I have an app in which some PDF files are downloaded and my problem is simple : I need to have the ability to sign them (drawing signature on screen) anywhere and save it to PDF format without modifying the structure of my PDF file.
The new feature in iOS 9 : Markup in the mail app does EXACTLY what I need. However, I don't want to use Mail in my app...
I've found on the web some ways to Generate PDF content, but very few examples and nothing that could help me with my problem.
Opening a PDF, turning it into NSData, create a context to render the signature then render both the PDF and the layered signature to finally save the NSData to PDF seems to be a pain, isn't it ?
Can someone help me either
Use markup features without using mail app or use it as transparent as possible for the user
Or, any reliable tutorial to draw signature over PDF without using a third-party app ?
Thank you,
Related
Quick question, that I haven't found a solid answer yet.
Is it possible to generate a PDF in iOS that includes layers, which can then be removed/separated in Photoshop?
What I'm trying to achieve is take a picture with the camera of the phone, then place text over it, submit it as pdf to a customer and then have the customer read the text and remove it.
I can do everything except the layering of the pdf and I have found some hints that this isn't possible to do with the standard iOS library, but I wanted to know if anyone has come across this before.
Thank you.
The standard iOS API for creating PDF files cannot create layers (optional content) in a PDF page.
This library IFXPDFFactory seems to be able to generate PDF files with layers.
PoDoFo and libHaru can also be used to generate PDF files on iOS but I do not know if they support layers.
I checked previous questions here on SO but I think I want my functionality to work a little different. I understand that .tif files are not natively supported in Internet Explorer and that an extension, such as AlternaTIFF, are available to remedy this. However, I would like the dialog to show up where the user can either save/open the file on the client side. I know that MS Windows Picture and Fax Viewer can open them, no problems.
The files are located on our servers and this will be an intranet site. Currently, I have a link to the files populate in the view but again, I'd like that option for the user to Save/Open the file.
I'm using MVC, which I'm a little unfamiliar with, and can't seem to figure this one out. Thank you.
You can do an action that returns a tiff by changing the headers so when someone clicks the link the file will get downloaded or using FileResult.
Example with FileResult (i find it easier): http://www.dotnetcurry.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=807
For saving them is just like uploading any file with MVC. This post can be useful http://haacked.com/archive/2010/07/16/uploading-files-with-aspnetmvc.aspx
My advice is that you convert them to .jpg or .png when uploaded using GDI+.
//You first upload the tiff to the server like the post above explains
//And then open and convert it to .JPEG
Bitmap bm = Bitmap.FromFile("mypic.tiff");
bm.Save("mypic.jpg",ImageFormat.JPEG);
And if you already have the urls of all the tiffs, you can always do a console app to convert all of them. Even if you need to use tiffs its a good idea to have .jpg versions to show on the web. You can even resize them to create previews and save some bandwith too! :-)
I need to individualize documents within an iOS-App. I could provide the origin-documents as DOCX, PDF, PPT etc. The output-format has to be PDF.
My minimun requirement is to fill some text-fields. Nice to have would be to replace an image, too.
I´m quite used to generate PDFs programmatically using UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToFile etc. But in my current case I don´t want to create the whole document programmatically, I just want to replace some content.
Any hints / tipps?
Thank you in advance.
DOCX is a zip - format file so you can process the contents programmatically and the reconstruct the zip file. PPT is a binary format though newer versions of PowerPoint might also construct zip-oriented versions that you can programmatically process. You mentioned though that you need don't want to programmatically process these documents - which I would probably also do only as a last resort.
For your DOCX origin/source documents (or doc,odt,rtf but not ppt/pdf) you could use Docmosis cloud services if your app can have the external dependency. You would upload your DOCX origin documents with placeholders for text-fields or images as a one-off/occasional task. Your iOS app then calls Docmosis sending instructions and data to create the output PDF and either stream it back to the app or email/store it or both.
The upside is it takes all the load and coding away from the iOS application (there is an SDK). The downside is it is an external depdendency. Please note I work for the company the created Docmosis.
Hope that helps.
Why not just load a page in a webView modal that points to a URL of a page you create? The main parts of the page would be static, and then the fields you need to customize would be populated via Javascript or PHP.
For example, we have a contact form in our app that gives you an option to view the details of your completed form after you submit. When the user clicks on the button to view the Contact Confirmation, it loads example.com/confirmation.php in a modal view within the iOS App.
On the confirmation.php page (on the web), I use PHP to pull in $_GET variables from the URL parameters which then populates the page with my static content, and their customized information that they entered into the form.
I am a newbie in iPhone development. I am planning to do a PDF application for iPhone. The functionality is:
User will type their input in a text field (which is going to be the content of the PDF file).
I have to modify the PDF file through code while saving (paragraphs, tables, bullets etc).
User can save it in their own name.
User can send the PDF file as attachment of MFMailComposer.
So I have searched and got many links. However I didn't find any leading details to create and modify a PDF file in iPhone/iPad.
Can anyone please provide me a good reference to do this. Are there any alternatives to do this?
I've used this reference: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/drawingwithquartz2d/dq_pdf/dq_pdf.html
It contains theoretical explanations and source code examples
Please use the below link to download sample apps for PDF Reader/Viewer in iOS
PDF Reader/Viewer in iOS
Also please look at detail about pdf creation, manipulation etc in below links
developer.apple: PDF Document Creation, Viewing, and Transforming
Fast-and-lean-pdf-viewer-for-iphone
If you were doing a Phonegap app I'd say got for jsPDF, which would enable you to create (basic) PDF files in Javascript. I don't do Obj-C, but a quick look on SO provides good links.
I am looking to be able to open a pdf file (done) and then be able to use the touch screen to sign the pdf and then save it with the modification. From what i have read this is no easy task, and i have no idea where to begin. Any of you know any tutorials or frameworks that will help me with this ?
Also if possible being able to modify fields of a pdf file, on the desktop the pdf can have fields you can click on then type in to fill out the form, without the need to ever print. If this is possible as well that would be perfect.
Thanks.
Maybe libHaru (http://libharu.org/wiki/Main_Page) does what you want, it's worth a try.
Does your starting point have to be a PDF? steipete's suggestion of using a system to create the PDF would work if your app workflow could create the PDF (sans signature) and display it, the user "signs" it in your app, and you create the PDF again this time with the signature embedded. It depends on whether this flow is an option for your app. Often it seems easier if you treat PDF as a final document and produce the PDF in it's final form each time (final meaning that you're not going to try modifying it).