File Content Extraction 26.3
Filter SDK C Programming Guide

# fpInit()

This function initializes a Filter session.

## Syntax

    KVErrorCode pascal fpInit(
            const char* pszKeyViewDir,
            const char* pszLicense,
            const KVFilterInitOptions* pOptions,
            KVFilterSession* pSession
    );

## Arguments

`pszKeyViewDir` | A pointer to a string that contains the path of the Filter directory (where the readers and the `formats.ini` file are located). This is normally the `install\PLATFORM\bin` directory.
`pszLicense` | A pointer to a string that contains your license key, as provided by OpenText. Copy the key exactly, with no leading or trailing spaces.
`pOptions` | A pointer to a KVFilterInitOptions structure that specifies configuration options for the new Filter session. You must initialize this structure with the `KVStructInit()` macro before modifying the structure as necessary. See KVFilterInitOptions for information about the options you can set.
`pSession` | A pointer to a Filter session that you want to initialize. When you call `fpInit()`, the pointer is set to the address of the new session context.

## Returns

The function returns an error code.

- When initialization is successful, the error code is `KVError_Success` and the session context is stored in `*pSession`. Use the Filter session in future calls to File Content Extraction - it must be passed as the first argument to some of the File Extraction API and Filter API functions.
- When initialization is unsuccessful, the return value is an error code (see KVErrorCode for more information), and `*pSession` is set to `NULL`.

## Lifetimes and Memory Management

- When the filtering context is no longer required, call fpShutdown() to terminate it. Call fpShutdown() only when `fpInit` returns `KVError_Success`.

## Discussion

- On Windows, `pszKeyViewDir` must be in the local Windows code page.
- To make sure that multi-threaded filter processes are thread-safe, you must create a unique context pointer for every thread by calling `fpInit()`. In addition, threads must not share context pointers, and you must use the same context pointer for all API calls in the same thread. Creating a context pointer for every thread does not affect performance because the context pointer uses minimal resources.

Copyright 1997-2026 Open Text
Version 26.3 | Last updated July 2026

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Product: File Content Extraction 26.3

Topic Title: fpInit()