>This client wants to merge pdf files.
>There database-related logic in the algorithm that determines what files from what folders should be combined.
>I found one open source tool that claims to be able to do it, but there is no documentation and before I dive into it, I'm wondering if anyone has any better ideas?
>Thanks

If the tool is iTextsharper it definitely can do it. Google around and you'll find code on how to do it. If you get stuck let me know and I can show you my vb code. I am using iTextsharper to programmtically fill out 40 or so PDF forms and merge them into one big PDF. Not difficult at all to hook up.

(found it faster than I thought I would. this is the routine I am using to join the PDFs. i pass in the name of the masterPDF I want to create and an array of the names of the PDFs to be merged )_

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports iTextSharp.text
Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf
Imports System.Collections.Generic

Public NotInheritable Class PDFJoiner

    Public Shared Sub JoinPDFs(ByVal Masterpdf As String, ByVal sourcefiles As String())

        Dim f As Integer = 0

        ' we create a reader for a certain document
        ' owner password as second param requires a byte array 

        Dim pword As Byte()

        pword = Base.Utility.StrToByteArray("jellopudding")

        Dim reader As New PdfReader(sourcefiles(0), pword)

        ' we retrieve the total number of pages
        Dim n As Integer = reader.NumberOfPages
        '      Console.WriteLine("There are " & n & " pages in the original file.")
        ' step 1: creation of a document-object
        Dim document As New Document(reader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(1))

        ' step 2: we create a writer that listens to the document

        Dim writer As PdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, New FileStream(Masterpdf, FileMode.Create))
        ' step 3: we open the document
        document.Open()

        Dim cb As PdfContentByte = writer.DirectContent
        Dim page As PdfImportedPage
        Dim rotation As Integer
        ' step 4: we add content

        f = 1
        While f < sourcefiles.Length

            Dim i As Integer = 0
            While i < n
                i += 1
                document.SetPageSize(reader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(i))

                document.NewPage()

                page = writer.GetImportedPage(reader, i)
                rotation = reader.GetPageRotation(i)
                If rotation = 90 Or rotation = 270 Then
                    cb.AddTemplate(page, 0, -1, 1, 0, 0, reader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(i).Height)
                Else
                    cb.AddTemplate(page, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0)
                End If

            End While

            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Processed document " & f & " - " & sourcefiles(f))

            f += 1

            If f < sourcefiles.Length Then

                reader = New PdfReader(sourcefiles(f), pword)

                ' we retrieve the total number of pages
                n = reader.NumberOfPages

                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("There are " & n & " pages in the original file.")
            End If

       End While

        document.Close()

    End Sub


End Class