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PDF Annotations

Annotations

Annotations includes functionality for drawing, text markup and placing objects on a PDF document.

App Kit provides the following sets:

• Document Drawing

  • Freehand ink drawing

  • Line

  • Rectangle

  • Ellipse

  • Polygon

  • Polyline

• Document Text

  • Highlight

  • Underline

  • Squiggle

  • Strikethrough

• Document Placement

  • Note

  • Textbox

  • Stamp

  • Attachment

  • Link

Note

You should not set annotation modes on a document until the document has loaded, therefore ensure to add any API calls for annotation methods after listening for the document loaded event.

Document Drawing Annotations

Document text annotations depend on a “Drawing Annotation Mode” being activated. The following API allows for control over setting this mode as well as finding out what mode is currently active.

Draw Mode

Turning on drawing is as simple as calling the setDrawModeOn() method against your DocumentView instance. To turn off drawing just call the setDrawModeOff() method against your DocumentView instance.

KotlinJava

import com.artifex.sonui.editor.DocumentView

fun setDocumentDrawMode(documentView:DocumentView, enable:Boolean) {
    if (enable) {
        documentView.setDrawModeOn()
    } else {
        documentView.setDrawModeOff()
    }
}

To test if “Draw Mode” is active you can use isDrawModeOn

KotlinJava

val dm:Boolean = documentView.isDrawModeOn

When Draw Mode is enabled, the user can draw an ink annotation with the selected line thickness and color. When Draw Mode is then disabled, the annotation is saved to the document.

Drawing Mode Annotation Types

The simplist drawing annotation is freehand ink drawing. As this was the first supported drawing annotation, in the Android App Kit SDK this is the default implementation. Therefore calling setDrawModeOn() without any parameter will enable ink annotations.

For other drawing types use the following with the setDrawModeOn method:

Drawing mode enumeration

Mode	Description
DocView.AnnotMode.NONE	None
DocView.AnnotMode.INK	Freehand ink
DocView.AnnotMode.LINE	Line
DocView.AnnotMode.RECTANGLE	Rectangle
DocView.AnnotMode.OVAL	Oval
DocView.AnnotMode.POLYGON	Polygon
DocView.AnnotMode.POLYLINE	Polyline
DocView.AnnotMode.ARROW	Arrow

KotlinJava

documentView.drawMode = DocView.AnnotMode.LINE

When a “Drawing Annotation Mode” is disabled, the annotation is saved to the document.

Getting Draw Mode

To get the current draw mode use the getDrawMode method:

KotlinJava

val dm:DocView.AnnotMode = documentView.drawMode

Styling Drawing Annotations

Drawing annotations can be styled as follows:

Opacity

To get/set the opacity use the API as follows:

KotlinJava

val color:Int = documentView.lineColor // getter
documentView.lineColor = 0xFF00FF00 // setter

Line Thickness

To get/set the line thickness use the API as follows:

KotlinJava

val thickness:Float = documentView.lineThickness // getter
documentView.lineThickness = 2.0f // setter

Line Color

To get/set the line color use the API as follows:

KotlinJava

val color:Int = documentView.lineColor // getter
documentView.lineColor = 0xFF00FF00 // setter

Line Endings

Line endings are only supported for the DocView.AnnotMode.LINE annotation. They can be set against the start & end of the line as follows:

KotlinJava

documentView.setLineEndStyles(DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_BUTT, DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_CIRCLE)

Line ending enumeration

Style	Description
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_NONE	None
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_BUTT	Butt
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_SLASH	Slash
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_CIRCLE	Cirle
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_DIAMOND	Diamond
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_OPEN_ARROW	Open arrow
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_R_OPEN_ARROW	Right pointing open arrow
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_SQUARE	Square
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_CLOSED_ARROW	Closed arrow
DocumentViewPdf.LINE_ENDING_R_CLOSED_ARROW	Right pointing closed arrow

Document Text Annotations

Document text annotations depend on a “Text Annotation Mode” being activated. The following API allows for control over setting this mode as well as finding out what mode is currently active.

Find the Document Text Annotation Mode

KotlinJava

val isHighlightMode:Boolean = documentView.isTextHighlightModeOn
val isTextSquigglyModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isTextSquigglyModeOn
val isTextStrikeThroughModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isTextStrikeThroughModeOn
val isTextUnderlineModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isTextUnderlineModeOn

Toggle the text mode

Text Highlight Mode

KotlinJava

documentView.toggleTextHighlightMode()

Text Squiggly Mode

KotlinJava

documentView.toggleTextSquigglyMode()

Text Strikethrough Mode

KotlinJava

documentView.toggleTextStrikeThroughMode()

Text Underline Mode

KotlinJava

documentView.toggleTextUnderlineMode()

Highlighting Selected Text

Another quick method to highlight selected text is to call the highlightSelection() method against your DocumentView instance.

KotlinJava

documentView.highlightSelection()

Note

Without a text selection being present in your document view calling highlightSelection() will have no effect.

Document Placement Annotations

Document placement annotations depend on a “Placement Annotation Mode” being activated. The following API allows for control over setting this mode as well as finding out what mode is currently active.

Find the Document Placement Annotation Mode

KotlinJava

val isNoteModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isNoteModeOn
val isTextModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isTextModeOn
val isStampModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isStampModeOn
val isAttachmentModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isAttachmentModeOn
val isLinkModeOn:Boolean = documentView.isLinkModeOn

Setting Note Mode

Setting Note Mode On

KotlinJava

documentView.setNoteModeOn()

Setting Note Mode Off

KotlinJava

documentView.setNoteModeOff()

Setting Text Mode

Setting Text Mode On

KotlinJava

documentView.setTextModeOn()

Setting Text Mode Off

KotlinJava

documentView.setTextModeOff()

Setting Stamp Mode

Setting Stamp Mode On

KotlinJava

documentView.setStampModeOn()

Setting Stamp Mode Off

KotlinJava

documentView.setStampModeOff()

Setting Attachment Mode

Setting Attachment Mode On

KotlinJava

documentView.setAttachmentModeOn()

Setting Attachment Mode Off

KotlinJava

documentView.setAttachmentModeOff()

Setting Link Mode

Setting Link Mode On

KotlinJava

documentView.setLinkModeOn()

Setting Link Mode Off

KotlinJava

documentView.setLinkModeOff()

Deleting Annotations

Essentially all annotations are treated the same as simply selections once they have been selected by a user. This selection can then be removed by calling the deleteSelection() method against the DocumentView instance.

KotlinJava

import com.artifex.sonui.editor.DocumentView

fun deleteDocumentSelection(documentView:DocumentView)  {
    documentView.deleteSelection()
}

Note

Without an annotation being currently selected in your document view calling deleteSelection() will have no effect.

Author

To get/set the annotation author use the API as follows:

KotlinJava

val author:String = documentView.author // getter
documentView?.author = "John Doe" // setter

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This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or implied. This software is distributed under license and may not be copied, modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms of that license. Refer to licensing information at artifex.com or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 39 Mesa Street, Suite 108A, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA, for further information.