open PDF File with parameters

Question

i am working on a java based tool, which should search for PDF files on selected directories and which should search for special words/sentences in this PDF files. After that a JList shows the files which fits and with a double-click on one of these entries the PDF Reader (Adobe Reader) should open this file directly on the page where the word/sentence appeares.

I tried two different things.

Runtime.exec:

try{
    Runtime.getRuntime().exec("rundll32" + " " + "url.dll,FileProtocolHandler /A page=4" + " " + o.toString()); 
}catch(IOException ex) { 
    ex.printStackTrace(); 
}

Desktop open:

if(Desktop.isDesktopSupported()) {
    try{
        Desktop d = Desktop.getDesktop();
        d.open(new File(o.toString()));
    }catch(IOException ex) {
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Is there a way to start the PDF Reader with parameters like "page=4" to jump directly to the right page?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

One of the problem you might face is not being able to directly call acrobat, if not in the Path of the computer. The solution uses two Windows commands : assoc and ftype to retrieve acrobat executable path.

Once found, you just have to build the command line as expected in acrobat's documentation :

<Acrobat path> /A "<parameter>=<value>" "<PDF path>"

I came with the following solution:

public void openPdfWithParams(File pdfFile, String params){

    try {
        //find the file type of the pdf extension using assoc command
        Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd /c assoc .pdf");
        p.waitFor();
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
        String line = reader.readLine();
        String type = line.substring(line.indexOf("=")+1); //keeping only the file type
        reader.close();

        //find the executable associated with the file type usng ftype command
        p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd /c ftype "+type);
        p.waitFor();
        reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
        line = reader.readLine();
        reader.close();
        String exec = line.substring(line.indexOf("=")+1); //keeping only the command line


        //building and executing the final command
        //the command line ends with "%1" to pass parameters - replacing it by our parameters and file path
        String commandParams= String.format("/A \"%s\" \"%s\"", params ,pdfFile.getAbsolutePath()); 
        String command = exec.replace("\"%1\"", commandParams);
        p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);


    } catch (Exception e) {
        logger.log(Level.SEVERE, "Error while trying to open PDF file",e );
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Beware, the code is highly optimistic for the sake of readability, several tests has to be made to ensure that the commands return the expected result. Additionally, this code has a Java6 syntax that could certainly benefit an upgrade to Java7's "try with resources" and nio.