npm package: @pdftron/webviewer-html
Description: This is an addon for WebViewer that allows loading HTML web pages so that they can be annotated.
Author: PDFTron Systems Inc.
Latest version: 5.0.1

# WebViewer HTML

[WebViewer](https://apryse.com/products/webviewer) is a powerful JavaScript-based PDF Library that's part of the [Apryse SDK](https://apryse.com/). It allows you to view and annotate PDFs, MS Office, images, videos and web pages on your web app with a fully customizable UI.

This is an addon for WebViewer that allows loading HTML web pages so that HTML pages can be annotated. You can watch the demo on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/pamn97LMD6s) or read a [blog](https://apryse.com/blog/webviewer/webpage-annotation-and-collaboration). 

![WebViewer](https://www.pdftron.com/static/40c0d4315743aa5cff94e527ba6c7858/image-webpage-annotation-solution2.png)

Let me know how you are planning to use WebViewer HTML or if you have any feedback on any feature missing. You can [email me](mailto:andrey@pdftron.com) directly.

## Disclaimer

This project is experimental. A proxy server is used to serve webpage assets. This is done to get around various security issues, when loading a webpage in an iframe. This works for a good amount of pages but there are many exceptions. If you have a subset of web pages that you would like to support then we recommend forking [this repository](https://github.com/PDFTron/webviewer-html-proxy-server) and making the necessary fixes. We won't be making those changes because it would likely result in other pages failing.

## What's new?

- Highlight, underline, draw shapes, callouts, stamps
- View a live web page
- Search for wording on the page using different search modes
- Get access to all the links present on the web page

## Demo
https://showcase.apryse.com/webviewer-html

## Sample Integration

Try out the react sample [here](https://github.com/PDFTron/webviewer-html-annotate-proxy/). It shows how to integrate WebViewer, WebViewer-HTML, and webviewer-html-proxy-server.

## Initial setup

Before you begin, make sure your development environment includes [Node.js and npm](https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm).

## Install

```
npm install @pdftron/webviewer-html
```

## How to use

WebViewer-HTML requires the server component, [@pdftron/webviewer-html-proxy-server](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pdftron/webviewer-html-proxy-server). This proxy server solves CORS issues. It will also parse the page for text and links, allowing you to use text annotations and page navigation.

Call the `createServer` function in your server component and pass in an object that includes `SERVER_ROOT` and `PORT`.

```javascript
const HTMLProxyServer = require('@pdftron/webviewer-html-proxy-server');
HTMLProxyServer.createServer({
  SERVER_ROOT: `http://localhost`,
  PORT: 3100
});
```

When making the request to the proxy-server, make sure to pass along `{ credentials: 'include' }` to be able to send cookies in cross-origin requests. Read more [here](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch).

You can either load HTML pages from URLs, or static resources using the relative path. This API is available to load an HTML page by calling `loadHTMLPage`.

```javascript
import WebViewer from '@pdftron/webviewer';
import { initializeHTMLViewer } from '@pdftron/webviewer-html';

WebViewer(
  {
    path: 'lib',
  },
  document.getElementById('viewer')
).then(async (instance) => {
  const url = 'https://apryse.com/';
  const htmlProxyServerUrl = 'http://localhost:3100';

  // Tell webviewer-html-proxy-server that you want to proxy this URL
  const proxyUrlRes =
    await fetch(
      `${htmlProxyServerUrl}/pdftron-proxy?url=${url}`, 
      { credentials: 'include' },
    );

  const { validUrl } = await proxyUrlRes.json();
  const { href, origin, pathname } = new URL(validUrl);
  const hrefWithoutOrigin = href.split(origin)[1] || pathname;

  const license = `---- Insert commercial license key here after purchase ----`;

  // Extends WebViewer to allow loading HTML5 files from URL or static folder.
  const { loadHTMLPage } = await initializeHTMLViewer(instance, { license });

  loadHTMLPage({
    iframeUrl: `${htmlProxyServerUrl}${hrefWithoutOrigin}`,
    // URL that is being proxied
    urlToProxy: validUrl,
    width: 1440,
    height: 770,
  });
});
```

## Passing custom HTTP headers to the proxy request

For version v1.9.6 and above, the [proxy server](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pdftron/webviewer-html-proxy-server) can accept extra custom HTTP headers using `customheaders` when making the request, read more [here](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Request_header). Make sure to stringify your custom headers before passing them to the value of `customheaders`.

```javascript
// Tell webviewer-html-proxy-server that you want to proxy this URL
const proxyUrlRes =
  await fetch(
    `${htmlProxyServerUrl}/pdftron-proxy?url=${url}`, 
    { 
      credentials: 'include',
      headers: {
        customheaders: JSON.stringify({
          Authorization: 'token',
          'custom-header': 'custom token',
        }),
        // invalid values: {}, { key: value }, "random string that can't be parsed"
      },
    },
  );
```

## For WebViewer v8.5 and above

New versions of [WebViewer v8.5](https://docs.apryse.com/documentation/web/changelog/v8-5-0/) and above requires the `disableVirtualDisplayMode: true` constructor option. See [documentation](https://docs.apryse.com/api/web/global.html#WebViewerOptions__anchor).

```javascript
WebViewer(
  {
    path: 'lib',
    disableVirtualDisplayMode: true,
  },
  document.getElementById('viewer')
).then(async (instance) => {
  // ...
});
```

## Detecting when the proxy is loaded

You can add a `proxyLoaded` event listener to detect when the proxy iframe is fully loaded. This event comes from the `DOMContentLoaded` event attached to the proxy website.

```javascript
import WebViewer from '@pdftron/webviewer';

WebViewer(
  {
    path: 'lib',
  },
  document.getElementById('viewer')
).then((instance) => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;
  docViewer.addEventListener('proxyLoaded', listener);
});
```

## Version 3.x

Older versions 3.x of WebViewer-HTML used website scraping to save the website as a snapshot in time, without the need for a separate server component. Please refer to [this sample](https://github.com/PDFTron/webviewer-html-annotate) that scrapes the content of a live website and allows you to annotate. This sample along with WebViewer-HTML v3.x are no longer maintained, as the proxy solution allows to better capture accurately the content of a live website. Read more [here](https://apryse.com/blog/webviewer/webviewer-annotate-html-via-proxy-vs-scraping).

## Adding a license key

Beginning with version 3.x, we have added a watermark on all HTML pages being viewed in the demo mode. Version 3.x introduces quite a number of feature additions including text tools like highlighting and strikeout, as well as searching capabilities. To remove the `Apryse Demo` watermark, please pass the license key to the function. The license key can be obtained on [Apryse's website](https://apryse.com/form/contact-sales).

```javascript
WebViewer(
  {
    path: 'lib',
  },
  document.getElementById('viewer')
).then(async (instance) => {
  const license = `---- Insert commercial license key here after purchase ----`;
  const { loadHTMLPage } = await initializeHTMLViewer(instance, { license });
});
```

For versions v4.5x and below, please pass the licence key to `loadHTMLPage`.

```javascript
loadHTMLPage({
  // Your webviewer-html-proxy-server url
  iframeUrl: 'http://localhost:3100',
  // URL that is being proxied
  urlToProxy: 'https://apryse.com/',
  width: 1440,
  height: 770,
  license: 'license-key-goes-here',
});
```

## Ready-to-deploy Collaboration Sample

We have put together a ready to deploy collaboration sample based on [collaboration.pdftron.com](https://collaboration.pdftron.com/). You can read about it in a [blog](https://apryse.com/blog/webviewer/webpage-annotation-and-collaboration) and get started with a [sample](https://github.com/PDFTron/website-reviewer). 

Please note that this is only supported with Webviewer-HTML v3.x.

## Documentation

[Client API documentation](https://docs.apryse.com/api/html/)

[Server API documentation](https://docs.apryse.com/api/html-proxy-server/)

## License

WebViewer HTML will run in trial mode until a license is provided. For more information on licensing, please visit our [website](https://apryse.com/feature-chart).