Adobe Acrobat SDK
Introduction
Developing for Adobe Reader
JavaScript 9
●
Submitting completed documents electronically
●
Digitally signing documents
●
Sharing documents with others to review and add comments using intuitive markup tools such as
electronic sticky notes, highlights, and text strike-throughs
Note:
With LiveCycle Reader Extensions, it is not necessary to distribute any plug-ins or other special
software to implement these features.
For more information on the Adobe LiveCycle products, see the
Developer FAQ
.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a platform-independent scripting language with which you can customize the behavior of
PDF documents in Acrobat or Adobe Reader, as well as the behavior of Acrobat or Adobe Reader itself. You
will find that using JavaScript is, in many cases, much easier than writing plug-ins.
Note:
Adobe Reader support for JavaScript is limited. For details, see
“JavaScript APIs” on page 10
.
Interapplication communication
Acrobat and Adobe Reader provide support for interapplication communication (IAC) through OLE
automation and DDE on Windows platforms, and through Apple events and AppleScript on Mac OS. IAC is
only supported on Windows and Mac OS platforms, and is not supported on Linux or UNIX® platforms.
Note:
Adobe Reader support for IAC is limited. For details, see
“Interapplication Communication” on
page 25
.
Plug-ins
Plug-ins are dynamically linked extensions to Acrobat or Adobe Reader, and can be developed on all
supported platforms. A plug-in can extend or customize the functionality of Acrobat or Adobe Reader, and
can be integrated into the user interface. Plug-ins are written in ANSI C/C++ using the Acrobat APIs.
In order to write a plug-in for Adobe Reader, you must create a Reader-enabled plug-in.
Note:
Adobe Reader support for the Acrobat core and extended APIs is limited. For details, see
“Plug-ins”
on page 28
.