Debugging errors from Adobe Reader.

I created the attached PDF with iTextSharp 4.0.8. An absent colleague wrote the code. (Yes, most of the text is deliberately supposed to be obfuscated.)

I can open the PDF without problems in Adobe Reader 8.1.2 on Windows Vista, and it looks fine to me. After I print it, however, Reader pops up a dialog saying:

  An error exists on this page. Acrobat may not display the page correctly.

  Please contact the person who created the PDF document to correct the

  problem.

Is there a general way to debug such problems? Is there some logging that can be turned on in Reader? Is there some other tool that will validate the PDF? Windows, Linux, or Mac, I don’t care.

I’ve looked at this PDF with PDFtk, PDF-Analyzer, and the free version of CABAReT Stage. PDFtk and PDF-Analyzer both say there are errors but I cannot convince them to be more specific. Cabaret Stage is perfectly happy.

I tried the iText toolbox, but I get:

  Select an Option

  Import Frames discarding current configuration?

  Yes/No/Cancel

And a status message saying

  Start reading out.xml

If I click Yes, I get a FileNotFoundException for out.xml

I’d love to hear a general technique for troubleshooting such issues, but I’ll happily settle for a specific answer about what’s wrong with this PDF.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and he’ll spend all weekend in a boat drinking beer.

--

/George V. Reilly  •  Cozi  •  Software Developer  •  p: 206 957 8447 x15

GeorgeR@...  •  www.cozi.com  •  blogs.cozi.com/tech