Render PDF on a Blackberry?

Question

We are using Blackberries to display PDF reports. Here are background details on the problem:

• The PDF reports are created using JasperReports.
• Report format can be changed.
• Different report formats are available (as per the feature set of JasperReports).
• The PDF reports are on a website, too, so retaining a single source is ideal.
• The page setup is in Landscape.

Here are the issues we have encountered:

• Users cannot see a full line of text on the Blackberry.
• The size of the PDF and UI makes reading difficult, at best.
• The menu option to convert the PDF to text loses too much formatting to be useful.
• The text is blurry (and too small).

Here are solutions we have thought about:

• Create a second report (not ideal) in text or HTML format.
• Simplify the original report format (not really an option, given the amount of data).

What other options are there for making a report available on the Blackberry, given the constraints of JaserReports, such that the report:

• Is legible?
• Is formatted for readability?
• Displays quickly?

Essentially, we'd like to make sure there are no simple solutions we have overlooked for displaying legible PDFs on Blackberries.

Answer 1

How about outputting the file to an RTF or just an image file (JPG/GIF) then viewing them in your web browser?

If that doesn't work well on the native browser, I would focus on viewing the file via some other web browser - for example, Opera Mini. I know for images it's easier to navigate "big" images in Opera Mini than the native browser.

Answer 2

If your blackberries are on a BES server, couldn't you display the reports as HTML on your corporate intranet? - Then you could email a link to the blackberry and simply browse the report.

Answer 3

Try BeamReader http://www.slgmobile.com/beamreader.html

I hear it's the best at reading PDFs for BlackBerry

Answer 4

You can convert pdf to image via xpdf and than show image. xpdf is a BEST renderer of pdf.

Answer 5

We convert TIFFs to PDF for one of our applications, and have had mixed results with BlackBerry PDF viewers. These were our results.

Working

The following PDF readers worked for our purposes:

RepliGo Reader v1.1.1.1 - $19.95
Works fine.

DataViz Documents To Go Premium Edition v1.003.001 - $49.99
Works and includes a word wrap option to get the current zoom level to fit the available screen width, by moving text onto subsequent lines. Might fit your needs.

Non-Working

The following PDF readers did not work for our purposes:

BeamReader v1.0.8 - $17.99
BeamSuite v3.0.2 - $49.99
These couldn't open our PDF files ("Unsupported document format"). In addition they did not register as a PDF content handler, required for our application.

MasterDoc - $19.95
eOffice - $29.95
These also did not register as a PDF content handler. We had a range of problems with these, including installation issues, and not being able to open any PDFs at all.