Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#1

Post by pykello » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:59 AM UTC

Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript
mozilla.github.com

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#2

Post by dutchbrit » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:24 AM UTC

As a big user of PDF.js, I have to say it's great for basic PDF documents. However, complex vectors don't render nicely with this

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#3

Post by jowiar » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:29 AM UTC

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed.

2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a website, attempting to make things "easier." Between Scribd and Slideshare, and Adobe trying to force its hideous crash-prone plugins into my browser, there are already enough people making a mess out of what is one of the more well-thought-out aspects of OS X. Give me a link to a PDF, which Preview.app handles in wonderful fashion any day.

3) It would make a sweet browser plugin on browser-in-a-box platforms and other platforms that don't have a nice native implementation (which upon further reading seems to be the goal).

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#4

Post by Mizza » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:29 AM UTC

XSS injections on these are gonna be fun..

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#5

Post by cpeterso » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:42 AM UTC

Firefox already bundles the pdf.js reader. See https://bugzil.la/714712.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#6

Post by klr » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:43 AM UTC

I have this error with Firefox 9.0.1:

currentPage is undefined http://mozilla.github.com/pdf.js/web/viewer.js Line 285

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#7

Post by ianb » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:53 AM UTC

I use this a lot, and it really does work. It renders everything, and renders it well. The one thing that doesn't work is maps – just too many vectors, and Javascript/Canvas/etc just can't keep up. Otherwise I'm very happy and don't feel nearly as much resentment towards PDFs as I used to.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#8

Post by AndrewDucker » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:55 AM UTC

klr wrote: post #6

I have this error with Firefox 9.0.1: currentPage is undefined http://mozilla.github.com/pdf.js/web/viewer.js Line 285

I'd go with "That's because any version of Firefox below 15 is unsupported".

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#9

Post by jpallen » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:55 AM UTC

I'm really excited for this for http://www.sharelatex.com and other similar sites that are actually generating a PDF for you. With native PDF viewers there is no way to interact with the viewer via javascript and even just having the viewer stay on the same page when your reload a document (with minor changes) is impossible. Pdf.js means that we'll be able to do this easily, as well as other cool things like letting letting the user sync between the PDF and source.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#10

Post by RandallBrown » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 7:59 AM UTC

jowiar wrote: post #3

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed. 2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a website, attempting to make things "easier." Between Scribd and Slideshare, and Adobe trying to force its hideous crash-prone plugins into my browser, there are already enough people making a mess out of what is one of the more well-thought-out aspects of OS X. Giv…

I think Firefox has been shipping with this for awhile to view PDFs. It may be an about:config value you have to turn on though.