How to load a PDF from a Base64 string in a UIWebV

Question

I'm using an API that is returning a Base64 string, something like this:

data:application/pdf;base64,**BASE64STRING**

Where BASE64STRING is what I need to display the PDF.

So far I only created a Data object that gets the Base64 string:

let data = Data(base64Encoded: BASE64STRING)

And I tried to load it in the webview:

webView.load(data!, mimeType: "application/pdf", textEncodingName: "", baseURL: URL(string: "")!)

The problem is that I don't have a local PDF file, so I don't know what I should put in baseURL. Currently it's giving me a fatal error: unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value

How can I load the PDF in the webView? Is there any better way to do that?

Answer 1

I solved the problem, despite that I'm not sure if it's a good approach, the solution is to put any valid URL in baseUrl:

webView.load(data!, mimeType: "application/pdf", textEncodingName: "", baseURL: URL(string: "https://www.google.com")!)

Answer 2

Try this

webView.load(data, mimeType: "application/pdf", textEncodingName: "utf-8", baseURL: URL(fileURLWithPath: ""))

Answer 3

First convert the base64String to NSData and then convert to Data and use it.

PDF files are binary files so they can't be represented as UITF8 encoded string directly.

if let data = NSData(base64Encoded: base64String, options: NSData.Base64DecodingOptions.ignoreUnknownCharacters) as Data? {
    self.webView.load(data, mimeType: "application/pdf", characterEncodingName: "", baseURL: URL(fileURLWithPath: ""))
}