A common requirement when developing a cordova based app is to embed a performant and secure inline viewer for pdf files which doesn't allow the user to extract a copy of the pdf file out of the apps sandbox.
Simple delegation to commonly available viewer apps like Acrobat Reader or MuPDF is no proper solution, as the app looses control over the pdf file in this case. The external viewer app may or may not provide features to send the document via email or save it to the devices disk, which is not acceptable.
This plugin offers a slim API to view PDF files which are either stored in the apps assets folder (/www/*) or in any other file system directory available via the cordova file plugin (e.g. cordova.file.applicationDirectory, cordova.file.dataDirectory).
Online files reachable via http(s) are not supported. Download them to a temp
folder before starting the viewer. You may use the onClose callback
to cleanup the temp dir when the viewer is closed.
Viewer features like "Save as" or "Send via EMail" are configurable at runtime.
Labels for buttons (i18n) are configurable at runtime.
The purpose of the plugin is to create a platform independent javascript interface for Cordova based mobile applications to view different document types by using native viewer components.
- Cordova/Phonegap >=4.4.0
- iOS 7+
- Android 4.1+
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 10
The plugin can either be installed from git repository, from local file system through the Command-line Interface, or cloud based through PhoneGap Build.
The plugin is published at the npm plugin registry.
An ionic native wrapper for the plugin is available.
From master:
# ~~ from master branch ~~
cordova plugin add https://github.com/sitewaerts/cordova-plugin-document-viewer.gitfrom a local folder:
# ~~ local folder ~~
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-document-viewer --searchpath path/to/pluginor to use the last stable version:
# ~~ stable version ~~
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-document-vieweror to use a specific version:
# ~~ stable version ~~
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-document-viewer@[VERSION]You may replace cordova with phonegap regarding to your needs.
Add the following xml to your config.xml to always use the latest version of this plugin:
<gap:plugin name="cordova-plugin-document-viewer" />or a specific version:
<gap:plugin name="cordova-plugin-document-viewer" version="[VERSION]"/>For available versions and additional information visit the npm plugin registry.
See https://github.com/sitewaerts/cordova-plugin-document-viewer-sample-app for a working example.
The plugin creates the object cordova.plugins.SitewaertsDocumentViewer.
The plugin and its methods are not available before the deviceready event has been fired.
document.addEventListener('deviceready', function () {
// cordova.plugins.SitewaertsDocumentViewer is now available
}, false);String pointing to a device local file (e.g. 'file:///...')
String representing the mime type of the file. Currently only 'application/pdf' is supported.
Some optional features like search or bookmarks are not (yet) implemented on every platform!
var options = {
title: STRING,
documentView : {
closeLabel : STRING
},
navigationView : {
closeLabel : STRING
},
email : {
enabled : BOOLEAN
},
print : {
enabled : BOOLEAN
},
openWith : {
enabled : BOOLEAN
},
bookmarks : {
enabled : BOOLEAN
},
search : {
enabled : BOOLEAN
},
autoClose: {
onPause : BOOLEAN
}
}cordova.plugins.SitewaertsDocumentViewer.canViewDocument(
url, contentType, options, onPossible, onMissingApp, onImpossible, onError);function onPossible(){
window.console.log('document can be shown');
//e.g. track document usage
}function onMissingApp(appId, installer)
{
if(confirm("Do you want to install the free PDF Viewer App "
+ appId + " for Android?"))
{
installer();
}
}function onImpossible(){
window.console.log('document cannot be shown');
//e.g. track document usage
}function onError(error){
window.console.log(error);
alert("Sorry! Cannot show document.");
}cordova.plugins.SitewaertsDocumentViewer.viewDocument(
url, mimeType, options, onShow, onClose, onMissingApp, onError, linkHandlers);function onShow(){
window.console.log('document shown');
//e.g. track document usage
}function onClose(){
window.console.log('document closed');
//e.g. remove temp files
}function onMissingApp(appId, installer)
{
if(confirm("Do you want to install the free PDF Viewer App "
+ appId + " for Android?"))
{
installer();
}
} function onError(error){
window.console.log(error);
alert("Sorry! Cannot view document.");
}Currently only supported on iOS!
Array of link handlers. Optional.
Links in the pdf (when clicked by the user) are delegated to the first linkHandler with a matching pattern. If no matching pattern is found, the link is handled with the default link handler of the native viewer component (if any).
var linkHandlers = [
{
pattern: STRING, // string representation of a plain regexp (no flags)
close: BOOLEAN, // shall the document be closed, after the link handler was executed?
handler: function (link) {} // link handler to be executed when the user clicks on a link matching the pattern
},
{
pattern: '^\/',
close: false,
handler: function (link) {
window.console.log('link clicked: ' + link);
}
}
];cordova.plugins.SitewaertsDocumentViewer.closeDocument(onClose, onError);function onClose(url){
if(url)
window.console.log('closed viewer document ' + url);
else
window.console.log('viewer not open');
}function onError(error){
window.console.log(error);
alert("Sorry! Cannot close viewer.");
}The plugin uses the awesome VFRReader (https://github.com/vfr/Reader) to embed pdf viewer functionality in the app.
To open a pdf at a given page number add { page: pageIndex } to the options when calling viewDocument.
Due to license restrictions in muPDF, the plugin dispatches to a separate (free) viewer app based on muPDF. If the viewer app is not yet installed, the user may be redirected to the google play app store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.sitewaerts.cleverdox.viewer
https://github.com/sitewaerts/android-document-viewer
The plugin uses
- Windows.Data.Pdf.PdfDocument to generate images for PDF pages
- pdf.js to display outline / table of contents
TODO
- Add transparent support for online files.
- The external Viewer App (Android) cannot access files stored in app private directories. Due to this fact, the plugin copies a file to a shared temp folder before starting the viewer. When the viewer is closed, the temp file is immediately deleted. While the viewer is running, a sophisticated user may 'steal' the file from the shared temp directory. We are still searching for a better solution, any good idea is welcome.
- Add support for pdf forms.
- Add fulltext search features.
- Add user bookmark support.
- Add support for additional mime types like dwg, docx, etc.
- Optimize user experience for small screens. Currently the viewer components are tested and optimized on tablets only.
- Let developers provide graphics for buttons at runtime.
based on https://github.com/vfr/Reader
based on https://github.com/mindstorm/CDVPDFViewer
based on pdf.js
based on winjs
inspired by https://github.com/pebois/phonegap-plugin-PDFViewer
inspired by https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn263105.aspx