Viewing Pdfs in and Experience app offline

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jeff slater

• July 16, 2019 17:27

I had previously filed the following ticket with Showpad about a lapse in functionality in the asset viewer.

I'm creating a custom application that utilizes Showpad's asset viewer (mobile) to open pdf's stored within Showpad in our application. The asset viewer is being invoked by: - Getting a file url using ShowpadLib.getAssetFileUrl(assetId, assetSlug) - Clicking the link My issue is with the functionality of the asset viewer. There doesn't seem to be a way to exit the viewer without exiting the application that it's running in. Unfortunately that makes the asset viewer unusable in my app. Do you have any known work arounds or will you be supporting this functionality (back button) soon? ----- It was suggested I use a third party PDF viewer library, PDF.js. Currently i'm using the fileUrl provided by using Showpad.Lib.getAssetFileUrl() with the appropriate authorization header to generate my PDF's through PDF.js. Unfortunately this functionality requires that you are online to view the PDF's. Does anyone know how I could make this functionality work offline?  Thanks for your time reading this!

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  Cedric Lemaire

  • July 17, 2019 08:05

  Hi Jeff,

  Thanks for reaching out and adding the detailed steps of what you're trying to accomplish.

  Just a few days ago, we added a tutorial that describes in general what you're looking for. More specifically, this part might help you to succeed. The example code in the ShowpadLib.getAssetsByTags and ShowpadLib.getAssetPreviewUrl sections can give you an idea on how to continue building your app.

  Using the code provided in the tutorial, we also tested the asset viewer. By closing the asset, we went back to our application and didn't need to exit the application.

  Let us know if this gave you more insights. Thanks for sharing your question!

  Have a great day,

  Cedric.

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  jeff slater

  • July 17, 2019 16:10
  • Edited

  Hey Cedric,
  
  I appreciate the quick response and the tutorial you guys put together is great!
  
  Everything seems to work as expected in the IOS app but not in the Windows app.
  
  In the Windows Showpad app the asset viewer is invoked but the controls are different. In the header there is a left facing arrow that just puts me into other pieces of collateral.  The footer shows additional collateral and gives me the option to share, add to collection, add annotations and more. I'm still unable to close the PDF.
  
  Does application you built for the tutorial work on your end when you use it in the Windows App?
  
  Is it possible i'm missing something in the controls? 
  
  Thank you very much,

   

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  Sarah Shockey

  • July 18, 2019 17:29

  Hi Jeff,

  I'm jumping in to help on behalf of Cedric today! It looks like we were missing a modal parameter in the original code block of this section. Without this parameter, the link will jump directly to the asset and thus, returning will not bring you back to the Experience.

  We corrected this in the article (which you will now see if you click the above link) and have updated the .zip attachment to reflect this. Basically, you just have to add ?modal=1 before the closing tag (>) for the expected behavior to, well...behave!

  I hope this is helpful for you, and feel free to keep us posted on your coding journey. We appreciate your help!

  Cheers,

  Sarah

   

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  jeff slater

  • July 19, 2019 16:51

  Hey Sarah,
  
  You guys are incredible! Adding the parameter took care of my problem. I appreciate the patience and attention that this matter received.
  
  Thank you!
  
  
  

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