Language Bindings
The core of Ghostscript is written in C, but also supports language bindings for the following programming languages:
C#
Java
Python
All of the above languages have equivalent methods as defined in the C API. Java and C# provide additional helper methods to make the use of the API easier for certain applications. These languages also provide example viewers that make use of these methods.
This developer documentation is organized by programming language type and includes API reference and sample code.
Before using the language bindings first ensure that Ghostscript is built for your platform before proceeding. See:
The C API
Ghostscript has been in development for over thirty years and is written in C. The API has evolved over time and is continually being developed. The language bindings into Ghostscript will attempt to mirror this evolution and match the current C API as much as possible.
Licensing
Before using Ghostscript, please make sure that you have a valid license to do so. There are two available licenses; make sure you pick the one whose terms you can comply with.
Open Source license
If your software is open source, you may use Ghostscript under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License.
This means that all of the source code for your complete app must be released under a compatible open source license!
It also means that you may not use any proprietary closed source libraries or components in your app.
Please read the full text of the AGPL license agreement from the FSF web site
If you cannot or do not want to comply with these restrictions, you must acquire a commercial license instead.
Commercial license
If your project does not meet the requirements of the AGPL, please contact our sales team to discuss a commercial license. Each Artifex commercial license is crafted based on your individual use case.
Demo code
Please locate the demos folder in your ghostpdl source code download from the GhostPDL repository to find sample code demonstrating the language bindings in action.
C#
- Introduction
- Platform & setup
- GhostAPI
- Structs and Enums
- Constants
- GSAPI
gsapi_revisiongsapi_new_instancegsapi_delete_instancegsapi_set_stdio_with_handlegsapi_set_stdiogsapi_set_poll_with_handlegsapi_set_pollgsapi_set_display_callbackgsapi_register_calloutgsapi_deregister_calloutgsapi_set_arg_encodinggsapi_set_default_device_listgsapi_get_default_device_listgsapi_init_with_argsgsapi_run_*gsapi_run_string_begingsapi_run_string_continuegsapi_run_string_with_lengthgsapi_run_stringgsapi_run_string_endgsapi_run_filegsapi_exitgsapi_set_paramgsapi_get_paramgsapi_enumerate_paramsgsapi_add_control_pathgsapi_remove_control_pathgsapi_purge_control_pathsgsapi_activate_path_controlgsapi_is_path_control_active
- Callback and Callout prototypes
- GhostNET
- GhostMono
Java
- Introduction
- Platform & setup
- Demo projects
- Using the Java library
- gsjava
- GSAPI & GSInstance
- GSAPI
gsapi_revisiongsapi_new_instancegsapi_delete_instancegsapi_set_stdio_with_handlegsapi_set_stdiogsapi_set_poll_with_handlegsapi_set_pollgsapi_set_display_callbackgsapi_register_calloutgsapi_deregister_calloutgsapi_set_arg_encodinggsapi_set_default_device_listgsapi_get_default_device_listgsapi_init_with_argsgsapi_run_*gsapi_run_string_begingsapi_run_string_continuegsapi_run_string_with_lengthgsapi_run_stringgsapi_run_string_endgsapi_run_filegsapi_exitgsapi_set_paramgsapi_get_paramgsapi_enumerate_paramsgsapi_add_control_pathgsapi_remove_control_pathgsapi_purge_control_pathsgsapi_activate_path_controlgsapi_is_path_control_active
- Callback & Callout interfaces
- GSInstance
- Constructors
delete_instanceset_stdioset_pollset_display_callbackregister_calloutderegister_calloutset_arg_encodingset_default_device_listget_default_device_listinit_with_argsrun_string_beginrun_string_continuerun_stringrun_fileexitset_paramget_paramenumerate_paramsadd_control_pathremove_control_pathpurge_control_pathsactivate_path_controlis_path_control_active
- Utility classes
Python
- Introduction
- Platform & setup
- The gsapi Python module
gsapi_revision()gsapi_new_instance(caller_handle)gsapi_delete_instance(instance)gsapi_set_stdio(instance, stdin_fn, stdout_fn, stderr_fn)gsapi_set_poll(instance, poll_fn)gsapi_set_display_callback(instance, callback)gsapi_set_arg_encoding(instance, encoding)gsapi_set_default_device_list(instance, list_)gsapi_get_default_device_list(instance)gsapi_init_with_args(instance, args)gsapi_run_*gsapi_run_string_begin(instance, user_errors)gsapi_run_string_continue(instance, str_, user_errors)gsapi_run_string_with_length(instance, str_, length, user_errors)gsapi_run_string(instance, str_, user_errors)gsapi_run_string_end(instance, user_errors)gsapi_run_file(instance, filename, user_errors)gsapi_exit(instance)gsapi_set_param(instance, param, value, type_=None)gsapi_get_param(instance, param, type_=None, encoding=None)gsapi_enumerate_params(instance)gsapi_add_control_path(instance, type_, path)gsapi_remove_control_path(instance, type_, path)gsapi_purge_control_paths(instance, type_)gsapi_activate_path_control(instance, enable)gsapi_is_path_control_active(instance)