how to present a pdf object using win32 api ?

Question

Hi,

How can I render a pdf stream in a new memory using win32 API ?

I know that ShellExecute can be used if the file is already saved on disk but what if I want to do that without having to first save the file ?

Thanks

Answer 1

As far as I'm aware, win32 doesn't include a way to natively display PDF files. So I think your only choice is to save it to disk (perhaps in a temporary folder somewhere) and then use ShellExecute or equivalent to launch it, and hope the user has a PDF viewing application installed. :(

Edit: Andreas in a comment to this answer mentioned that there's an ActiveX control you should use, if you can rely on Adobe Acrobat being installed.