ABCpdf converting html anchors to jump to another page in the same PDF

Question

I'm dynamically generating a PDF using ABCpdf which contains a table of contents that would link to other pages within the same PDF. The problem is that the path of the anchor tags in the HTML get changed to an absolute path to a temporary file.

For example, ABCpdf would render the link's href:

<a href="#elementId">Link</a>

in the PDF as: file:///C:/Users/Aaron/AppData/Local/Temp/ABCpdf/pdfCMMYPSF.htm#elementId

This is how I generate the PDF:

Doc pdf = new Doc();
pdf.HtmlOptions.AddLinks = true;
pdf.Rect.Rectangle = new System.Drawing.Rectangle(20, 80, 572, 702);
int id = pdf.AddImageHtml(pdfHTML, true, pdf.HtmlOptions.BrowserWidth, true);

while (pdf.Chainable(id))
{
    pdf.Page = pdf.AddPage();
    id = pdf.AddImageToChain(id);
}

pdf.HtmlOptions.LinkPages();
for (int i = 0; i < pdf.PageCount; i++)
{
    pdf.PageNumber = i;
    pdf.Flatten();
}

Any ideas how I can get the anchor links to render properly so clicking it will jump to another page?

Silverpoint

Just FYI, I have had pretty good luck getting support directly from the makers of ABCpdf. Tried that? – Fourflush

Just sent them an email, thanks for the suggestion. – Silverpoint

WebSuperGoo support is excellent and one of the best around, Bryan is spot on with this suggestion. – Asclepius

Answer 1

Websupergoo got back to me and I was able to debug my problem from a sample project they provided. The solution to my problem was pretty simple, I'll post the answer here in case anyone else is having the same issue:

My HTML was set up like this:

<a href="#elementId">Link to another page</a>
<div id="elementId">A div that's on another page</div>

I simply needed to change it to:

<a href="#elementId">Link to another page</a>
<div><a name="elementId">A div that's on another page</a></div>

You need to use an anchor tag with the name specified in order for ABCpdf to make the link jump to another page within the same PDF.

Silverpoint

This works! Also a note for others, if you are using <base href=""> in your head tag it will screw up your anchors so you will need reference everything with a absolute url – Dogtooth

It works for me as well. I also had to set document.HtmlOptions.AddLinks = true; and run document.HtmlOptions.LinkPages(); after flattening the document. – Generatrix

Answer 2

For what it's worth, I've had inconsistant results via the AddImageHtml regarding anchored bookmarks. The most reliable way to accomplish this is via the AddBookMark method but this would involve significantly more work as you'd be working to manually reconstruct the PDF contents and HTML support in that fashion is limited. More information regarding this method can be found at:

http://www.websupergoo.com/helppdf7net/source/5-abcpdf6/doc/1-methods/addbookmark.htm

Perhaps their latest version 8 addresses this issue. The bookmarks always seem to resolve to an absolute location rather than relative as you see in your browser via conventional HTML.

Asclepius

Answer 3

Another method which has worked for me in the latest ABCpdf version (9) is to add a bookmark to each page in your document:

For i = 1 to pdf.PageCount

    pdf.PageNumber = i
    pdf.AddBookmark("Page " & i, True)

Next

Then where you want to insert a link you can reference the bookmark - in this case we create a table of contents by looping through each bookmark we've created:

For Each bm As Bookmark In pdf.Bookmark

    toc &= "<Font annots='goto:" + bm.Page.PageNumber.ToString() + "'>" & bm.Title & "</Font><br>"

Next

pdf.AddHtml(toc)

The Websupergoo team supplied me with some example code and that's what this is based off of - so thanks to them!

Molybdous