Open a document with Apryse iOS SDK

You have a few options to open a document such as with a document view controller, tabbed document view controller or an embedded view.

Document viewer

Document view controller

The PTDocumentController shows a PDF viewer and annotator complete with controls such as an annotation toolbar, page layout controls, bookmarks, thumbnail viewer, etc. All of its component pieces are part of the Tools framework, and this class packages them into one easy to use view controller.

For a version of PTDocumentController that supports multiple documents, see PTTabbedDocumentViewController.

The document viewer includes a convenient document interaction and annotation toolbar at the top as well as convenient access to a number of powerful built-in components.

The PTDocumentController is a subclass of the PTDocumentBaseViewController from which it inherits much of its functionality.

Show a document

The document viewer is part of the Tools library, so make sure you have added the Tools library to your project.

The following shows how to create a document viewer, set the document to display, and present it on screen.

Swift

// Create a PTDocumentController
let documentController = PTDocumentController()

// The PTDocumentController must be in a navigation controller before a document can be opened
let navigationController = UINavigationController(rootViewController: documentController)

// Open an existing local file URL.
let fileURL: URL! = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "sample", withExtension: "pdf")

documentController.openDocument(with: fileURL)

// Show navigation (and document) controller.
self.present(navigationController, animated: true, completion: nil)

Obj-C

// Create a PTDocumentController
PTDocumentController *documentController = [[PTDocumentController alloc] init];

// The PTDocumentController must be in a navigation controller before a document can be opened
UINavigationController *navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:documentController];

// Open an existing local file URL.
NSURL *fileURL = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource:@"Sample" withExtension:@"pdf"];

[documentController openDocumentWithURL:fileURL];

// Show navigation (and document) controller.
[self presentViewController:navigationController animated:YES completion:nil];

Respond to Opening Events

openDocumentWithURL: is an asynchronous method. To respond to errors or other events that occur during opening, assign an object that conforms to the PTDocumentControllerDelegate to the PTDocumentController's delegate property and implement the following optional methods:

• documentControllerDidOpenDocument: to respond to successfully opening a document.
• documentController:didFailToOpenDocumentWithError: to respond to an error during document opening.
• documentController:destinationURLForDocumentAtURL: to control where remote or converted documents are saved.

Tabbed document viewer

Show Documents in a Tabbed ViewController

The PTTabbedDocumentViewController class is a container view controller that hosts multiple PTDocumentControllers with a tabbed interface. For more information about the PTDocumentController class, please see this guide.

On iPads or other devices with a Regular horizontal size class then the tabs will be shown in a bar along the top of the view, for Compact size classes the tabs will be accessible in the UIToolbar at the bottom of the view.

The tabbed viewer control is part of the Tools library, so make sure you have added the Tools library to your project.

Show a tabbed viewer controller

The following sample demonstrates how to show a tabbed viewer controller with a document from another UIViewController:

Swift

// Create and wrap a tabbed controller in a navigation controller.
let tabbedController = PTTabbedDocumentViewController()

let navigationController = UINavigationController(rootViewController: tabbedController)

// Open an existing local file URL.
let fileURL: URL! = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "sample", withExtension: "pdf")

tabbedController.openDocument(with: fileURL)

// Show navigation (and tabbed) controller.
self.present(navigationController, animated: true, completion: nil)

Obj-C

// Create and wrap a tabbed controller in a navigation controller.
PTTabbedDocumentViewController *tabbedController = [[PTTabbedDocumentViewController alloc] init];

UINavigationController *navigationController = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:tabbedController];

// Open an existing local file URL.
NSURL *fileURL = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource:@"Sample" withExtension:@"pdf"];

[tabbedController openDocumentWithURL:fileURL];

// Show navigation (and tabbed) controller. 
[self presentViewController:navigationController animated:YES completion:nil];

The openDocumentWithURL: method will create a new tab if the URL is not already being displayed, otherwise it will switch to the existing tab.

The tabbed viewer controller currently relies on the UINavigationController to supply a navigation bar for the buttons.

Tab management

For more control over how tabs are added to the tabbed viewer controller, the addTabWithURL:selected:error: and insertTabWithURL:atIndex:selected:error: methods can be used:

Swift

// Add the fileURL to the end of the tab bar, without changing the selected tab.
do {
	try tabbedController.addTab(with: fileURL selected:false)
} catch {
	// Failed to add tab.
}

// Insert and select the otherFileURL at the start of the tab bar.
do {
	try tabbedController.insertTab(with: otherFileURL, at: 0, selected:true)
} catch {
	// Failed to insert and select tab.
}

Obj-C

// Add the fileURL to the end of the tab bar, without changing the selected tab.
NSError *error = nil;
BOOL success = [tabbedController addTabWithURL:fileURL selected:NO error:&error];
if (!success) {
	// Failed to add tab.
}

// Insert and select the otherFileURL at the start of the tab bar.
error = nil;
success = [tabbedController insertTabWithURL:otherFileURL atIndex:0 selected:YES error:&error];
if (!success) {
	// Failed to insert and select tab.
}

Configure the tab bar

The behavior of the tabbed viewer controller can be customized with several properties. The tabsEnabled and maximumTabCount properties can be used to disable the tab bar and limit the number of tabs, respectively. By default, tabs are enabled in the tabbed viewer controller and there is no limit on the number of tabs.

Tab bar visibility

The tab bar's visibility is controlled by the tabBarHidden property. To animate the change in visibility, the setTabBarHidden:animated: method can be used.

When the containing navigation controller's navigation bar is hidden, the tabbed viewer also hides its tab bar.

Tabbed viewer controller delegate

To configure a document view controller before it is displayed, conform to and implement the PTTabbedDocumentViewControllerDelegate method tabbedDocumentViewController:willAddDocumentViewController:. Note that it is permissible to assign the internal PTDocumentController's delegate to an external object.

Swift

func tabbedDocumentViewController(_ tabbedDocumentViewController: PTTabbedDocumentViewController, willAdd documentViewController: PTDocumentController) {

        documentViewController.delegate = self
        // customize documentViewController
    }

Obj-C

-(void)tabbedDocumentViewController:(PTTabbedDocumentViewController *)tabbedDocumentViewController willAddDocumentViewController:(PTDocumentController *)documentViewController
{
    documentViewController.delegate = self;
    // customize documentViewController
}

You can set a delegate to be notified by the tabbed viewer controller when tabs are removed with the PTTabbedDocumentViewControllerDelegate protocol's tabbedDocumentViewController:willRemoveTabAtIndex: method.

The tabbedDocumentViewController:willRemoveTabAtIndex: delegate method can be used to close the tabbed viewer controller when the last tab is closed:

Swift

func tabbedDocumentViewController(_ tabbedDocumentViewController: PTTabbedDocumentViewController, willRemoveTabAt index: UInt) {
  	// Check if the last tab is being removed.
    if (tabbedDocumentViewController.tabURLs.count > 1) {
        return
    }
        
    // Close tabbed viewer controller.
    // ...
}

Obj-C

- (void)tabbedDocumentViewController:(PTTabbedDocumentViewController *)tabbedDocumentViewController willRemoveTabAtIndex:(NSUInteger)index
{
    // Check if the last tab is being removed.
    if (tabbedDocumentViewController.tabURLs.count > 1) {
        return;
    }
    
    // Close tabbed viewer controller.
    // ...
}

View

PTPDFViewCtrl

Displaying a PDF

The easiest way to display a PDF is using a PTDocumentController. The PTPDFViewCtrl is a low-level control that may be used when a higher level of customization is required.

About PTPDFViewCtrl

The PTPDFViewCtrl is a UIView that displays a PDF.

If your app is displaying a PDF, a PTPDFViewCtrl will be used in one of two ways:

• Directly, by adding it as a subview to another view in your app.
• As a component piece of a PTDocumentController or PTTabbedDocumentViewController. (It is accessible via the pdfViewCtrl property.)

Use PTPDFViewCtrl as a stand-alone component

1. These instructions assume that you've initialized Apryse.
2. Add a PDF to your project, by dragging it into the project's left side panel. Ensure that it will be copied into the bundle's resources by checking that it is listed under the Copy Bundle Resources section of the project's Build Phases. (If it is not present here, add it using the '+' button.)The file sample.pdf has been added to the project, and will be copied into the bundle.

1. Instantiate a new PTPDFDoc:

Obj-C

// Get the path to document in the app bundle.
NSString* pdfPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"sample" ofType:@"pdf"];
    
// Instantiate a new PDFDoc with the path to the file.
PTPDFDoc* docToOpen = [[PTPDFDoc alloc] initWithFilepath:pdfPath];

Swift

// Get the path to document in the app bundle.
let pdfPath: String? = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "sample", ofType: "pdf")
    
// Instantiate a new PDFDoc with the path to the file.
let docToOpen = PTPDFDoc(filepath: pdfPath)

1. Create a new PTPDFViewCtrl and add it as a child to the current view:Running the app will now display the PDF sample.pdf. However, it will not support annotation creation, editing, text selection, or any other UI aspect that is handled by Tools.framework . To add support for annotations and text selection you need to incorporate the tools framework .

Obj-C

// Create a new PDFViewCtrl
PTPDFViewCtrl* pdfViewCtrl = [[PTPDFViewCtrl alloc] init];

// Set the document to display
[pdfViewCtrl SetDoc:docToOpen];

// Add the PDFViewCtrl to the current view controller's root view.
[self.view addSubview:pdfViewCtrl];
  
// Set the size of the PDFViewCtrl to that of its superview.
// (Auto Layout is fully supported as well)
pdfViewCtrl.frame = self.view.bounds;
pdfViewCtrl.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;

Swift

// Create a new PDFViewCtrl.
let pdfViewCtrl = PTPDFViewCtrl()

// Set the document to display.
pdfViewCtrl.setDoc(docToOpen)

// Add the PDFViewCtrl to the current view controller's root view.
self.view.addSubview(pdfViewCtrl)

// Set the size of the PDFViewCtrl to that of its superview.
// (Auto Layout is fully supported as well)
pdfViewCtrl.frame = self.view.bounds
pdfViewCtrl.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]