I have used Blob and URL.createObjectURL() to get an "object URL" (blob:) to some binary PDF data.
In FireFox and Chrome, if I include an <A/> link HTML element, with its href programmatically set to the object URL, that link is clickable and causes the PDF to be shown.
In IE10, I get the object URL OK. The link HTML element shows OK and has a blob: target. But clicking on it does not result in the PDF being shown. Instead, I get a blank window and the IE icon spinning forever.
Yet, even in IE10, right-click save-target-as on the link does save a PDF file containing the correct data. This file can be opened successfully outside of the browser.
Anyone know why IE isn't showing me the PDF file? Any suggestions how I can cause it to do so? Alternatively, any suggestions for persuading it only to offer to save the link, rather than trying and failing to open it.
Here is a page and script to reproduce the issue: -
<a href="" target="_blank" id="theLink">Click this link</a>
<script type="text/javascript">
var TEST_PDF_DATA = "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";
var byteCharacters = atob(TEST_PDF_DATA);
var charCodeFromCharacter = function(c) { return c.charCodeAt(0); }
var byteArrays = [];
for (var offset = 0; offset < byteCharacters.length; offset += 1000)
{
var slice = byteCharacters.slice(offset, offset + 1000);
var byteNumbers = Array.prototype.map.call(slice, charCodeFromCharacter);
byteArrays.push(new Uint8Array(byteNumbers));
}
var blob = new Blob(byteArrays, { type: "application/pdf" });
var url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
document.getElementById("theLink").href = url;
document.getElementById("theLink").innerHTML = url;
</script>
