I'm just curious how labor intensive it is to view PDFs in VB .NET, whether by purchasing a component or writing code.



Thanks

I finally found a solution and I wanted to share it with the StrataFrame community.



For viewing a PDF in VB.NET you can use the Adobe Acrobat Control for ActiveX.



Hope this helps someone else! ;-)

I read somewhere that it is not advisable to mix unmanaged and manged code in the same executable due to the way garbage collection works. Although, MS is still using a lot of old unmanaged code written in C (not even in C++) that are still being used in .Net apps. For example, the vector graphic engine that is used in Expression Design, is from 12 years ago, when MS bought it from another company. This was said by the lead developer of Expression Design, however, all that stuff has been wrapped with managed code.

..ßen

Ben, you are correct.  But it also depends on how much usage the interop will get.  If your entire application is hinged around it, then yeah, bad idea for sure   But just for a minor viewer it shoulnd't cause too many issues...if any.  One thing that .NET does really well is create an interop interface to the COM and Ax... classes.  The only downside that I see with using an ActiveX control is that you either have to distribute it, or in this case make sure Adobe Reader is installed.  But you are correct, certain ActiveX controls do notplay nice with .NET...but the more popular ones, such as this Adobe Acrobat control or the Flash ActiveX shouldn't cause too many issues.  I will agree with Ben, though, that if part of your application relies heavily on opening and viewing PDF documents, then this may cause some memory and interopability issues once the volume is increased.