How to view a PDF in an Electron BrowserWindow?

Viewing PDF files in Electron can be achieved through several different methods. Here are some common implementation approaches:

1. Using PDF.js

PDF.js is a general-purpose, web-based PDF viewer developed by Mozilla. It is written in JavaScript and can be easily integrated into Electron applications.

Steps:

• Install PDF.js It can be installed via npm:

  bash
  npm install pdfjs-dist

• Use PDF.js in Electron Introduce PDF.js in the HTML file of the render process:

  html
  <script src="node_modules/pdfjs-dist/build/pdf.js"></script>

• Load and Render PDF Files Load and render the PDF file on a canvas element using PDF.js:

  javascript
  const pdfjsLib = window['pdfjs-dist/build/pdf'];
  
  // Make PDF.js compatible with browser environment
  pdfjsLib.GlobalWorkerOptions.workerSrc = 'node_modules/pdfjs-dist/build/pdf.worker.js';
  
  // Open PDF document
  pdfjsLib.getDocument('path/to/your/document.pdf').promise.then(function(pdfDoc) {
    console.log('PDF loaded');
  
    // Get first page
    pdfDoc.getPage(1).then(function(page) {
      var scale = 1.5;
      var viewport = page.getViewport({scale: scale});
  
      // Prepare canvas and rendering context
      var canvas = document.getElementById('pdfCanvas');
      var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
      canvas.height = viewport.height;
      canvas.width = viewport.width;
  
      // Render PDF page
      var renderContext = {
        canvasContext: context,
        viewport: viewport
      };
      var renderTask = page.render(renderContext);
      renderTask.promise.then(function () {
        console.log('Page rendered');
      });
    });
  });

2. Using the Built-in Chrome PDF Viewer

Electron is based on Chromium, so you can directly utilize the built-in Chrome PDF Viewer to display PDF files.

Steps:

• Create a new BrowserWindow instance and load the PDF file You can directly set the PDF file path as the URL loaded by BrowserWindow:

  javascript
  const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron');
  
  let win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 });
  win.loadURL('file:///path/to/your/file.pdf');

Both methods are effective ways to implement PDF viewing functionality in Electron applications. The choice depends on your specific requirements, such as whether you need additional PDF operation features (e.g., the enhanced control provided by PDF.js) or prefer a simpler implementation (e.g., using Chromium's built-in PDF viewer).