What to look for in a PDF SDK - PDF.js vs. react-pdf - DeveloperWeek 2021

I put together a presentation + repo for DeveloperWeek 2021 to help developers evaluate several different popular libraries out there and highlight some of the gotchas one might encounter.

What to look for in a PDF library when you are strapped for time?
Why do PDFs look different in different browsers?
Why do only some libraries offer annotation capabilities?

For each of the libraries evaluated, I created a create-react-app and embedded the viewer inside of it.

Introduction: (0:00)
Adding PDFs to your app: (1:15)
React-PDF: (6:35)
PDF.js: (11:00)
PDF.js Express: (14:33)
PDFTron's WebViewer: (18:20)

[apryse-solutions]

Comment here with any other libs you want me to evaluate! Let's expand this repo.

[yurykiryaev]

thank you man! it's really important information

[jtrenda]

I had a client request that a pdf that we're generating on the front end using react-pdf, be emailed to them every day, so i set up node-cron on my backend node server, but i'm not sure how to use react-pdf within that context to generate a stream that i can then send to nodemailer's attachment options. is there a way to do that?

[sneharajput]

after pdf reload how highlighted text should be show, can you guide me?

[christoferi]

its only for view?
I want to be downloadable

[giansingh]

this video has saved my life. Thanks. Very Very clutch

[valerymbele]

sorry, it is not working for react. its loading all my app inside the viewer div

[chandbee]

Can we do drag drop files in Pdftron webviwer?
Because it's loading files from a specific location. But I want to know that can we drag drop files instead of placing within the solution.

[davidkramer]

Do you have a way to send pdf to backend or save pdf to state (React-PDF libary)

[maximilianomaro]

Hello, I just need to get page count and dimensions (width and height in mm), the PDF files are uploaded by users for print... Getting this data I'll can calculate the size of the spin in a book for example; or the number of pages that fits in a sheet...

[KeyhanHadjari]

How are these libraries regarding PDF/A support and XFA support? Is it possible to save the user input in an XFA file when a user has filled a form?

[nykollemalone]

Can I use react-pdf to render a url from my api request or other external url? Example: <Document file="HERE MY URL"

[starlord]

why pdf.js not accept array buffer data, can you explain to me

[ankithap]

Can you tell me how to didplay pdf of type octet/application??

[JohnathanHendrix]

Do you have any videos showcasing how you can prepopulate pdfs and sign them using an existing base64 signature? I am using react and the data I would want to use for prepopulating is avaliable in the component via context.