I'm looking for a component to view and print PDF files from Delphi/C++Builder. Delphi or ActiveX, not .NET. The license must be for royalty free distribution and the viewer must not require Adobe Reader to be installed.
So far I have tried:
Gnostice PDFtoolkit:
Display problems with JPX images
Radaee PDF Viewer:
Fast rendering, but crashes.
NO reply from support.
VeryPDF:
Slow rendering, but reliable.
No printing
WPViewPDF:
Messed up layout of most PDFs
GdViewer:
No continuous multi-page display
QuickPDF library:
No continuous multi-page display
eXPert PDF Viewer:
Use not allowed for generic PDF viewer.
NO reply from support.
EasyPDF SDK:
No continuous multi-page display
DynamicPDF:
No royalty-free license
Foxit PDF SDK:
No royalty-free license
3-Heights PDF Viewer:
No royalty-free license
Any other options?
Regards,
Brian
For this scenario I recommend Amyuni PDF Creator ActiveX. As stated in the website:
The application license allows for royalty-free distribution
of your application.
Additionally, it supports JPX images, continuous multi-page display and many other features.
Disclaimer: I am part of the development team of this product.
I successfully implemented SumatraPDF as an embedded viewer in a Delphi application.
It's to be launched through a shell command but adding the -plugin parameter makes it child of your form or any container. You can then send keystrokes or use DDE to pilot it.
see the wiki and look for "-plugin".
Sumatra is very fast and redistributable under the GPL conditions, it uses MuPDF as rendering engine, which is a very viable solution.
if you look at the source code of the following Total Commander plugin, you will find how to use it. Just ignore the part of the source that integrates the functionality as a TC plugin
It seems like continuous multipage display is your main problem here with the royalty free libraries.
Just an idea : One option may be to use QuickPDF to convert the PDF into a multipage PDF file and then write some code yourself to simulate a continuous multipage scolling. If you need zooming and other PDF display features then this may not suit your needs though. Another option is to use a thumbnail window down the side to help users navigate and show single page in the main window. You may not have too many other options as you seem to have used all of the PDF libraries that I am aware and a couple more.
It all depends on what your viewing and printing requirements are of course.
WPViewPDF is now available in Version 3.x which is based on a new rendering engine.
It now works with most PDF files. It is very responsive due to multi threading and has the possibility to manipulate PDF files, i.e. interactive moving or deletion of pages.
info: http://www.wpcubed.com
Kind Regards, WPCubed GmbH