Skip to main content
D
DavidThi_808
Known Participant
February 28, 2017
Answered

Is there a sample C# plug in?

  • February 28, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 7719 views

Is there a sample plug in, written in C#, that is a good intro? Myabe just 1 button added to the Acrobat menu that inserts text at a specific place?

thanks - dave

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Karl Heinz Kremer

I'm reading the plug in developer guide and on page 39 it says a plug in can be compiled with Microsoft Visual Studio (good news).

But it limits it to VisualStudio 2003 and 2005. Is that correct? Or can I use Visual Studio 2015?

thanks - dave


I think the latest SDK release still requires Visual Studio 2010. I have a virtual machine running Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2010 that I use for plug-in development.

As far as calling C# from native C++, see this stack overflow question: clr - Managed C++ to form a bridge between c# and C++ - Stack Overflow

3 replies

A
Anonymous
March 2, 2017

We have used C# WPF DLL libraries created using Unmanaged Exports - Robert Giesecke from Adobe plug-in. You will face some challenges to position windows etc. if C# DLL is where you host majority of the custom dialogs.

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
February 28, 2017

First Google hit on Acrobat SDK: Adobe - Acrobat Developer Center | Adobe Developer Connection

Karl Heinz Kremer
Community Expert
Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 28, 2017

Plug-ins have to be written in C or C++. You cannot write an Acrobat plug-in in C#. The only thing you can do with C# is to use the IAC API and have a way to "remote control" some aspects of Adobe Acrobat.

D
DavidThi_808Author
Known Participant
February 28, 2017

Ow, not the answer I was hoping for.

Here's my problem. We have a pretty large program, written in C#, that is an AddIn to Microsoft Office. We'd like to make it a plugin to Acrobat too. But rewriting it in C++ is a deal killer. It's not just the code, it's the 40 or so dialog boxes, some of which are very complex.

Can we write the plugin in Microsoft Visual Studio Managed C++, and that can then call our C# code? And yes, this means Windows only but that's ok for our use case.

Can that be done?

thanks - dave

Karl Heinz Kremer
Community Expert
Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 28, 2017

You need to use plain old (unmanaged) C++ for the actual plug-in. I assume you could then find a way to link in managed code or your C# code, but that's not my field of expertise, so I will let others comment on that.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices