PDFTron React Native Wrapper

• API
• Prerequisites
• Preview
• Installation
• Usage Github
• Usage NPM
• TypeScript
• Contributing
• License

API

APIs are available on the API page.

Prerequisites

• No license key is required for trial. However, a valid commercial license key is required after trial.
• npm or yarn
• PDFTron SDK >= 9.0.0
• react-native >= 0.60.0
• TypeScript >= 3.4.1 (optional; see TypeScript)

Preview

Android	iOS

Legacy UI

Version 2.0.2 is the last stable release for the legacy UI.

The release can be found here: https://github.com/PDFTron/pdftron-react-native/releases/tag/legacy-ui.

Installation

1. First, follow the official getting started guide on setting up the React Native environment, setting up the iOS and Android environment, and creating a React Native project. The following steps will assume your app is created through react-native init MyApp. This guide also applies if you are using the TypeScript template.

2. There are two ways to integrate the SDK:

   • Through pdftron's github repo:

     In MyApp folder, install react-native-pdftron by calling:

     yarn add github:PDFTron/pdftron-react-native
     yarn install

     or

     npm install github:PDFTron/pdftron-react-native --save
     npm install

   • Through pdftron's npm package:

     In MyApp folder, install run the following commands:

     yarn add @pdftron/react-native-pdf
     yarn install

     or

     npm install @pdftron/react-native-pdf
     npm install

Android

1. Add the following in your android/app/build.gradle file:

   android {
       ndkVersion rootProject.ext.ndkVersion
   
       compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion
   
       defaultConfig {
           applicationId "com.reactnativesample"
           minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
           targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
           versionCode 1
           versionName "1.0"
           buildConfigField "boolean", "IS_NEW_ARCHITECTURE_ENABLED", isNewArchitectureEnabled().toString()
   +       multiDexEnabled true
   +       manifestPlaceholders = [pdftronLicenseKey:PDFTRON_LICENSE_KEY]
       }
       ...
   }
   ...
   
   dependencies {
   +   implementation "androidx.multidex:multidex:2.0.1"
       ...
   }

2. In your android/gradle.properties file, add the following line:

   # Add the PDFTRON_LICENSE_KEY variable here.
   # For trial purposes leave it blank.
   # For production add a valid commercial license key.
   PDFTRON_LICENSE_KEY=

3. Add the following to your android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml file:

   <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     package="com.myapp">
   
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
     <!-- Required to read and write documents from device storage -->
   + <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
     <!-- Required if you want to record audio annotations -->
   + <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
   
     <application
       ...
   +   android:largeHeap="true"
   +   android:usesCleartextTraffic="true">
   
       <!-- Add license key in meta-data tag here. This should be inside the application tag. -->
   +   <meta-data
   +       android:name="pdftron_license_key"
   +       android:value="${pdftronLicenseKey}"/>
   
       <activity
         ...
   -     android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize"
   +     android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustPan"
   +     android:exported="true">
         <intent-filter>
             <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
             <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
         </intent-filter>
       </activity>
       <activity android:name="com.facebook.react.devsupport.DevSettingsActivity" />
     </application>
   </manifest>

4. In your android/app/src/main/java/com/myapp/MainApplication.java file, change Application to MultiDexApplication:

   - import android.app.Application;
   + import androidx.multidex.MultiDexApplication;
   ...
   - public class MainApplication extends Application implements ReactApplication {
   + public class MainApplication extends MultiDexApplication implements ReactApplication {

5. Replace App.js (or App.tsx) with what is shown for NPM or GitHub

6. Finally in the root project directory, run react-native run-android.

iOS

Note — January 2022

There is a new podspec file to use when integrating the PDFTron React Native Wrapper for iOS: https://pdftron.com/downloads/ios/react-native/latest.podspec

Please update your Podfile accordingly.

1. Open Podfile in the ios folder, add the following line to the target 'MyApp' do ... end block:

   target 'MyApp' do
       # ...
       pod 'PDFNet', podspec: 'https://pdftron.com/downloads/ios/react-native/latest.podspec'
       # ...
   end
   

2. In the ios folder, run pod install.

3. Replace App.js (or App.tsx) with what is shown for NPM or GitHub

4. Finally in the root project directory, run react-native run-ios.

5. (Optional) If you need a close button icon, you will need to add the PNG resources to MyApp as well, i.e. ic_close_black_24px.

Usage-Github

If you installed through GitHub, replace App.js (or App.tsx if you are using TypeScript) with the code below.

If you set your path variable to point to a local storage file, then the PermissionsAndroid component is required to ensure that storage permission is properly granted.

Within this example there are several sections of commented out code that work together to handle storage permissions.

Below the example are the types of file paths that are native to iOS or Android and accepted by the DocumentView component.

import React, { Component } from "react";
import {
  Platform,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  View,
  PermissionsAndroid,
  BackHandler,
  NativeModules,
  Alert,
} from "react-native";

import { DocumentView, RNPdftron } from "react-native-pdftron";

type Props = {};
export default class App extends Component<Props> {
  // If you are using TypeScript, use `constructor(props: Props) {`
  // Otherwise, use:
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    // Uses the platform to determine if storage permisions have been automatically granted.
    // The result of this check is placed in the component's state.
    // this.state = {
    //   permissionGranted: Platform.OS === 'ios' ? true : false
    // };

    RNPdftron.initialize("Insert commercial license key here after purchase");
    RNPdftron.enableJavaScript(true);
  }

  // Uses the platform to determine if storage permissions need to be requested.
  // componentDidMount() {
  //   if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
  //     this.requestStoragePermission();
  //   }
  // }

  // Requests storage permissions for Android and updates the component's state using
  // the result.
  // async requestStoragePermission() {
  //   try {
  //     const granted = await PermissionsAndroid.request(
  //       PermissionsAndroid.PERMISSIONS.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
  //     );
  //     if (granted === PermissionsAndroid.RESULTS.GRANTED) {
  //       this.setState({
  //         permissionGranted: true
  //       });
  //       console.log("Storage permission granted");
  //     } else {
  //       this.setState({
  //         permissionGranted: false
  //       });
  //       console.log("Storage permission denied");
  //     }
  //   } catch (err) {
  //     console.warn(err);
  //   }
  // }

  onLeadingNavButtonPressed = () => {
    console.log("leading nav button pressed");
    if (Platform.OS === "ios") {
      Alert.alert(
        "App",
        "onLeadingNavButtonPressed",
        [{ text: "OK", onPress: () => console.log("OK Pressed") }],
        { cancelable: true }
      );
    } else {
      BackHandler.exitApp();
    }
  };

  render() {
    // If the component's state indicates that storage permissions have not been granted,
    // a view is loaded prompting users to grant these permissions.
    // if (!this.state.permissionGranted) {
    //   return (
    //     <View style={styles.container}>
    //       <Text>
    //         Storage permission required.
    //       </Text>
    //     </View>
    //   )
    // }

    const path =
      "https://pdftron.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/pl/PDFTRON_mobile_about.pdf";

    return (
      <DocumentView
        document={path}
        showLeadingNavButton={true}
        leadingNavButtonIcon={
          Platform.OS === "ios"
            ? "ic_close_black_24px.png"
            : "ic_arrow_back_white_24dp"
        }
        onLeadingNavButtonPressed={this.onLeadingNavButtonPressed}
      />
    );
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: "center",
    alignItems: "center",
    backgroundColor: "#F5FCFF",
  },
});

• (iOS) For app bundle file path:

  document = "sample";

• (Android) For local storage file path:

  document = "file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/sample.pdf";

• (Android) For raw resource path (include file extension):

  document = "android.resource://mypackagename/raw/sample.pdf";

• (Android) For content Uri:

  document = "content://...";

Usage-NPM

If you installed through NPM package, Replace App.js (or App.tsx if you are using TypeScript) with the code below.

If you set your path variable to point to a local storage file, then the PermissionsAndroid component is required to ensure that storage permission is properly granted.

Within this example there are several sections of commented out code that work together to handle storage permissions.

Below the example are the types of file paths that are native to iOS or Android and accepted by the DocumentView component.

if you are using the npm package use this instead

import React, { Component } from "react";
import {
  Platform,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  View,
  PermissionsAndroid,
  BackHandler,
  NativeModules,
  Alert,
} from "react-native";

import { DocumentView, RNPdftron } from "@pdftron/react-native-pdf";

type Props = {};
export default class App extends Component<Props> {
  // If you are using TypeScript, use `constructor(props: Props) {`
  // Otherwise, use:
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);

    // Uses the platform to determine if storage permisions have been automatically granted.
    // The result of this check is placed in the component's state.
    // this.state = {
    //   permissionGranted: Platform.OS === 'ios' ? true : false
    // };

    RNPdftron.initialize("Insert commercial license key here after purchase");
    RNPdftron.enableJavaScript(true);
  }

  // Uses the platform to determine if storage permissions need to be requested.
  // componentDidMount() {
  //   if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
  //     this.requestStoragePermission();
  //   }
  // }

  // Requests storage permissions for Android and updates the component's state using
  // the result.
  // async requestStoragePermission() {
  //   try {
  //     const granted = await PermissionsAndroid.request(
  //       PermissionsAndroid.PERMISSIONS.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
  //     );
  //     if (granted === PermissionsAndroid.RESULTS.GRANTED) {
  //       this.setState({
  //         permissionGranted: true
  //       });
  //       console.log("Storage permission granted");
  //     } else {
  //       this.setState({
  //         permissionGranted: false
  //       });
  //       console.log("Storage permission denied");
  //     }
  //   } catch (err) {
  //     console.warn(err);
  //   }
  // }

  onLeadingNavButtonPressed = () => {
    console.log("leading nav button pressed");
    if (Platform.OS === "ios") {
      Alert.alert(
        "App",
        "onLeadingNavButtonPressed",
        [{ text: "OK", onPress: () => console.log("OK Pressed") }],
        { cancelable: true }
      );
    } else {
      BackHandler.exitApp();
    }
  };

  render() {
    // If the component's state indicates that storage permissions have not been granted,
    // a view is loaded prompting users to grant these permissions.
    // if (!this.state.permissionGranted) {
    //   return (
    //     <View style={styles.container}>
    //       <Text>
    //         Storage permission required.
    //       </Text>
    //     </View>
    //   )
    // }

    const path =
      "https://pdftron.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/pl/PDFTRON_mobile_about.pdf";

    return (
      <DocumentView
        document={path}
        showLeadingNavButton={true}
        leadingNavButtonIcon={
          Platform.OS === "ios"
            ? "ic_close_black_24px.png"
            : "ic_arrow_back_white_24dp"
        }
        onLeadingNavButtonPressed={this.onLeadingNavButtonPressed}
      />
    );
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: "center",
    alignItems: "center",
    backgroundColor: "#F5FCFF",
  },
});

• (iOS) For app bundle file path:

  document = "sample";

• (Android) For local storage file path:

  document = "file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/sample.pdf";

• (Android) For raw resource path (include file extension):

  document = "android.resource://mypackagename/raw/sample.pdf";

• (Android) For content Uri:

  document = "content://...";

TypeScript

PDFTron React Native introduced support for TypeScript in version 3.0.0. This update mainly benefits those who already use TypeScript in their applications. It also provides certain benefits to all customers, including those who use JavaScript without TypeScript.

To get access to TypeScript support, simply update your PDFTron React Native dependency to version 3.0.0 or higher.

All Users

For non-TypeScript users, updating your PDFTron React Native dependency to version 3.0.0 or higher will not automatically install TypeScript itself, and you can continue to use the library as before (without TypeScript support). If you currently do not use TypeScript itself in your project and would like to, see Adding TypeScript to an Existing Project.

Regardless of whether you use TypeScript, the following benefits are available:

• Proper API typings which can be used in tools such as IntelliSense. This offers insight into the data being passed without referring to the API documentation.
• Greater type safety and reliability due to the migration of source files from JavaScript to TypeScript.
• Updated Add an API guides for Android and iOS to offer step-by-step, TypeScript-supported examples on accessing properties, methods, and events. Contributors should be aware that PRs must now be made to the dev branch (see Contributing).

If you have questions, head to the FAQ's Integration section for Android and iOS.

TypeScript Users

If you are an existing TypeScript user, then the custom typings will be available to you simply by updating your PDFTron React Native dependency to version 3.0.0 or higher.

Note:

• TypeScript version 3.4.1+ is recommended. Although compilation still works with lower versions, typings may degrade to any.
• Due to the introduction of proper typings to PDFTron's APIs, your compiler may now give warnings or errors about your usage of these APIs. In most cases these will not prevent your app from running but it is advised that you address them to take full advantage of TypeScript. It is particularly important to address them if you use TypeScript to emit files and have enabled noEmitOnError in your tsconfig.json.

Contributing

See Contributing

License

See License