09a9a7bd0b
This is an old API-parameter that is now unused within the PDF.js project itself, and its description says that it's (partly) being used for "range requests operations".
Note that the `length` API-parameter is used to set the *initial* `contentLength` in various `BasePDFStreamReader` implementations, however it's always overridden by the "Content-Length" header (sent by the server) when that one exists *and* is a valid number. While we currently fallback to the keep the initial `contentLength` otherwise, note however how in that case range requests will always be *disabled* and thus the only spot in the code-base [where `fullReader.contentLength` is necessary](873378b718/src/core/worker.js (L230-L236)) cannot actually be reached.
Hence the only possible reason to use the `length` API-parameter would be for improved progress reporting[1] during streaming of PDF data in rare cases where the "Content-Length" header is missing/invalid, but the user *somehow* has information from another source about the correct `length` of the PDF document.
That situation feels very much like an edge-case, but it's obviously impossible to know if someone is depending on it. However, please note that there's a work-around available for users affected by this removal:
- Implement a `PDFDataRangeTransport` instance together with custom data-fetching[2], since in that case its `length`-parameter will always be used as-is.
Finally, updates various `BasePDFStreamReader` implementations to only set the `_isRangeSupported` field once the headers are available (since previously we'd just overwrite the "initial" value anyway).
---
[1] I.e. to avoid the "indeterminate" loadingBar being displayed in the viewer.
[2] This is what e.g. the Firefox PDF Viewer uses.
PDF.js 
PDF.js is a Portable Document Format (PDF) viewer that is built with HTML5.
PDF.js is community-driven and supported by Mozilla. Our goal is to create a general-purpose, web standards-based platform for parsing and rendering PDFs.
Contributing
PDF.js is an open source project and always looking for more contributors. To get involved, visit:
- Issue Reporting Guide
- Code Contribution Guide
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Good Beginner Bugs
- Projects
Feel free to stop by our Matrix room for questions or guidance.
Getting Started
Online demo
Please note that the "Modern browsers" version assumes native support for the latest JavaScript features; please also see this wiki page.
-
Modern browsers: https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/web/viewer.html
-
Older browsers: https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/legacy/web/viewer.html
Browser Extensions
Firefox
PDF.js is built into version 19+ of Firefox.
Chrome
- The official extension for Chrome can be installed from the Chrome Web Store. This extension is maintained by @Rob--W.
- Build Your Own - Get the code as explained below and issue
npx gulp chromium. Then open Chrome, go toTools > Extensionand load the (unpackaged) extension from the directorybuild/chromium.
PDF debugger
Browser the internal structure of a PDF document with https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/internal-viewer/web/pdf_internal_viewer.html
Getting the Code
To get a local copy of the current code, clone it using git:
$ git clone https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js.git
$ cd pdf.js
Next, install Node.js via the official package or via nvm. If everything worked out, install all dependencies for PDF.js:
$ npm install
Finally, you need to start a local web server as some browsers do not allow opening
PDF files using a file:// URL. Run:
$ npx gulp server
and then you can open:
Please keep in mind that this assumes the latest version of Mozilla Firefox; refer to Building PDF.js for non-development usage of the PDF.js library.
It is also possible to view all test PDF files on the right side by opening:
Building PDF.js
In order to bundle all src/ files into two production scripts and build the generic
viewer, run:
$ npx gulp generic
If you need to support older browsers, run:
$ npx gulp generic-legacy
This will generate pdf.js and pdf.worker.js in the build/generic/build/ directory (respectively build/generic-legacy/build/).
Both scripts are needed but only pdf.js needs to be included since pdf.worker.js will
be loaded by pdf.js. The PDF.js files are large and should be minified for production.
Using PDF.js in a web application
To use PDF.js in a web application you can choose to use a pre-built version of the library
or to build it from source. We supply pre-built versions for usage with NPM under
the pdfjs-dist name. For more information and examples please refer to the
wiki page on this subject.
Including via a CDN
PDF.js is hosted on several free CDNs:
- https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/pdfjs-dist
- https://cdnjs.com/libraries/pdf.js
- https://unpkg.com/pdfjs-dist/
Learning
You can play with the PDF.js API directly from your browser using the live demos below:
More examples can be found in the examples folder. Some of them are using the pdfjs-dist package, which can be built and installed in this repo directory via npx gulp dist-install command.
For an introduction to the PDF.js code, check out the presentation by our contributor Julian Viereck:
More learning resources can be found at:
The API documentation can be found at:
Questions
Check out our FAQs and get answers to common questions:
Talk to us on Matrix:
File an issue: