> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.apryse.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.apryse.com/web/get-started/samples/showcase-demo-pdf-search.md).

# PDF Search Showcase Demo Code Sample

Add search capability to PDFs using configurable string searches

{% hint style="info" %}
**Requirements**

*These packages are required to use these features in production. Trial keys have unlimited access to all features*

<a href="/web/get-started/readme.md" class="button primary">Web SDK</a><a href="https://showcase.apryse.com/pdf-search" class="button primary">Live demo</a>
{% endhint %}

Add PDF search functionality with configurable search methods that allow users to refine or broaden string match criteria.

This demo allows you to:

* Choose your own PDF file
* Type a search string
* Configure the search options:
  * Case Sensitive
  * Whole Word
  * Wild Card
  * Regular Expression
* Highlight matching string in the document

### **Implementation steps**

To add PDF Search capability with WebViewer: Step 1: [Get started with WebViewer](/web/get-started/readme.md) in your preferred web stack Step 2: Add the ES6 JavaScript sample code provided in this guide

Once you generate your license key, it will automatically be included in your sample code below.

{% @apryse-license-key/apryse-license-key platform="WEB\_VIEWER" variant="compact" %}

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="index.js" %}

<pre class="language-js" data-line-numbers><code class="lang-js">// ES6 Compliant Syntax
// Copilot name: GitHub Copilot, version: 1.0.0, model: GPT-4, version: 2024-06, date: 2025-09-23
// File: pdf-search/index.js

import WebViewer from '@pdftron/webviewer';

const licenseKey = '<code class="expression">visitor.claims.wvKey || "YOUR_WEBVIEWER_LICENSE_KEY"</code>';

WebViewer(
  {
    path: '/lib',
    initialDoc: 'https://apryse.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/files/samples/section-508.pdf',
    enableFilePicker: true, // Enable file picker to open files. In WebViewer -> menu icon -> Open File
    enableMeasurement: true,
    licenseKey: licenseKey, // Replace with your license key
  },
  document.getElementById('viewer')
).then((instance) => {

  // Customize the main webviewer left panel after the load completion
  instance.Core.documentViewer.addEventListener('documentLoaded', () => {
    customizeUI(instance);
  });

  // Define the search listener to capture search results
  // This listener is called when search results are returned
  const searchListener = (searchPattern, options, results) => {

    // Update the checkbox states on the custom search panel based on the search options used
    checkBoxControl(checkBoxData[0]).checked = options.caseSensitive;
    checkBoxControl(checkBoxData[1]).checked = options.wholeWord;

    searchResults = formattedSearchResults(results);
    updateResultsViewer();
  };

  // Add search listener to capture search results
  instance.UI.addSearchListener(searchListener);

  console.log('✅ WebViewer loaded successfully.');
}).catch((error) => {
  console.error('❌ Failed to initialize WebViewer:', error);
});

// Store the search results
let searchResults = null;

// The list of registered panels in the main webviewer
let viewerPanels = null;

// The tab panel, representing the webviewer left panel
const tabPanel = {
  handle: null,
  dataElement: 'tabPanel'
};

// The custom search sub-panel to be registered
const leftSearchPanel = {
  handle: null,
  dataElement: 'leftSearchPanel',
  render: null,
};

const checkBoxData = [
  { label: "Case sensitive" },
  { label: "Whole word" },
  { label: "Wild card" },
  { label: "Regular expression" }
];

// Customize the main webviewer left panel
const customizeUI = (instance) => {
  const { UI } = instance;

  // Close the tab panel (if it's open) for refreshment.
  UI.closeElements([tabPanel.dataElement]);

  // Get the list of registered panels in the main webviewer
  viewerPanels = UI.getPanels();

  // Find the Tab Panel to modify. The search sub-panel will be added to this Tab panel.
  tabPanel.handle = viewerPanels.find((panel) => panel.dataElement === tabPanel.dataElement);

  // Register the custom search sub-panel
  RegisterSearchPanel(instance);

  // Add the new custom search sub-panel to list of sub-panels under the Tab Panel
  leftSearchPanel.handle = { render: leftSearchPanel.dataElement };
  tabPanel.handle.panelsList = [leftSearchPanel.handle, ...tabPanel.handle.panelsList];

  UI.openElements([tabPanel.dataElement]);
  UI.setPanelWidth(tabPanel.dataElement, 400);
};

// Register the custom search sub-panel
const RegisterSearchPanel = (instance) => {
  leftSearchPanel.render = createSearchPanelElements(instance);
  instance.UI.addPanel({
    dataElement: leftSearchPanel.dataElement,
    location: 'left',
    icon: '&#x3C;svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" x="0px" y="0px" width="18" height="18" viewBox="0 0 24 24">&#x3C;path d="M 10 2 C 5.5935644 2 2 5.5935677 2 10 C 2 14.406432 5.5935644 18 10 18 C 11.844022 18 13.540969 17.365427 14.896484 16.310547 L 20.292969 21.707031 A 1.0001 1.0001 0 1 0 21.707031 20.292969 L 16.310547 14.896484 C 17.365427 13.540969 18 11.844021 18 10 C 18 5.5935677 14.406436 2 10 2 z M 10 4 C 13.325556 4 16 6.674446 16 10 C 16 13.325554 13.325556 16 10 16 C 6.6744439 16 4 13.325554 4 10 C 4 6.674446 6.6744439 4 10 4 z">&#x3C;/path>&#x3C;/svg>',
    title: 'Search',
    render: () => leftSearchPanel.render,
  });
};

// Create the search panel elements.
const createSearchPanelElements = (instance) => {
  let panelDiv = document.createElement('div');
  panelDiv.id = 'search';
  let paragraph = document.createTextNode('A demo of the PDF search and indexing capabilities in WebViewer, a JavaScript-based PDF SDK for web apps. Found words are highlighted throughout the PDF document.');
  panelDiv.appendChild(paragraph);

  let dividerDiv = document.createElement('div');
  dividerDiv.style.borderTop = '1px solid #ccc';
  dividerDiv.style.margin = '10px 0';
  panelDiv.appendChild(dividerDiv);

  // Search input field
  const inputSearch = document.createElement('input');
  inputSearch.id = 'inputSearch';
  inputSearch.type = 'text';
  inputSearch.placeholder = 'Search here ...';
  inputSearch.addEventListener("input", () => {
    enableButton(searchButton, inputSearch.value.trim() !== '');
  });
  inputSearch.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) {
    if (event.key === "Enter") {
      searchPDF(instance);
    }
  });
  panelDiv.appendChild(inputSearch);

  // Search button
  const searchButton = document.createElement('button');
  searchButton.textContent = 'Search';
  enableButton(searchButton, false); // Initially disable the search button
  searchButton.style.marginLeft = '10px';
  searchButton.onclick = () => searchPDF(instance); // Search the PDF document
  panelDiv.appendChild(searchButton);

  // Create checkboxes for items in the checkBoxData array
  checkBoxData.forEach(item => {

    // Checkbox input
    const checkbox = document.createElement('input');
    checkbox.type = 'checkbox';
    checkbox.id = labelToId(item.label);

    // Checkbox label
    const label = document.createElement('label');
    label.textContent = item.label;

    panelDiv.appendChild(document.createElement('p'));
    panelDiv.appendChild(checkbox);
    panelDiv.appendChild(label);
  });

  // Display search results
  let jsonDiv = document.createElement('div');
  jsonDiv.id = 'json';
  const jsonTitle = document.createElement("h3");
  jsonTitle.textContent = "Search Results";
  jsonDiv.appendChild(jsonTitle);
  jsonDiv.appendChild(document.createElement('p'));

  const span = document.createElement("span");
  span.id = 'resultsText';
  let resultsText = document.createTextNode('');
  span.appendChild(resultsText);
  jsonDiv.appendChild(span);
  jsonDiv.appendChild(document.createElement('p'));

  const scrollBox = document.createElement("div");
  scrollBox.style.width = "350px";
  scrollBox.style.height = "350px";
  scrollBox.style.border = "2px solid #444";
  scrollBox.style.overflow = "scroll"; // Enables both vertical and horizontal scroll
  scrollBox.style.whiteSpace = "nowrap"; // Prevents wrapping for horizontal scroll
  scrollBox.style.padding = "10px";
  scrollBox.style.fontFamily = "monospace";
  scrollBox.style.backgroundColor = "black";
  scrollBox.style.color = "white";

  // Format and insert results JSON data
  const jsonContent = document.createElement("pre");
  scrollBox.appendChild(jsonContent);
  jsonDiv.appendChild(scrollBox);

  // Open JSON data dialog button
  let jsonDataDialogButton = document.createElement('button');
  jsonDataDialogButton.textContent = 'Open in Dialog';
  jsonDataDialogButton.id = 'jsonDataDialogButton';
  enableButton(jsonDataDialogButton, false); // Initially disable the button
  jsonDataDialogButton.onclick = () => openJsonDataDialog();
  jsonDiv.appendChild(jsonDataDialogButton);
  jsonDiv.appendChild(document.createElement('p'));

  panelDiv.appendChild(dividerDiv.cloneNode());
  panelDiv.appendChild(jsonDiv);

  return panelDiv;
};

// Format the search results for better readability
const formattedSearchResults = (results) => {
  if (results === null || results.length === 0) {
    return [];
  }

  const formatted = [];
  results.forEach((result) => {
    const element = {
      ambient_str: result.ambient_str,
      result_str: result.result_str,
      result_str_start: result.result_str_start,
      result_str_end: result.result_str_end,
      page_num: result.page_num,
      resultCode: result.resultCode,
      quads: result.quads,
    };

    formatted.push(element);
  });

  return formatted;
};

// Update the results viewer with the latest search results
const updateResultsViewer = () => {
  const resultsText = leftSearchPanel.render.querySelector('#resultsText');
  resultsText.textContent = (searchResults &#x26;&#x26; searchResults.length > 0) ? `${searchResults.length} results found. (Data has been formatted for readability)` : 'No results found';

  const jsonContent = leftSearchPanel.render.querySelector('pre');
  jsonContent.textContent = (searchResults &#x26;&#x26; searchResults.length > 0) ? JSON.stringify(searchResults, null, 1) : '';

  const jsonDataDialogButton = leftSearchPanel.render.querySelector('#jsonDataDialogButton');
  enableButton(jsonDataDialogButton, (searchResults &#x26;&#x26; searchResults.length > 0));
};

// Open search results in a viewer with zoom in/out and close buttons
const openJsonDataDialog = () => {
  let fontSize = 14;

  // Create overlay
  const overlay = document.createElement("div");
  overlay.className = "modal-overlay";
  overlay.onclick = (e) => {
    if (e.target === overlay) {
      document.body.removeChild(overlay);
    }
  };

  // Modal box
  const modal = document.createElement("div");
  modal.className = "modal-box";

  // Controls
  const controls = document.createElement("div");
  controls.className = "modal-controls";

  const zoomInBtn = document.createElement("button");
  zoomInBtn.textContent = "+";
  zoomInBtn.onclick = () => {
    fontSize += 2;
    content.style.fontSize = fontSize + "px";
  };

  const zoomOutBtn = document.createElement("button");
  zoomOutBtn.textContent = "-";
  zoomOutBtn.onclick = () => {
    fontSize = Math.max(10, fontSize - 2);
    content.style.fontSize = fontSize + "px";
  };

  const closeBtn = document.createElement("button");
  closeBtn.textContent = "Close";
  closeBtn.className = "modal-close";
  closeBtn.onclick = () => {
    document.body.removeChild(overlay);
  };

  controls.appendChild(zoomInBtn);
  controls.appendChild(zoomOutBtn);
  controls.appendChild(closeBtn);

  // Content
  const content = document.createElement("pre");
  content.className = "modal-content";
  content.style.fontSize = fontSize + "px";
  content.innerHTML = JSON.stringify(searchResults, null, 1);

  modal.appendChild(controls);
  modal.appendChild(content);
  overlay.appendChild(modal);
  document.body.appendChild(overlay);
}

// Convert a label to a valid ID by removing spaces
const labelToId = (label) => label.replace(/\s+/g, '');

// Get the checkbox control based on the label
const checkBoxControl = (item) => {
  const checkbox = leftSearchPanel.render.querySelector(`#${labelToId(item.label)}`);
  return checkbox;
};

// Search the PDF document based on the search pattern and options
const searchPDF = (instance) => {

  instance.Core.documentViewer.clearSearchResults();

  // Get the search pattern from the search input field value in the search panel
  // searchPattern can be something like "search*m" with "wildcard" option set to true
  // searchPattern can be something like "search1|search2" with "regex" option set to true
  const searchPattern = leftSearchPanel.render.querySelector('#inputSearch').value.trim();

  // Set search options values based on the checkbox states
  const searchOptions = {
    caseSensitive: checkBoxControl(checkBoxData[0]).checked,  // match case
    wholeWord: checkBoxControl(checkBoxData[1]).checked,      // match whole words only
    wildcard: checkBoxControl(checkBoxData[2]).checked,       // allow using '*' as a wildcard value
    regex: checkBoxControl(checkBoxData[3]).checked,          // string is treated as a regular expression
    ambientString: true,  // return ambient string as part of the result
  };

  instance.UI.searchTextFull(searchPattern, searchOptions);
};

// Enable or disable a button based on the state
const enableButton = (button, state) => {
  button.disabled = !state;
  button.style.backgroundColor = (state) ? 'blue' : 'gray';
  button.style.color = (state) ? 'white' : 'darkgray';
};
</code></pre>

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="modal.css" %}
{% code title="modal.css" lineNumbers="true" %}

```css
/* Modal styles for pdf-search demo */

.modal-overlay {
  position: fixed;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
  z-index: 1001;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
}

.modal-box {
  background: white;
  padding: 20px;
  border-radius: 8px;
  width: 80%;
  max-width: 800px;
  height: 80%;
  max-height: 600px;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
  position: relative;
}

.modal-controls {
  margin-bottom: 15px;
  display: flex;
  gap: 10px;
  align-items: center;
}

.modal-controls button {
  padding: 8px 16px;
  border: none;
  border-radius: 4px;
  cursor: pointer;
  font-size: 14px;
  transition: background-color 0.2s ease;
}

.modal-controls button:not(.modal-close) {
  background: #007cba;
  color: white;
}

.modal-controls button:not(.modal-close):hover {
  background: #005a8b;
}

.modal-close {
  background: #dc3545 !important;
  color: white !important;
  margin-left: auto;
}

.modal-close:hover {
  background: #b02a37 !important;
}

.modal-content {
  background: #f8f9fa;
  padding: 15px;
  border-radius: 4px;
  overflow: auto;
  flex: 1;
  font-family: 'Courier New', monospace;
  white-space: pre-wrap;
  word-wrap: break-word;
  border: 1px solid #dee2e6;
  margin: 0;
  color: #000000;
}

```

{% endcode %}
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}


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