Tutorial: Create Your First OCR Project for a Console Application

In this tutorial, you will configure a C# or VB.NET project for a console application and use ImageGear .NET OCR capabilities to load an image, OCR and export the data to the console.

The following tutorial refers specifically to 64-bit installations; for 32-bit installations:

Your project should already be set to compile to target Debug and x86, and you should have the directory: $YOURLOCALPROJ\bin\x86\Debug\.
Throughout these instructions, replace x64 with x86.
The 32-bit ImageGear binaries are found in $INSTALLDIR\Bin\x86

Using the desired version of Visual Studio (2010 or later):

Create a new "Console App (.NET Framework)" project, using C# or VB.NET, and name the project: my_first_OCR_project
If you downloaded ImageGear .NET 64-bit, using the Configuration Manager, create a new project platform (if you don't have one already) for x64. Make sure your project is set to compile targeting Debug and x64. Confirm you now have $YOURLOCALPROJ\bin\x64\Debug\, and if it's not there, create it.
Add references and required resources into your projects in one of the following ways:
- Recommended: use our NuGet Packages. For this project, you need the following package:
  Accusoft.ImageGear.Recognition.nupkg (https://www.nuget.org/packages/Accusoft.ImageGear.Recognition/ )
- Manually:
- Copy all files (and folders) inside $INSTALLDIR\Bin\x64 to your local output bin directory in your project (i.e., $YOURLOCALPROJ\bin\x64\Debug\ ).
- Add the following references to your project from $YOURLOCALPROJ\bin\x64\Debug\:
- ImageGear.Core.dll
- ImageGear.Evaluation.dll
- ImageGear.Formats.Common.dll
- ImageGear.Formats.SimplifiedMetadata.dll
- ImageGear.OCR.dll

Your output target directory (output path) should be set to $YOURLOCALPROJ\bin\x64\Debug\

At this point all necessary assembly references and resources have been added to the project.
Add the following using statements to the top of the file.

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using System; using System.IO; using ImageGear.Core; using ImageGear.Formats; using ImageGear.OCR; using ImageGear.Evaluation;

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Imports ImageGear.Core Imports ImageGear.Formats Imports ImageGear.OCR Imports ImageGear.Evaluation Imports System.IO

Add the following code to create a private method to OCR, and export the data to the console. This code sets up licensing, initializes the ImageGear Formats assembly and initializes the OCR engine.

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namespace my_first_OCR_project { class Program { public void OCRFile(string fileToBeRecognizedPath) { // Initialize the license. ImGearEvaluationManager.Initialize(); ImGearEvaluationManager.Mode = ImGearEvaluationMode.Watermark; // Initialize the common formats. ImGearCommonFormats.Initialize(); // Initialize the OCR object. ImGearOCR igOCR = ImGearOCR.Create(); ImGearPage igPage;

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namespace my_first_OCR_project
{
   class Program
   {
     public void OCRFile(string fileToBeRecognizedPath)
     {
       // Initialize the license.
       ImGearEvaluationManager.Initialize();
       ImGearEvaluationManager.Mode = ImGearEvaluationMode.Watermark;
       // Initialize the common formats.
       ImGearCommonFormats.Initialize();
       // Initialize the OCR object.
       ImGearOCR igOCR = ImGearOCR.Create();
       ImGearPage igPage;

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Module Module1 Public Sub OCRFile(fileToOCR As String) ' Initialize the license. ImGearEvaluationManager.Initialize() ImGearEvaluationManager.Mode = ImGearEvaluationMode.Watermark ' Initialize the common formats. ImGearCommonFormats.Initialize() ' Initialize the OCR object. Dim igOCR As ImGearOCR = ImGearOCR.Create() Dim igPage As ImGearPage

VB.NET

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Module Module1
  Public Sub OCRFile(fileToOCR As String)
    ' Initialize the license.
    ImGearEvaluationManager.Initialize()
    ImGearEvaluationManager.Mode = ImGearEvaluationMode.Watermark
    ' Initialize the common formats.
    ImGearCommonFormats.Initialize()
    ' Initialize the OCR object.
    Dim igOCR As ImGearOCR = ImGearOCR.Create()
    Dim igPage As ImGearPage

Add the following code to load the image, and set the ImGearRecPage.

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using (FileStream localFile = new FileStream(fileToBeRecognizedPath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)) igPage = ImGearFileFormats.LoadPage(localFile, 0); if (igPage is ImGearVectorPage) { // Rasterize vector images before performing OCR. igPage = (igPage as ImGearVectorPage).Rasterize(24, 300, 300); } ImGearOCRPage igOCRPage = igOCR.ImportPage((ImGearRasterPage)igPage);

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using (FileStream localFile = new FileStream(fileToBeRecognizedPath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
   igPage = ImGearFileFormats.LoadPage(localFile, 0);
if (igPage is ImGearVectorPage)
{
    // Rasterize vector images before performing OCR.
    igPage = (igPage as ImGearVectorPage).Rasterize(24, 300, 300);
}
ImGearOCRPage igOCRPage = igOCR.ImportPage((ImGearRasterPage)igPage);

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Using localFile As New FileStream(fileToOCR, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read) igPage = ImGearFileFormats.LoadPage(localFile, 0) End Using If TypeOf igPage Is ImGearVectorPage Then ' Rasterize vector images before performing OCR. igPage = DirectCast(igPage, ImGearVectorPage).Rasterize(24, 300, 300) End If Dim igOCRPage As ImGearOCRPage = igOCR.ImportPage(DirectCast(igPage, ImGearRasterPage))

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Using localFile As New FileStream(fileToOCR, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
   igPage = ImGearFileFormats.LoadPage(localFile, 0)
End Using
If TypeOf igPage Is ImGearVectorPage Then
    ' Rasterize vector images before performing OCR.
    igPage = DirectCast(igPage, ImGearVectorPage).Rasterize(24, 300, 300)
End If
Dim igOCRPage As ImGearOCRPage = igOCR.ImportPage(DirectCast(igPage, ImGearRasterPage))

Add the following code to output the data to the console.

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igOCRPage.Recognize(); Console.Write(igOCRPage.Text);

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igOCRPage.Recognize() Console.Write(igOCRPage.Text)

Add the following code to dispose the igOCR and page object.

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// You must explicitly call the page/document dispose method before calling igOCR.Dispose() igOCRPage.Dispose(); igOCR.Dispose();

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' You must explicitly call the page/document dispose method before calling igOCR.Dispose() igOCRPage.Dispose() igOCR.Dispose()

Finally, add in the Main function, the OCRFile method passing in your image, and output to the console. Replace "C:\PATHTOOCR\FILENAME.tif" with the path to your image file to recognize.

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static void Main(string[] args) { Program myProgram = new Program(); myProgram.OCRFile(@"C:\PATHTOOCR\FILENAME.tif"); }

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Sub Main() OCRFile("C:\PATHTOOCR\FILENAME.tif") End Sub End Module