pdf to data file?

[Dark Horse]

Is there a way to transfer pdf to data files?

This is for horses. The cards I use are in pdf. But the only way to effectively analyze all that data is with a computer program. I asked the programmer about this and he responded:

You're the first person to ask, and I'm afraid I haven't looked at the Equibase pp files to see if the program can be adapted to use them.
Equibase owns TrackMaster now, but I doubt they'd use the TrackMaster file format, because it is in dBase III format, which is a little ancient (nothing wrong with TrackMaster data it's just that the format is dated).

I was curious, so I just looked at the Equibase site, and the $2 "Premium" PPs seems to be a .pdf file (an image of the PPs, but no data you can get at). I couldn't find any actual data file associated with it.

[rk9]

You can just copy paste pdf docs.
highlight the document then copy (ctrl c) then paste (ctrl v) it in an excel doc or a word doc. then it will be editable for your liking.

[Wrecktangle]

yeah, I scrape 'em all the time, not sure what the issue is...

[Dark Horse]

I don't want to get them to excel. This is a computer program for horse racing that doesn't 'read' the pdf formats.

I'm wondering if this is the direction in which to look: http://www.simx.com/simx/Products.stp?prm=tc

[Dave Head]

Hi rk9 and Wrecktangle,

Where are you getting your PPs from? The ones that I have found do not have text that you can copy and paste. The pdf presents the information as an image. Thanks.

[Wrecktangle]

...um, the pdfs I've worked with had a text box you can puck and then darken the page with your cursor to scrape...I wonder if they've turned it off on your application?

[Dave Head]

Hi Wrecktangle

My application is the Adobe Acrobat reader. Here is a link to one of the PDF files:

http://www.drf.com/data/samples/sample_basic_pps.pdf

You can view it by clicking on this link, but if you download it, then open it with Adobe reader, you'll see in the title bar of the window: (SECURED). it won't let you select or copy anything.

All of the free pdfs that I have found refuse to let you select or copy anything. Not all say that they are (SECURED).

I'm too cheap to pay for past performances, and I'm too cheap to get a copy of Adobe writer to see if that would make any difference.

So, let me repeat the question. Where are you getting your past performances pdfs from?

[Wrecktangle]

Yep, locked up, sorry.

...you can't make money on ponies anyway...vig is too high...do baskets: we're whacking 'em

[rk9]

Sorry Dave, I usually get my info from other sources than pdf webpages for stats and so on. Most docs that ive seen that are pdf can be copied. If not you can usually save them as text and get around it that way. Like wrecktangle said this one seems to be pretty locked up.

Dark Horse- I was just using excel as an example. you should be able to copy paste most pdfs to a lot of different type of files. Im not exactly sure what you mean by data file, that seems kind of vague. that software program looks interesting. If those outputs are the format you want the files in, then that looks like a decent but somewhat expensive option.

[Dark Horse]

Dark Horse- I was just using excel as an example. you should be able to copy paste most pdfs to a lot of different type of files. Im not exactly sure what you mean by data file, that seems kind of vague. that software program looks interesting. If those outputs are the format you want the files in, then that looks like a decent but somewhat expensive option.

I asked the programmer. It's too complex for that solution too:

I'm afraid that won't help, since the data needs to be in a very exact format. Every data supplier has their own, but you can picture it like a big spread sheet. BRIS, for example, has over 1400 columns and each column holds one piece of data about that past performance. Every past performance of every horse is one row, 1400+ cells wide. (So if there are 10 horses in a race and each has 10 past performances, that is 100 rows for one race, and if there are 10 or 12 races, that makes a "spreadsheet" 1400+ cells wide X 1200+ rows in height.

As I said, each data supplier has their own data standard, and for example, column 128 might be Trainer's First Name, and it always must contain text, not a number, etc., so it would be close to impossible to convert it in any way that would be exact enough to use.

[TJMAXX]

nevermind...