Tesseract OCR iOS 2.22

Tesseract OCR iOS is a Framework for iOS5+.

It helps you to use OCR in iOS projects, writing Objective-C. Easy and fast.

Template Framework Project ================= You can use the "**Template Framework Project**". It's a starting point for use the Tesseract Framework. It's iOS7 and arm64 ready!

Into the tessdata folder (linked like a referenced folder into the project), there are the .traineddata language files.

Alternatively you can create a New Project like explained below.

New Framework Project

Install with CocoaPods by adding the following to your Podfile:

pod 'TesseractOCRiOS', '~> 2.22'

**Or** copy the framework "TesseractOCR.framework" (you can drag&drop it) from the **Products** folder in this repo, to your XCode Project under the frameworks folder.

If you are masochist :) you can generate your TesseractOCR.framework building the TesseractOCRAggregate target.

Now...

• If you are using iOS7 or greater, link libstdc++.6.0.9.dylib library (Your target => General => Linked Frameworks and Libraries => + => libstdc++.6.0.9)

• Go to your project, click on the project and in the Build Settings tab add -lstdc++ to all the "Other Linker Flags" keys.

• Go to your project settings, and ensure that C++ Standard Library => Compiler Default. (thanks to https://github.com/trein)

• Copy and import the tessdata folder from the Template Framework Project under the root of your project. It contains the "tessdata" files. You can add more tessdata files copyng them here.

WARNING: Check the "Create folder references for any added folders" option and the correct target into the "Add to Targets" section.

• Import the header in your classes writing #import <TesseractOCR/TesseractOCR.h>

Now you can use Tesseract class like explained into the "How to use" section:

How to use =================

MyViewController.h

#import <TesseractOCR/TesseractOCR.h>
@interface MyViewController : UIViewController <TesseractDelegate>
@end

**MyViewController.m**

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
// language are used for recognition. Ex: eng. Tesseract will search for a eng.traineddata file in the dataPath directory; eng+ita will search for a eng.traineddata and ita.traineddata.

//Like in the Template Framework Project:
// Assumed that .traineddata files are in your "tessdata" folder and the folder is in the root of the project.
// Assumed, that you added a folder references "tessdata" into your xCode project tree, with the ‘Create folder references for any added folders’ options set up in the «Add files to project» dialog.
// Assumed that any .traineddata files is in the tessdata folder, like in the Template Framework Project

//Create your tesseract using the initWithLanguage method:
// Tesseract* tesseract = [[Tesseract alloc] initWithLanguage:@"<strong>eng+ita</strong>"];

// set up the delegate to recieve tesseract's callback
// self should respond to TesseractDelegate and implement shouldCancelImageRecognitionForTesseract: method
// to have an ability to recieve callback and interrupt Tesseract before it finishes

Tesseract* tesseract = [[Tesseract alloc] initWithLanguage:@"eng+ita"];
tesseract.delegate = self;

[tesseract setVariableValue:@"0123456789" forKey:@"tessedit_char_whitelist"]; //limit search
[tesseract setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"image_sample.jpg"]]; //image to check
[tesseract recognize];

NSLog(@"%@", [tesseract recognizedText]);

tesseract = nil; //deallocate and free all memory

}

(BOOL)shouldCancelImageRecognitionForTesseract:(Tesseract*)tesseract
{
NSLog(@"progress: %d", tesseract.progress);
return NO;  // return YES, if you need to interrupt tesseract before it finishes
}

Set Tesseract variable key to value. See http://www.sk-spell.sk.cx/tesseract-ocr-en-variables for a complete (but not up-to-date) list.

For instance, use tessedit_char_whitelist to restrict characters to a specific set.

Updates in this version ================= - 2.22 CocoaPods

• 2.21 tesserackCallbackFunction: leak solved on iDevice.

• The 2.2 is like 2.1... but shouldCancelImageRecognitionForTesseract works again! Thank you to Timo Formella!

• Template project updated. Now with camera support.

• New release 2.1

• Fixed memory leaks. Moved all freeing memory job to dealloc. Thanks to frank4565.

• Clear method is deprecated. Set tesseract = nil; to free all memory.

• Free the utf8Text according to the comment in Tesseract that “The recognized text is returned as a char* which is coded as UTF8 and must be freed with the delete [] operator.”.

• Template Framework Project updated.

• New release 2.0 with 64 bit support.

• The - (id)initWithDataPath:(NSString *)dataPath language:(NSString *)language method is now deprecated.

• Bug fixing!

• Removed tessdata folder from the framework project.

• The tessdata folder (follow the Template Framework Project) is now linked with the "folder references" option into the Template Project. REQUIRED!!!

• Added delegate TesseractDelegate

• arm64 support. Thanks to Cyril

• Now you can compile yours libraries. Follow the README_howto_compile_libaries.md inside. Thanks to Simon Strangbaard

• Framework updated

• Bugs fixed. Thanks to Simon Strangbaard

• iOS7 libstdc++ issue solved (using libstdc++.6.0.9).

• Template Framework Project added. It's the start point for use the Tesseract Framework. It's iOS7 ready!

• 11 october 2013, tesseract is up to date with last https://github.com/ldiqual/tesseract-ios version available.

• Clear method updated:

  [tesseract clear]; //call Clear() end End() functions

• XCode 5 ready!

• Framework builded with the new Xcode 5.

Dependencies =================

Tesseract OCR iOS use UIKit, Foundation and CoreFoundation. They are already included in standard iOS Projects.

License

Tesseract OCR iOS and TesseractOCR.framework are under MIT License.

Tesseract, powered by Google http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr/, is under Apache License.

Author Infos

Daniele Galiotto - iOS Freelance Developer - www.g8production.com