react-native-pdftron-free

A completely free, JavaScript-only alternative to PDFTron React Native - NO LICENSE REQUIRED! 🎉

This package provides a 100% JavaScript implementation that mimics the PDFTron React Native API but works entirely through web-based document viewers. No native PDFTron SDK is used or required. Fully compatible with Expo projects.

🚀 Features

• Zero Licensing Costs - Completely free to use
• No Native Dependencies - Pure JavaScript implementation
• Expo Compatible - Works seamlessly with Expo projects
• Cross-Platform - Works on both iOS and Android
• Document Support:
  • PDF files (via direct WebView)
  • Word documents (.docx) via Google Docs Viewer
  • Excel files (.xlsx) via Google Docs Viewer
  • PowerPoint files (.pptx) via Google Docs Viewer
• API Compatible - Drop-in replacement for PDFTron components
• Web-Based Viewing - Uses Google Docs Viewer and Microsoft Office Online

⚠️ Important Notes

• This is NOT the official PDFTron library - it's a completely independent implementation
• No native PDFTron SDK is included or used
• Document viewing is web-based - requires internet connection for Office files
• Local files need to be accessible via public URL for web viewers to work
• Some advanced PDFTron features are not available (annotations, editing, etc.)

📦 Installation

npm install react-native-pdftron-free
# or
yarn add react-native-pdftron-free

🔧 Setup

No native setup required! This package works out of the box since it's pure JavaScript.

For React Native 0.60+

No additional configuration needed. The package will work automatically.

For older React Native versions

If you encounter issues, you may need to run:

react-native link react-native-pdftron-free

📱 Usage

Basic Document Viewing

import React from 'react';
import { DocumentView, RNPdftron } from 'react-native-pdftron-free';

const App = () => {
  // Initialize (no license needed!)
  RNPdftron.initialize('FREE_VERSION');
  
  return (
    <DocumentView
      document="https://example.com/sample.pdf"
      onDocumentLoaded={(path) => console.log('Document loaded:', path)}
      onDocumentError={(error) => console.log('Error:', error)}
    />
  );
};

Viewing Office Documents

import React from 'react';
import { DocumentView } from 'react-native-pdftron-free';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <DocumentView
      document="https://example.com/document.docx"
      showLeadingNavButton={true}
      onLeadingNavButtonPressed={() => console.log('Nav button pressed')}
    />
  );
};

Using the Free Document Viewer Component

import React from 'react';
import { FreeDocumentViewer } from 'react-native-pdftron-free';

const App = () => {
  return <FreeDocumentViewer />;
};

🔌 API Reference

RNPdftron

The main module that provides initialization and configuration.

import { RNPdftron } from 'react-native-pdftron-free';

// Initialize (no license needed)
RNPdftron.initialize('FREE_VERSION');

// Enable JavaScript (always enabled in free version)
RNPdftron.enableJavaScript(true);

// Check license status (always returns free status)
const status = RNPdftron.getLicenseStatus();
console.log(status); // { isValid: true, isDemo: true, isFree: true }

DocumentView

A React component that displays documents using web-based viewers.

import { DocumentView } from 'react-native-pdftron-free';

<DocumentView
  document="https://example.com/document.pdf"
  showLeadingNavButton={true}
  onDocumentLoaded={(path) => console.log('Loaded:', path)}
  onDocumentError={(error) => console.log('Error:', error)}
  onLoadComplete={(path) => console.log('Complete:', path)}
  onError={(error) => console.log('Error:', error)}
/>

Props

• document (string, required): URL to the document to display
• showLeadingNavButton (boolean): Show navigation button
• onDocumentLoaded (function): Called when document loads successfully
• onDocumentError (function): Called when document fails to load
• onLoadComplete (function): Called when document loading completes
• onError (function): Called when any error occurs

🌐 How It Works

This package completely bypasses the need for PDFTron's native SDK by:

1. Fake RNPdftron Module: Provides the same API but does nothing native
2. Fake DocumentView Component: Renders a WebView instead of native PDFTron viewer
3. Web-Based Viewing: Uses Google Docs Viewer for Office files and direct WebView for PDFs
4. No Native Dependencies: Pure JavaScript implementation

📄 Supported File Types

| File Type | Extension | Viewer | Notes | |-----------|-----------|---------|-------| | PDF | .pdf | Direct WebView | Best support | | Word | .docx, .doc | Google Docs Viewer | Requires public URL | | Excel | .xlsx, .xls | Google Docs Viewer | Requires public URL | | PowerPoint | .pptx, .ppt | Google Docs Viewer | Requires public URL |

🚫 Limitations

• No offline viewing for Office documents (requires internet)
• No advanced PDF features like annotations, editing, or form filling
• No local file support for Office documents (must be publicly accessible)
• Web-based viewing may have different UI/UX than native viewers

🔍 Troubleshooting

Build Errors

If you encounter build errors related to PDFTron dependencies, make sure you're using version 1.0.2+ which has removed all native dependencies.

Document Not Loading

• Ensure the document URL is publicly accessible
• Check your internet connection
• Verify the file format is supported

WebView Issues

• Make sure react-native-webview is properly installed
• Check that the document URL is valid and accessible

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

⚖️ Disclaimer

This package is NOT affiliated with PDFTron Inc. It's a completely independent implementation created to provide a free alternative to the commercial PDFTron React Native library. Use at your own risk.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📞 Support

For issues and questions, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

Remember: This is a free alternative that mimics the PDFTron API but provides web-based document viewing only. It's perfect for basic document display needs without licensing costs!