open pdf in new window, interact with third-party plugin?

[clearcom0]

I would like to write a program that opens a pdf in a new window, saves the pdf on any change to the document, and closes the window when the program determines is appropriate. However, I would also like the pdf to interact with the user through a third-party plugin in the same way it does in Adobe Reader DC. With the third-party plugin installed, when the document is open in Adobe Reader DC and the user clicks on a signature field, a signature box pops up for the user to apply their signature, and when they click Accept, the signature field on the pdf is updated. Is it possible to open a pdf in a non-Adobe-Reader-DC window (without the scrolling options frame on the right and without the toolbar at the top) that still interacts with third-party Reader plugins? Would I use AcroPDF object’s LoadFile method? I am trying to determine what is and is not possible before embarking down a path, so any help is greatly appreciated.

[lrosenth · Accepted solution]

Each 3rd party plugin is able to determine whether they support working in “external windows” (that’s the Acrobat SDK term for what you are describing). So you would need to ask the developer of the plugin if they have enabled that feature or not in their plugin (it is off by default). If you are building that plugin, then you should simply make sure to enable that feature.

[clearcom0]

Thank you so much. I actually have since gotten this working and have verified that the third-party plugin does still work when the pdf is opened through the external window. I was able to make the toolbar at the top go away using AxAcroPDFLib.AxAcroPDF.setShowToolbar(false). I would also like to know how to get the search, page thumbnails, and view attachments icons on the left to go away, if possible. I read somewhere that whether or not these icons are visible is left up to the creator of the pdf. How would I designate these icons to be hidden when creating the pdf ... through Javascript? If so, what methods I should be looking for? Thanks in advance for your help.

[lrosenth]

There is no programmatic way to hide the icons on the left side.