Download, save( locally ) and display PDF from a link

Question

I am developing Windows phone 8 application. In my application, i have to display PDF file in offline( without net connection ) mode, within application. For that i have to do the following,

1. Download PDF file from a link( URL ) provided by server side.
2. Save the downloaded PDF file in local storage.
3. Open and display PDF file from local storage.

On searching, i found suggestions to use ComponentOne Studio's toolset called 'Studio for Windows Phone'. Unfortunately it is not free. Is there any way to implement in free of cost?

Any reference, samples or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Solution

You can download the PDF file and save it in Isolated Storage, to be able to view later offline using a PDF viewer app such Adobe Reader or PDF Reader.

So lets see how to do it step-by-step.

1- Download PDF file from a link( URL ) provided by server side:

WebClient client = new WebClient();
client.OpenReadCompleted += client_OpenReadCompleted;
client.OpenReadAsync(new Uri("http://url-to-your-pdf-file.pdf"));

2- Save the downloaded PDF file in local storage:

async void client_OpenReadCompleted(object sender, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    byte[] buffer = new byte[e.Result.Length];
    await e.Result.ReadAsync(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);

    using (IsolatedStorageFile storageFile = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
    {
        using (IsolatedStorageFileStream stream = storageFile.OpenFile("your-file.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        {
            await stream.WriteAsync(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
        }
    }
}

3- Open and display PDF file from local storage:

// Access the file.
StorageFolder local = Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder;
StorageFile pdffile = await local.GetFileAsync("your-file.pdf");

// Launch the pdf file.
Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchFileAsync(pdffile);

Comments

[pg90]

Thanks anderZubi, That works correctly. But the third step, launches the launcher to open PDF. But my requirement is to display PDF within the application ie., in XAML. Is there any hope..?

[anderZubi]

Sorry, I don't know about any free pdf libraries, but have a look at this and this. They may be helpful.

[souvickcse]

Thanx for this awesome answer :)

[Nitesh Kothari]

@anderZubi hello brother, its a supper code, but I am getting this error. "FILE-NAME can't be opened".

[anderZubi]

@NiteshKothari do you get that error with any pdf file? Have you tried with other files?

[Nitesh Kothari]

@anderZubi I also tried with, excel files and .docx files, but getting this result, "Doesn't recognise the file format" and "file format has been damaged". Thank you!!

[Nitesh Kothari]

@anderZubi my basic concept is, there are documents on the server and there is a URI, and I have to open those documents.

[Nitesh Kothari]

@anderZubi hello, are you there??please reply if you are there