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I download a pdf stream from my server. In my app I save the bytearray to a the local folder as pdf. But when I open it in the webview, it just shows a white page.

I followed this example: https://developer.xamarin.com/recipes/cross-platform/xamarin-forms/controls/display-pdf.

Here is customwebview in my xaml:

<local:CustomWebView x:Name="customView" HorizontalOptions="FillAndExpand" VerticalOptions="FillAndExpand" />

Here is my code of the custom view:

 public class CustomWebView : WebView { public static readonly BindableProperty UriProperty = BindableProperty.Create(propertyName: "Uri", returnType: typeof(string), declaringType: typeof(CustomWebView), defaultValue: default(string)); public string Uri { get { return (string)GetValue(UriProperty); } set { SetValue(UriProperty, value); } } }

This is my method to retrieve the pdf byte array and store it locally:

 private async void ReadPDF() { var response = CommonLibrary.Helpers.HTTPClientHelper.DownloadPDF(AccountBL.AccessToken, APISettings.APIURI("api/booking/pdf")); var streamContent = response.Content as System.Net.Http.StreamContent; var bytes = CommonLibrary.Helpers.FileHelper.ReadBytes(await streamContent.ReadAsStreamAsync()); var dir = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments); var fileName = "test.pdf"; CommonLibrary.Helpers.FileHelper.WriteFileFromByteArray(bytes, dir, fileName); customView.Uri = System.IO.Path.Combine(dir, fileName); }

Am I missing something?

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  • Have you tried getting your webview to go to a website, just to ensure whether it's a loading issue or a display issue? Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 14:16
  • Hi Jaxi, you are right. A normal site is not loaded also. You have to just set the customWebview.Uri am I correct? Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 15:26
  • Hi Jaxi, A normal site is loaded when I set the the source property -> customView.Source = "google.nl". When I set the source to the pdf location it's not working. Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 15:35
  • Can you breakpoint and see if the dir variable is actually populated with a directory? Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 15:48
  • I did and it's populated and I can find the file via the device monitor. Commented Dec 19, 2017 at 14:23

2 Answers 2

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If I remember correctly, you can display a "remote" PDF in a webview on iOS. With Android there are some problems. I suggest to take a look to this repo OpenPDF. I use a CustomRenderer and a google tool to display the PDF. I have had some problems with some Android version... but you can take a look.(here a blog)

Otherwise there is @AdamPedley suggestion to use PDF JS Viewer Adam Pedley The code is here.

This is the CustomRenderer for Android

[assembly: ExportRenderer (typeof(CustomWebView), typeof(CustomWebViewRenderer))] namespace DisplayPDF.Droid { public class CustomWebViewRenderer : WebViewRenderer { protected override void OnElementChanged (ElementChangedEventArgs<WebView> e) { base.OnElementChanged (e); if (e.NewElement != null) { var customWebView = Element as CustomWebView; Control.Settings.AllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs = true; Control.LoadUrl (string.Format ("file:///android_asset/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?file={0}", string.Format ("file:///android_asset/Content/{0}", WebUtility.UrlEncode (customWebView.Uri)))); } } } }
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5 Comments

Thanks for your answer, and openpdf is the way to go, but I'm experiencing some problems. Is it only working with a portable project? I have a shared project in my solution.
I think it can work in a Shared Project without problem. It's only a WebView's Custom Renderer
Hi Alessandro, I don't think I understand how this works. I have tried to create the renderer in the shared project without any succes. Where should I put this renderer? Is this only working for Android? I also want it to work for IOS? I don't understand the concept of the renderer. Could you please try and help me step by step? Thanks in advance. And happy xmas.
@Yaza, there is a repo in the post. Yes, it is only for Android because iOS should works without problem using webview. You can take a look also to this solution blog.verslu.is/xamarin/xamarin-forms-xamarin/…
Hi Alessandro, thank you that worked perfectly. Thank you for your effort. I'm sorry for the delay.
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Following approach will allow you to view pdf in xamarin forms. If you are trying to open one from azure blob or you have valid URl.

WebView webView = new WebView(); var page = new ContentPage(); webView.Source = "https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://yourpdfurl.pdf"; page.Content = webView; Navigation.PushModalAsync(page);
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2 Comments

Will this work for both Android and iOS also from local path?
This works if you have valid URL for your PDF and you need to replace "url=yourpdfurl.pdf " with PDF url. I have used azure blob storage to store the PDF's.

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