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Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................... 4 What's in this guide? ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Who should read this guide? ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Related documentation ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 6 Supported platforms..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Windows...................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Mac OS ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Linux ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Solaris ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 AIX ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8 HP-UX ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Technologies available within the Acrobat SDK................................................................................................................. 8 JavaScript .................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Interapplication communication ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Plug-ins ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 2 3 JavaScript APIs........................................................................................................................... 10 Objects, properties and methods...........................................................................................................................................10 Interapplication Communication ............................................................................................. 25 OLE automation ............................................................................................................................................................................25 DDE messages ...............................................................................................................................................................................27 Apple events ..................................................................................................................................................................................27 4 Plug-ins....................................................................................................................................... 28 APIs available for Adobe Reader.............................................................................................................................................29 Index ........................................................................................................................................... 30 3 Preface Adobe® Reader® belongs to the Adobe Acrobat® family of products, and is used for viewing, navigating, and printing PDF documents. For more information on the Acrobat family of products, see http://www.adobe.com/go/acrobat_developer. What's in this guide? This guide provides an introduction to those portions of the Adobe Acrobat Software Development Kit (SDK) that pertain to your development efforts for Adobe Reader. It provides a general overview of the types of things you can do with the SDK and the technologies that are available to you through the SDK. This document provides a starting point for developers who would like to understand how to extend or customize Adobe Reader, and provides information clarifying how such efforts differ from those intended for Acrobat. It is possible to extend and customize Adobe Reader by using the Adobe Acrobat SDK to write JavaScriptTM code, implement interapplication communication, and write plug-ins. This document indicates the relevant subsets of the JavaScript APIs, interapplication communication APIs, and the Acrobat and PDF Library APIs. It describes each of those collections of APIs and their intended purposes, and clarifies what is available on all supported platforms. Who should read this guide? This guide is meant for developers who are either new to Adobe Reader development or have experience with the Acrobat SDK. For information about Acrobat SDK technologies and the many ways that developers can extend Acrobat or Adobe Reader using the Acrobat SDK, see the Overview. Related documentation The following resources and samples provide further information about the Acrobat SDK, as well as additional documents that you should have available for reference. For information about A roadmap containing descriptions of all the documentation in the Acrobat SDK. A description of known issues and implementation details specific to the various platforms supported in the Acrobat SDK. Answers to frequently asked questions about the Acrobat 8.0 SDK. The new features in this SDK release. See Acrobat SDK Documentation Roadmap Readme Developer FAQ What's New 4 Adobe Acrobat SDK Developing for Adobe Reader Preface Related documentation 5 For information about A general overview of the capabilities and usage of the Acrobat SDK. An introduction to those portions of the Acrobat SDK that pertain to development efforts for Adobe Reader. Descriptions and implementation details for samples included with the Acrobat SDK. An overview of the SnippetRunner tool and the plug-in snippets provided with the Acrobat SDK. A description of how to develop external applications that use Apple events, AppleScript, DDE, or OLE to control Acrobat or Adobe Reader or render PDF documents. Detailed descriptions of the APIs available for Apple events, AppleScript, DDE, or OLE to control Acrobat or Adobe Reader or render PDF documents. An overview of how to use JavaScript to develop and enhance standard workflows in Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Detailed descriptions of the JavaScript APIs for developing and enhancing standard workflows in Acrobat or Reader. A detailed description of the PDF file format. A description of how to develop plug-ins for Acrobat and Adobe Reader, as well as PDF Library applications. A detailed description of the APIs available to create plug-ins for Acrobat and Adobe Reader, as well as PDF Library applications. Describes the syntax and semantics of the PostScript language and the Adobe imaging model. See Overview Developing for Adobe Reader Guide to SDK Samples Snippet Runner Cookbook Developing Applications using Interapplication Communication Interapplication Communication API Reference Developing Acrobat Applications using JavaScript JavaScript for Acrobat API Reference PDF Re ...