When To Use Interapplication Communication; Viewing Pdf Documents From An External Application; Controlling Acrobat From An External Application - Adobe ACROBAT 7.0.5 SDK Manual

Deciding Which Acrobat SDK Technology to Use
3

When to Use Interapplication Communication

Wh en to Use Inte ra p p li cation Co mmu n ication
To take advantage of Acrobat functionality from within an external application, you use
Interapplication Communication (IAC).

Viewing PDF Documents from an External Application

If your Windows application only views a PDF document and does not need to edit it in any
way, it is recommended that you use the PDF Browser Controls to view the document from
your external VB or C# application. When you open a document for viewing using the PDF
Browser Controls, the document is displayed in the application window. Acrobat toolbars
are also displayed and can be used with no additional API calls. The toolbars can optionally
be hidden. See
Communication Overview for more details.
N
O T E
You can also use the IAC API to open and view a PDF document. However, when you use
the IAC API, no toolbars are displayed; you must place your own buttons with
corresponding API calls for standard toolbar tasks such as printing and searching.
The following table summarizes some of the issues to consider when deciding whether to
use the PDF Browser Controls or IAC APIs.
T
ABLE
PDF Browser
Controls
IAC API

Controlling Acrobat From an External Application

If you need to do more than just view a PDF document from your application, you can use
either the IAC API or, if your application is written in VB, you can access Acrobat JavaScript
using the
30
"PDF Browser Controls" on page 26
Acrobat or Adobe Reader must be installed on the end-user's computer for the PDF
:
Browser Controls to function correctly.
3.1 Comparing the PDF Browser Controls and IAC APIs
Acrobat toolbars can be displayed with no additional API calls.
●
Supports only viewing, not editing, of PDF documents.
●
Supports editing PDF documents and manipulating Acrobat or
●
Adobe Reader through a richer set of APIs than the PDF Browser
Controls. Note that the set of APIs for Adobe Reader is limited unless
the PDF document has rights enabled (see
enabled PDF
Acrobat toolbars cannot be displayed.
●
JSObject .
or the Acrobat Interapplication
Documents").
Chapter 10, "Rights-
Acrobat SDK User's Guide