Adobe 7 issues

Hi Corky!
I can remind me that i've read already something about it. The new version 7 don't use the pdf.ocx - now it's the AcroRd32.dll. How to access/use this dll is well explained/documentated on the adobe-website.
I can imagine that it's a problem when the version 7 is installed/registered and you want to use the pdf.ocx.
You can detect if version 7 is installed or not. If it's version 7 use code for the new dll - if not use your pdf.ocx.

@chicks @ingo:
Both of you mention the well documented Adobe IACReference.PDF
Does anyone of you have a delphi example of how to access Adobe Reader with this COM interface?

Hi!
Is there an easy (and safe) methode to detect the local actual used reader-version? The described com-object is only for version 7 - there're still many version below 7 out there...

Hi Dsola!

Wow! Great idea... and so easy.

@FKirch and anybody who's interested:

Some hints for those still trying to use the reader OCX with Delphi:

Registering the OCX control is pretty straight forward ... just do as with other registered OCX controls; keep in mind that the reader must be installed properly (I made the experience that - if the reader chrashes - the OCX control simply will not work. Interestingly if you start the reader again it attempts automatic repair and everything's fine again.

Use of the control from the code point of view is simple (some sample code below); Delphi (btw I'm using Delphi 5 & 6) generates the interface describing all methods and properties (AcroPDFLib_TLB.pas); you might wanna take a look at it. Just drop the control on a form and load a pdf into it. First drawback here: the control handles painting and refreshing very, very, very badly so it would be a good idea to create the control at runtime.

Some more disturbing behaviours:

After loading the control comes up with standard settings (e.g. toolbars visible, zoom 100% etc. etc.) depending on the actual reader options. Also the display mode seems to be undefined and MUST be set in order to get any preview. Consequently your code has to take care of the appearance of the OCX everytime you load a pdf into it - not so nice. This also applies if you reload the same pdf.

You will not be able to get rid of the pages, bookmarks, etc. panels on the left; at least the divider bar will always be there.

There is no good way to "close" a pdfor to remove it from the control/memory. Loading a non-existing pdf into the control works but memory is handled rather badly and the control simply does not refresh - ergo again some coding to do. Finally - at least in my testing environment - the control does not adjust to size changes of the parent control. Again this requires some extra coding.

To wrap things up: The OCX reader control work but displays some nasty behaviour. Also the reader must be installed on the target system which complicates distribution of any application. These led me to the conclusion that the OCX is fine for a testing/debugging environment but actually not advisable in a productive environment. See also the very nice article of Michel_K17 of 'Superfast rendering' in the 'General Discussion' section.

Hope this was of help - some sample code coming up now. Happy to answer questions whenever possible.

Cheers
Udo

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
//check if file is already loaded
if AcroPDF1.Src<>'C:\test.pdf' then
begin

    // hide reader toolbar and scrollbars
    // show first page in full-page mode

    AcroPDF1.Visible:=false;
    AcroPDF1.LoadFile('C:\test.pdf');
    AcroPDF1.setShowToolbar(false);
    AcroPDF1.setShowScrollbars(false);
    AcroPDF1.setLayoutMode('SinglePage');
    AcroPDF1.setPageMode('none');
    AcroPDF1.setView('Fit');
    AcroPDF1.gotoFirstPage;
    AcroPDF1.Visible:=true;
end;
end;