ANN: PDFNet 6.0.0 Release

What’s New in PDFNet 6.0.0 (June 25, 2013 - Version 6.0.0)

  • Faster interactive PDF rendering. Performance improvements are especially noticeable when zooming and panning complex documents: blue-prints, CAD drawings, and large pre-press files.

  • Support for per document multithreading. Previously PDFNet supported concurrent access to multiple documents; however as of V6 multiple threads can access the same document. For example, one could use PDFDraw to distribute rendering of PDF pages from a single document across many cores rather than processing them in a serial fashion.

  • High-quality PDF to HTML and PDF to EPUB conversion (pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToHtml() and pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToEpub()). The new conversion options are available on a pay-as-you-go model as part of PDFTron Web Services or based on an OEM license. If you are looking for a command-line utility, the same functionality is available as part of DocPub CLI.

    Fig: PDF to HTML Conversion Samples

  • PDF Flattener (‘pdftron.PDF.Flattener’) is a new optional add-on that can be used to optimize PDF for fast viewing on mobile devices. Flattener can simplify page content (e.g. flattening complex graphics into images) while maintaining vector text whenever possible. For an example of how to use Flattener, please take a look at the second code example in the updated Optimizer sample project. Flattener is licensable on an OEM basis or on a pay-as-you-go model as part of PDFTron Web Services. If you are looking for a command-line utility, the same functionality is available as part of DocPub CLI.

  • Improved export & import of annotations and forms via XFDF/FDF. Besides support for new annotation types and properties, users can now load and save XFDF from a string. For an example, please see the updated FDF sample project.

  • PDFViewCtrl can now download remote PDF documents asynchronously using OpenURLAsync(). If PDF documents are linearized, pages can be downloaded and viewed in random access order - without the need to download the entire document. For an example of how to use OpenURLAsync(), please see updated PDFViewWPF/PDFView sample in .NET and PDFViewSimple in C++ SDK.

  • PDFViewCtrl and PDFView can now search for text asynchronously using FindTextAsync () without blocking the UI.

  • PDFViewCtrl can now automatically recognize URL links and email addresses without presence of explicit link annotations. For more info, please see PDFViewCtrl.SetUrlExtraction() and GetLinkAt().

  • Smart Zoom. The new option in PDFViewCtrl allows user to automatically zoom on a selected piece of content. The feature is especially useful in apps targeting hand-held devices (e.g. Double-tap on a column of text, and PDFViewCtrl will zoom and fit the column making maximum use of your screen and avoiding unnecessary zooming via pinching).

  • ElementEdit sample was rewritten to show how to edit arbitrary PDF files.

  • ‘GettingStarted.html’ was added to help developers get started with the library and to answer frequently asked questions related to PDFNet integration and deployment.

  • Support for Visual Studio 2012. PDFNet SDK now offers samples which can be opened and compiled using Visual Studio 2012.

  • Numerous bug fixes and incremental improvements.
    .NET Specific:

  • Support for .NET Framework 4.5 (as part of PDFNetDotNet4.zip and PDFNet64DotNet4.zip).

  • Support for .NET Framework 1.x is deprecated. Assembly in the official ‘PDFNet.zip’ will target .NET Framework 2.0 - 3.5.

  • New annotation and forms tools for WPF control. Following the same pattern used in PDFNet mobile SDKs, annotation functionality was split into a separate assembly (Tools.dll). All licensed PDFNet users who are using WPF control will receive source code for the new assembly. With source code access, PDFNet developers have unprecedented flexibility to customize every aspect of the user experience and to support behaviors/functionality that otherwise wouldn’t be feasible. As an example of ‘WPF tools in action’, please take a look at the updated PDFViewWPF sample project.
    WinRT (PDFNet for Windows Store apps) Specific:

  • Printing support. It is now possible to use a simple API to print any PDF Document on WinRT via an efficient vector print path. Besides standard Windows print options, the API supports many pre-defined and custom print options. See documentation for PDFPrintManager for details.

  • VSIX Installer. PDFNet for Windows Store Apps is now distributed with a VSIX package. This makes it easier to include to projects because you can now include it only once and use it for every platform. Once installed, it can be found in the Reference manager as “PDFNet for Windows Store apps” under ‘Windows > Extensions’.

  • Better hit testing for annotations.

  • Improved line editing tool. When editing line annotations, you now get two end points that you can drag anywhere on the page, allowing free rotation and sizing of the line.
    iOS Specific:

  • PDFNet for iOS now includes Objective-C documentation in both HTML format (available as part of the download and on our website) and as a .docset which can be used to provide QuickHelp documentation in XCode.

  • Improved scrolling smoothness.

  • Included sample project includes new bookmark navigation control, a page slider for fast navigation between pages in large documents, a goto page popup and improved aesthetics.

  • Better hit testing for annotations.

  • Improved line editing tool. When editing line annotations, you now get two end points that you can drag anywhere on the page, allowing free rotation and sizing of the line.
    Android Specific:

  • PDFNet is now available in a new standard feature reduced variant (a.k.a. ‘lean’). The lean library offers the same viewing, annotation, and editing capabilities of the fully featured library however it is half the size (6MB!). The parts that are missing are relatively rarely used components (such as Redaction, ContentReplacer, Optimizer, Flattener, and Converters).

  • Better hit testing for annotations.

  • Improved line editing tool. When editing line annotations, you now get two end points that you can drag anywhere on the page, allowing free rotation and sizing of the line.
    PDFNet WebViewer Publisher (ToXod()) Add-On:

  • Annotations are now embedded as standard XFDF during PDF to XOD conversion.

  • XFDF annotations can be dynamically parsed and serialized in both HTML5 and Silverlight clients.

  • WebViewer was updated to v1.5, in-sync with PDFNet V6. The version includes many new features and improvements.

  • ToXod() conversion includes a number of extra options that can be used to fine tune conversion. For details please see, ‘Convert.XODOutputOptions.FlattenFlag’.

  • Many conversion defaults were changed (e.g. thumbnail size was increased to 400 pixels; all images are capped at 2 mega pixels, default dpi was increased to 150, complex vector art will be flattened, thin lines are now thickened). If your app is using WebViewer, please make sure to review all conversion options before upgrading to V6.

  • As of V6, ToXod() can be used based on ‘pay-as-you-go’ model as part of PDFTron Web Services. Instead of having to obtain an OEM license you can pay per-conversion even if you host PDFNet on your own servers. For details, please see Getting Started with PDFTron Web Services.
    PDFNet ‘pay-as-you-go’ licensing with PDFTron Web Services:

  • Starting with version 6, many conversion options in PDFNet can be used based on pay-as-you-go model. Instead of having to obtain an OEM license, you can simply pay for conversions you actually make. Conversions that are currently available under pay-as-you-go are:

    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToXod()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToXps()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToHtml()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToEpub()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToPdf()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.ToSvg()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.FromXps()
    • pdftron.PDF.Convert.FromEmf()
    • pdftron.PDF.Flattener
    • pdftron.PDF.PDFA.PDFACompliance
  • For more information about using PDFNet SDK based on ‘pay-as-you-go’ model, please see PWS as well as documentation for ‘pdftron.PDFNet.ConnectToCloud()’.
    New Types and Methods in PDFNet Core API:

  • UString FDFDoc.SaveAsXFDF

  • ElementReader.AppendResource

  • Field.GetOptCount

  • Field.GetOpt

  • PDF.Flattener class

  • PDF.LinkInfo class

  • PDFDoc.LockRead

  • PDFDoc.UnlockRead

  • PDFDoc.TryLockRead

  • PDFDoc.TimedLockRead

  • PDFNet.CloudErrorCode enum

  • PDFNet.ConnectToCloud

  • PDFNet.SetViewerCache

  • PDFRasterizer.DownloadedType enum

  • PDFRasterizer.DownloadReportHandler

  • PDFView.SetUrlExtraction

  • PDFView.GetLinkAt

  • PDFView.SetViewerCache

  • PDFView.SetPageRefViewMode

  • PDFView.GetPageRefViewMode

  • PDFView.SetupThumbnails

  • PDFView.ThumbAsyncHandler

  • PDFView.GetThumbAsync

  • PDFView.FindTextAsyncHandler

  • PDFView.SetFindTextHandler

  • PDFView.FindTextAsync

  • PDFView.SmartZoom

  • PDFViewCtrl.SmartZoom

  • PDFViewCtrl.SetUrlExtraction

  • PDFViewCtrl.GetLinkAt

  • PDFViewCtrl.Select

  • PDFViewCtrl.SetDownloadReportHandler

  • PDFViewCtrl.OpenURLAsync

  • PDFViewCtrl.SetupThumbnails

  • PDFViewCtrl.ThumbAsyncHandler

  • PDFViewCtrl.GetThumbAsync

  • PDFViewCtrl.FindTextAsyncHandler

  • PDFViewCtrl.SetFindTextHandler

  • PDFViewCtrl.FindTextAsync

  • Obj.IsValid

  • SDFDoc.LockRead

  • SDFDoc.UnlockRead

  • SDFDoc.TryLockRead

  • SDFDoc.TimedLockRead
    New Types and Methods in WebPublisher Add-On:

  • Convert.XPSOutputCommonOptions.GenerateURLLinks

  • Convert.XPSOutputCommonOptions.OverprintPreviewMode enum

  • Convert.XPSOutputCommonOptions.SetOverprint

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.FlattenThresholdFlag enum

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.FlattenFlag enum

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.AnnotationOutputFlag enum

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.SetFlattenThreshold

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.SetAnnotationOutput

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.SetExternalParts

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.SetEncryptPassword

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.HTMLOutputOptions class

  • Convert.XODOutputOptions.EPUBOutputOptions class

  • Convert.ToHtml

  • Convert.ToEpub