avalpdf 0.1.1

A command-line tool for validating PDF accessibility, analyzing document structure, and generating detailed reports

avalpdf - PDF Accessibility Validator

A command-line tool for validating PDF accessibility, analyzing document structure, and generating detailed reports.

Features

• Full PDF accessibility validation
• Document structure analysis
• Support for both local and remote PDF files
• Validation of:
  • Document tags and metadata:
    • Document tagging status
    • Title presence
    • Language declaration
  • Heading hierarchy:
    • H1 presence
    • Correct heading levels sequence
  • Figure alt text:
    • Missing alternative text detection
  • Tables structure:
    • Header presence and proper structure
    • Empty cells detection
    • Duplicate headers check
    • Multiple header rows warning
    • Empty tables detection
  • Lists structure:
    • Proper list tagging
    • Detection of untagged lists (consecutive paragraphs with bullets/numbers)
    • Misused list types (numbered items in unordered lists)
    • List hierarchy consistency
  • Formatting issues:
    • Excessive underscores (used for underlining)
    • Spaced capital letters (like "T E S T")
    • Extra spaces used for layout
  • Empty elements:
    • Empty paragraphs
    • Whitespace-only elements
    • Empty headings
    • Empty table cells
• Multiple output formats (JSON, console reports)

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• PDFix SDK

Installation

[!WARNING] The installation procedure is currently a work in progress and may not be fully stable. Improvements are being made to make the installation process more robust.

1. Install PDFix SDK:

pip install pdfix-sdk

2. Download and install avalpdf:

sudo sh -c 'wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dennisangemi/avalpdf/main/avalpdf -O /usr/local/bin/avalpdf && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/avalpdf'

Usage

After installation, you can run avalpdf from any directory.

Quick start

Simply run

avalpdf thesis.pdf

or

avalpdf https://example.com/document.pdf

to get a report like this

and a preview of the structure

Details

# Basic validation with console output
avalpdf document.pdf

# Complete analysis with all outputs
avalpdf document.pdf --full --simple --report

# Save reports to specific directory
avalpdf document.pdf -o /path/to/output --report --simple

# Show document structure only
avalpdf document.pdf --show-structure

Command Line Options

• --full: Save full JSON structure
• --simple: Save simplified JSON structure
• --report: Save validation report
• --output-dir, -o: Specify output directory
• --show-structure: Display document structure
• --show-validation: Display validation results
• --show-all: Show all information
• --quiet, -q: Suppress console output

Examples

1. Quick accessibility check:

avalpdf thesis.pdf

2. Generate all reports:

avalpdf report.pdf --full --simple --report -o ./analysis

3. Silent operation with report generation:

avalpdf document.pdf --report -q

4. Analyze multiple files:

for file in *.pdf; do avalpdf "$file" --report --quiet; done

Validation Output

The tool provides three types of findings:

• ✅ Successes: Correctly implemented accessibility features
• ⚠️ Warnings: Potential issues that need attention
• ❌ Issues: Problems that must be fixed

Report Format

{
  "validation_results": {
    "issues": ["..."],
    "warnings": ["..."],
    "successes": ["..."]
  }
}

License

MIT License

Support

For issues or suggestions:

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Provide the PDF file (if possible) and the complete error message
• Include the command you used and your operating system information