Adobe ActiveX Control problem in C#

[s.dan...@gmail.com]

Hi All,

I have made an application that loads an Adobe Acrobat file and shows
it. For this I ve used Adobe ActiveX

Control available in C#. Heres a sample code. I am adding the control
programmatically and NOT through the

designer.

private AxAcroPDFLib.AxAcroPDF axAcroPDF1;
private void InitializeAdobe()
{
try
{
System.Resources.ResourceManager resources = new

System.Resources.ResourceManager(typeof(Form1));
this.axAcroPDF1 = new AxAcroPDFLib.AxAcroPDF ();

((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this.axAcroPDF1)).BeginInit();
this.axAcroPDF1.Enabled = true;
this.axAcroPDF1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(84,
38);
this.axAcroPDF1.Name = "axPdf1";
this.axAcroPDF1.OcxState =

((System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.State)(resources.GetObject("axAcroPDF1.OcxState")));
this.axAcroPDF1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(854,
470);
this.axAcroPDF1.TabIndex = 0;
this.Controls.Add(this.axAcroPDF1);

((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this.axAcroPDF1)).EndInit();

axAcroPDF1.LoadFile ("C:\\Test.pdf");
axAcroPDF1.Show ();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine (ex.ToString ());
}
}

This codes works fine. This sample is written using Adobe ActiveX
Control 7.0. Now the problem is that i cant

run this application is Adobe Acorbat 6.0 is installed and NOT Adobe
7.0. In other words i m facing

compatibility issues. Same is the case if I make the application using
Adobe ActiveX Control 6.0 and then run

it when Adobe 7.0 is installed.
Is there any way I can make it 'generic'. Client may have 6.0 or 7.0 or
any other version installed. I want my

application to work in all circumstances......or atleast in both 6.0
and 7.0. I ve searched for and havent

found anything solid. There are similar questions regarding this
problem but none of them have been answered.
I ve tried something else also :

Guid guid = new Guid
("{ca8a9780-280d-11cf-a24d-444553540000}");
Type myType =Type.GetTypeFromCLSID(guid, true);
Object o = Activator.CreateInstance (myType);

BUT now i cant do anything further. The object returned is of type
'System.__ComObject'. I guess if ANY COM

object is used it will always return this. I ve tried casting the
object to the appropriate library but it

throws exception (invalid cast).

is there anyway that an application built in any version work with all
other versions OR atleast if an

application uses the latest Adobe it would run on earlier ones too.

ANY idea regarding this issue is most welcome.

Thanks
Danyal

[Aandi Inston]

s.dan...@gmail.com wrote:

>I have made an application that loads an Adobe Acrobat file and shows

>it. For this I ve used Adobe ActiveX Control ...
>
>private AxAcroPDFLib.AxAcroPDF axAcroPDF1;

>. Now the problem is that i cant run this application is Adobe
> Acorbat 6.0 is installed and NOT Adobe
>7.0.

Well, yes. AxAcroPDF was a new interface in Acrobat 7, which replaced
the undocumented and unsupported "PDF.OCX" found in earlier releases.

>Is there any way I can make it 'generic'. Client may have 6.0 or 7.0 or
>any other version installed.

If the client actually has Acrobat, not Reader, you can use the other
OLE interfaces, which have been there since before 5.0.

In Reader, 7.0 is the first to have a supported OLE interface. So it
seems reasonable to make that a system requirement for your app.
----------------------------------------
Aandi Inston qu...@dial.pipex.com http://www.quite.com
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[chicks]

The Reader COM interface isn't documented by Adobe for versions before
7.0. It was meant strictly for embedding in a browser, not for
developer use. You can use the documented DDE interface with all
versions of Reader to remotely control an instance of Reader.