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Getting started with JavaScript PDF Viewer control

23 Mar 2023 / 4 minutes to read

This section explains the steps to create a simple TypeScript PDF Viewer within your application and demonstrate its basic usage.

Installation and configuration

To get started with PDF Viewer component, you can clone the Essential JS 2 quickstart project and install necessary packages by using the following commands.

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git clone https://github.com/syncfusion/ej2-quickstart.git quickstart
cd quickstart
npm install

Configuration system JS

Syncfusion PdfViewer packages should be mapped in the system.config.js configuration file.

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System.config({
    paths: {
        'syncfusion:': './node_modules/@syncfusion/',
    },
    map: {
        app: 'app',

        //Syncfusion packages mapping
        "@syncfusion/ej2-base": "syncfusion:ej2-base/dist/ej2-base.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-buttons": "syncfusion:ej2-buttons/dist/ej2-buttons.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-popups": "syncfusion:ej2-popups/dist/ej2-popups.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-navigations": "syncfusion:ej2-navigations/dist/ej2-navigations.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-inputs": "syncfusion:ej2-inputs/dist/ej2-inputs.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-inplace-editor": "syncfusion:ej2-inplace-editor/dist/ej2-inplace-editor.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-splitbuttons": "syncfusion:ej2-splitbuttons/dist/ej2-splitbuttons.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns": "syncfusion:ej2-dropdowns/dist/ej2-dropdowns.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-lists": "syncfusion:ej2-lists/dist/ej2-lists.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-data": "syncfusion:ej2-data/dist/ej2-data.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-notifications": "syncfusion:ej2-notifications/dist/ej2-notifications.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-pdfviewer": "syncfusion:ej2-pdfviewer/dist/ej2-pdfviewer.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-drawings": "syncfusion:ej2-drawings/dist/ej2-drawings.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-calendars": "syncfusion:ej2-calendars/dist/ej2-calendars.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-richtexteditor": "syncfusion:ej2-richtexteditor/dist/ej2-richtexteditor.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-filemanager": "syncfusion:ej2-filemanager/dist/ej2-filemanager.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-layouts": "syncfusion:ej2-layouts/dist/ej2-layouts.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-grids": "syncfusion:ej2-grids/dist/ej2-grids.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-excel-export": "syncfusion:ej2-excel-export/dist/ej2-excel-export.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-pdf-export": "syncfusion:ej2-pdf-export/dist/ej2-pdf-export.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-compression": "syncfusion:ej2-compression/dist/ej2-compression.umd.min.js",
        "@syncfusion/ej2-file-utils": "syncfusion:ej2-file-utils/dist/ej2-file-utils.umd.min.js"
    },
    packages: {
        'app': { main: 'app', defaultExtension: 'js' }
    }
});

System.import('app');

Adding CSS reference

Add the components CSS in [src/styles/styles.css] using the following code.

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@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-base/styles/material.css';  
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns/styles/material.css';  
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css';  
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-popups/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css';
@import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-pdfviewer/styles/material.css";

Adding PdfViewer component

  • Add the PdfViewer component following code in the app.ts
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import { PdfViewer, Toolbar, Magnification, Navigation, Annotation, LinkAnnotation, ThumbnailView, BookmarkView, TextSelection, TextSearch, FormFields, FormDesigner} from '@syncfusion/ej2-pdfviewer';

PdfViewer.Inject(Toolbar, Magnification, Navigation, Annotation, LinkAnnotation, ThumbnailView, BookmarkView, TextSelection, TextSearch, FormFields, FormDesigner);

let pdfviewer: PdfViewer = new PdfViewer();
pdfviewer.serviceUrl = 'https://ej2services.syncfusion.com/production/web-services/api/pdfviewer';
pdfviewer.appendTo('#PdfViewer');
pdfviewer.load('PDF_Succinctly.pdf', null);
  • Add an HTML div element to act as the PDF Viewer element index.html using the following code.
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
<title>Essential JS 2</title>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no" />
<meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2" />
<meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="resources/favicon.ico" />
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<!--style reference from app-->
<link href="/styles/styles.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<!--system js reference and configuration-->
<script src="node_modules/systemjs/dist/system.src.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="system.config.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
<!--Element which will render as PdfViewer -->
<div id="PdfViewer"></div>
</body>

</html>

Run the application

The quickstart project is configured to compile and run the application in the browser. Use the following command to run the application.

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npm start

Output will be displayed as follows.

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import { PdfViewer, Toolbar, Magnification, Navigation, Annotation, LinkAnnotation, ThumbnailView, BookmarkView, TextSelection, TextSearch, FormFields, FormDesigner} from '@syncfusion/ej2-pdfviewer';

PdfViewer.Inject(Toolbar, Magnification, Navigation, Annotation, LinkAnnotation, ThumbnailView, BookmarkView, TextSelection, TextSearch, FormFields, FormDesigner);

let pdfviewer: PdfViewer = new PdfViewer();
pdfviewer.serviceUrl = 'https://ej2services.syncfusion.com/production/web-services/api/pdfviewer';
pdfviewer.appendTo('#PdfViewer');
pdfviewer.load('PDF_Succinctly.pdf', null);
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
            
    <title>EJ2 PDF Viewer</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript PDF Viewer Control" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />    
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-pdfviewer/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-dropdowns/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-lists/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />    
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-notifications/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
    <div id='container'>
        <div id='PdfViewer' style="height:500px;width:100%;"></div>        
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Module injection

To create PDF Viewer with additional features, inject the required modules. The following modules are used to extend PdfViewer’s basic functionality:-

  • LinkAnnotation:- Inject this module to use PDF Viewer link annotation.
  • BookmarkView:- Inject this module to use bookmark view of the PDF Viewer.
  • Magnification:- Inject this module to magnify the PDF Document.
  • Navigation:- Inject this module to use page navigation on PDF Document.
  • TextSelection:- Inject this module to use text selection with the PDF Document.
  • ThumbnailView:- Inject this module to use thumbnail view of the PDF Viewer
  • Toolbar:- Inject this module to enable the user interface for toolbar option in PDF Viewer.
  • Print:- Inject this module to use pdfviewer print feature.
  • Annotation:- Inject this module to use pdfviewer annotation feature.
  • TextSearch:- Inject this module to use pdfviewer text search feature.
  • FormFields:- Inject this module to use pdfviewer form fields feature.
  • FormDesigner:- Inject this module to use pdfviewer form designer feature.

These modules should be injected into the PDF Viewer using PdfViewer.Inject method.

For PDF Viewer serviceUrl creation, follow the steps provided in the link

How to run the PDF Viewer web service

  1. Download the sample from the Web service sample in GitHub link.
  2. Navigate to the ASP.NET Core folder and open it in the command prompt.
  3. Use the below command to restore the required packages.
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   dotnet restore
  1. Use the below command to run the web service.
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   dotnet run
  1. You can see that the PDF Viewer server instance runs in the localhost with the port number localhost:5001 and navigate to the PDF Viewer Web control localhost:5001/pdfviewer which returns the default get response method. We can bind the link to the serviceUrl property of PDF Viewer as below.
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let pdfviewer: PdfViewer = new PdfViewer();
pdfviewer.serviceUrl = 'https://localhost:5001/pdfviewer';
pdfviewer.appendTo('#PdfViewer');
pdfviewer.load('PDF_Succinctly.pdf', null);

You can refer to our JavaScript PDF Viewer feature tour page for its groundbreaking feature representations. You can also explore our JavaScript PDF Viewer example to understand how to explains core features of PDF Viewer.

Pager / Accessibility
PDF Viewer / Feature Modules