Introduction

The 3-Heights™ PDF Viewer is an independent, compact, high-quality PDF viewer. It offers a multitude of functions such as display options, navigation, optional printing and support for non-PDF formats such as TIFF, JPEG and other raster image formats. The PDF Viewer is characterized mainly by its ease of integration and handling and high performance.

The Viewer can be used as an intranet website tool, for instance, or as a standalone application or software solution component. The Viewer can be started outside of the programming environment within seconds via the command line, and integrates seamlessly in modern development environments as an API.

Brief Description

Performance Characteristics

• Short load time (application and documents)
• True to the original
• PDF/A compliance
• Secure viewing
• Integrability
• Easy rollout
• Universal use across many media
• Multi-format

Basic Functions

• Display PDF file in single page or multi-page mode
• Enter password to decrypt PDF documents
• Search PDF documents for a specific string of text
• Show and hide windows for bookmarks and page navigation
• Jump to a bookmark's location
• Jump to the location of a link within the document
• Move windows vertically and horizontally using the mouse or keyboard
• Enlarge and reduce windows with the aid of a zoom rectangle or zoom factor
• Freely select any page in the document for display
• Rotate and display the page
• Show annotations

Additional Functions

• Display image files such as TIFF, JPEG, JBIG2, JPEG2000, PNG and GIF
• Print the PDFs or image files on display
• Save the PDFs or image files on display

Areas of Use

• All corporate areas
• Database applications
• CD-ROM and memory sticks
• Web and intranet servers
• Signature applications (secure viewing)
• Security environments (nuclear power plants, military installations, penitentiaries, etc.)
• Software applications/OEMs

Sectors

• Public sector
• Automotive industry
• Telecommunications
• Banking and insurance
• Archives and libraries
• Health sector
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Informatics (OEMs)
• Transport sector
• Energy sector
• Protection of nature and the environment

Functions

The PDF Viewer offers many options for displaying PDF documents in a manner that suits requirements: files can be viewed in single page or multi-page mode, and the navigation supports links, bookmarks and calling up pages arbitrarily. The search function can locate strings of text in the document. The tool supports PDF documents in many languages: the reproduction of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, etc., is no problem at all. The PDF Viewer can also print out and save PDF documents.

Functions

• Display PDF file in single page or multi-page mode
• Enter password to decrypt PDF documents
• Search PDF documents for a specific string of text
• Show and hide windows for bookmarks and page navigation
• Jump to a bookmark's location
• Jump to the location of a link within the document
• Move windows vertically and horizontally using the mouse or keyboard
• Enlarge and reduce windows with the aid of a zoom rectangle or zoom factor
• Query the number of pages in a document
• Freely select any page in the document for display
• Set scalability (page size, page width, actual size, any size)
• Set resolution (DPI / X and Y coordinates)
• Set various display options such as image filters
• Reproduce documents with Chinese, Japanese and Korean fonts (CJK)
• Read document from file or memory (API only)
• Query the position of the cursor
• Query the position of the scrollbars
• Intercept events (e.g. mouse events, keyboard events, zoom events)
• Convert viewer coordinates to PDF coordinates
• Highlight rectangle in color
• Set mouse cursor mode
• Set number of pages per window
• Show and hide scrollbars
• Activate or deactivate links
• Activate mouse wheel (for scrolling) or deactivate
• Replace embedded fonts with preinstalled fonts for viewing and printing
• Display fonts as vector graphics
• Rotate and display the page
• Show annotations
• Win9x compatibility mode

Additional Functions

• Display image files such as TIFF, JPEG, JBIG2, JPEG2000, PNG and GIF
• Print the PDFs or image files on display
• RAW or EMF mode for printing
• Duplex printing
• Set paper tray
• Set paper size
• Set number of copies
• Centered printing
• Set print orientation (landscape, portrait, printer default, automatic)
• Query local Windows standard printer
• Optional suppression of digital signatures during printing
• Option to prerender pages and send them to the printer as bitmaps
• Black point compensation during printing
• Save the PDFs or image files on display
• Set user rights for the saved new version of the PDF file

Formats

Input Formats

• PDF 1.x (e.g. PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5 up to current versions)
• Raster images (e.g. TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP) 

Output Formats

• The PDF Viewer can save files in their original input format.

Compliance

• Standards: ISO 32000 (PDF 1.7)

Benefits

Properties and Benefits

The 3-Heights™ PDF Viewer is independent and does not require third-party software. The application is a very compact 5 MB in size and only needs a fraction of the initial load time in comparison to conventional viewers. Documents display very quickly after the initial start of the application. The Viewer also offers PDF/A-compliant document display. Many functions in the user application – for instance, printing and saving – can be permitted or prohibited.

Performance Characteristics

• Short load time (application and documents)
• True to the original
• PDF/A compliance
• Secure viewing
• Integrability
• Easy rollout
• Universal use across many media
• Multi-format 

Areas of Use

All Corporate Areas

The 3-Heights™ PDF Viewer is an independent, lean solution. It is generally suitable for use in all corporate areas to preserve memory resources, reduce load times and minimize security risks. When used as a "secure viewer" in conjunction with digital signatures, it also guarantees that hidden information such as alternative content is displayed when signed. Enhanced access protection is also implementable for sensitive documents.

Areas of Use

• All corporate areas
• Database applications
• CD-ROM and memory sticks
• Web and intranet servers
• Signature applications (secure viewing)
• Security environments (nuclear power plants, military installations, state security, etc.)
• Software applications/OEMs

Software Manufacture / OEM

The PDF Viewer can be integrated in software solutions as a completely independent viewer and is also suitable for handhelds and tablet PCs. Its appearance is largely freely definable (as with the 3-Heights™ Java Document Viewer) for adaptation to customized requirements.

Sectors

• Public sector
• Automotive industry
• Telecommunications
• Banking and insurance
• Archives and libraries
• Health sector
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Informatics (OEMs)
• Transport sector
• Energy sector
• Protection of nature and the environment

Technical Details

Architecture and Application Options

The 3-Heights™ PDF Viewer is available in the following variants:

• as a Windows desktop tool for direct utilization with no programming expense
• as a programming interface for integration in existing or new applications (Application Programming Interface, API)

The PDF Viewer can also be used as an ActiveX (OCX) control, for instance for HTML websites or for issuing reports or forms from database applications.

Variants and Options

Product Variants

• Windows desktop tool
• API (programming interface)

Formats

Input Formats

• PDF 1.x (e.g. PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5 up to current PDF versions)
• Raster images (e.g. TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP) 

Output Formats

• The PDF Viewer can save files in their original input format.

Platforms

Operating Systems

• Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, Windows 7 - 32 and 64 bit

Interfaces and Languages

Interfaces

• Desktop (executable program)
• API: C, COM

Programming Languages

All program libraries are written in efficient and thread-safe C++. API offers a selection of the following connections to programming languages:

• MS Visual Basic, Borland Delphi, MS Office products such as Access, C++, C#, J# via COM
• C and C++ via native C

Product Code

VWR

Related Products

• 3-Heights™ Java Document Viewer
• 3-Heights™ PDF Printer
• 3-Heights™ PDF to Image Converter

Further Product Details