (horse racing) work!

I'll keep you posted if you are interested.

[ranchwest]

Yup, I've tried other programs also, but, you never know until someone tries it.

I'd be interested if I can just get the Ultimates' summary converted, most of the the rest of the stuff you can get from the data files.

However, if it works for the whole PDF then your data is free, if you wager on that track that day.

If that's your idea of free, .... :lol:

[ranchwest]

There is lots of software like that -- it never works right. I have found ways to convert Equibase PDF and DRF PDF charts to parseable text, but it is a several step process with custom programming involved. For a while after Equibase switched to PDF, I was able to convert them back to the old HTML format and still use my old chart parser on them. Don't know if that still works -- I just use comma-delimited charts now since they're a lot more affordable than they used to be back then. And one day I was curious if the free DRF PDF charts could be parsed, and they can, but again it is complicated. No off-the-shelf software is going to do this for you.

I've never tried it with the PPs -- that's probably even tougher with so many different fields to handle.

On a side note, does anyone know of any PPs (produced by software or just on display somewhere) in HTML format viewable in a browser? Just an example of a single race would suit my purposes.

I've written a program that outputs HTML, but I just never seem to be able to put as much data horizontally as I'd like and still have it fit on a screen and be readable (by my aging eyes). Maybe I need to figure out how to collapse sections of the data.

HTML does offer some interesting capabilities, though.

[Capper Al]

Working with the comma seperated files from BRIS or other vendors is easy enough and right to the point. If the data field is on the Form, you'll have access to it.

[raybo]

If that's your idea of free, .... :lol:

LOL, I know what you mean, but, seriously, if you're going to wager anyway, you might as well get your data free, huh?

[ranchwest]

LOL, I know what you mean, but, seriously, if you're going to wager anyway, you might as well get your data free, huh?

I'll check in with you in 2020 and see how this one is going.