On these Hub pages we will first introduce the range of features available on FastPdf+ and implemented through our PDF SDK library, FastPdfKit. Both we here at DIMENSION and our customers consider FastPdfKit to be the best reader available for accessing PDFs within a customized iOS app. FastPdfKit is Newsstand centric and far exceeds Apple’s own PDF readers, iBooks and QuickLook.
First, a concise description of FastPdfKit is in order: it is an iOS SDK download, containing a static library (with sample code) and PDF parser. It was designed specifically for iOS, and is available free from github with a splash-screen logo and three additional paid versions (Basic, Plus, and Extra) each with unique enabled features, which can be purchased at our store.
Also new: a FastPdfKit Reader, available to test and play with the engine. It includes a Multimedia magazine.
FastPdfKit is compatible with the iPad, iPhone, and iPad Touch, and since version 3.0 it supports multimedia overlays from native PDF annotations on all three platforms. Our first version came out in January of 2011, and its genesis was the realization that the growing market for customizable PDF-readers for developers’ apps was not being served; and that Apple’s own apps were going to be substandard (as they indeed have turned out to be). FastPdfKit has won wide acceptance and now has about a thousand developers and resellers in most countries around the world.
There are at present seven broad categories of features for FastPdfKit. We will treat each grouping on a separate Hub page on an introductory basis. Links will be provided for developers interested in further information. Or you can cut to the chase and view our Three Minute Implementation Guide, which details a quick start-up procedure, starting with a clone from github.
- Reading (25 functions)
- Multimedia and annotations (22 functions)
- Kiosk (7 functions)
- Text (11 functions)
- Extensions (26 functions)
- Miscellaneous (27 functions)
- In development (3 functions)
Presenting the page to the user: Reading functions
They are comprehensive and designed for speed and simplicity for both developer and user. Pinch, tap, double-tap, tap on the side, zoom, precise zoom, switch pages, left to right and right to left reading, bookmarks, and native thumbnail extraction is a partial list. These core reading-functions will accommodate all PDF page-presentations for newspapers, magazine, books, manuals, and any standard documentation, with an emphasis on large files. This is why the actual PDF reader, FastPdfKit is now and will be the reader of choice for iOS developers going forward. Just to quickly illustrate, an example of the coding for the single-page view function is given as:
setMode:
MFDocumentModeSingle presents to the user a single page centered on the screen.
MFDocumentModeDouble presents two pages side-by-side, as they would appear in a magazine or book. This will allow preservation of content split between the pages, an example being a large background image.
Go here for the full MFDocumentViewController Class Reference. And then think large files!
Every sources to find useful informations on how to use FastPdfKit.