How to create WPF PDF Viewer control in VB .NET?

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WPF PDF Viewer control supports viewing, reviewing, and printing PDF files in WPF applications. The thumbnail, bookmark, hyperlink, and table of contents support provides easy navigation within and outside the PDF files. The form-filling support provides a platform to fill, flatten, save, and print PDF files with AcroForm. The PDF files can be reviewed with the abundant available annotation tools.

Steps to create a PdfViewerControl in VB WPF application

Step 1: Create a new VB WPF application project.

Step 2: Install the Syncfusion.PdfViewer.WPF NuGet package as a reference to your .NET Framework application.

Install the Syncfusion.PdfViewer.WPF NuGet package as a reference to your .NET framework application from nuget.org

Step 3: Add the following Syncfusion namespace in MainWindow.xaml to make use of the PdfViewerControl.

XAML

<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:CreatePdfViewerControl"
        mc:Ignorable="d"
        xmlns:Syncfusion="clr-namespace:Syncfusion.Windows.PdfViewer;assembly=Syncfusion.PdfViewer.WPF" 
        Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800" Loaded="Window_Loaded">

Step 4: Use the following code to initialize the PdfViewerControl from XAML.

XAML

<syncfusion:PdfViewerControl x:Name="PdfViewerControl"/>

Step 5: Use the Load API to view the PDF document using PdfViewerControl in MainWindow.xaml.vb file.

Private Sub Window_Loaded(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
    //Loads the document in PdfViewerControl
    PdfViewerControl.Load("../../Data/Barcode.pdf")
End Sub

Please find the sample from this GitHub location. Execution of PdfViewer Control sample will look alike as follows.

A screenshot of PDF viewer control

UI customization

You can design and use your own UI for interacting with PDF files using the PdfDocumentView control. This control is exclusive for customization purpose, and it supports only viewing the PDF files without having any other built-in UIs. We exposed equivalent APIs for all the functionalities, and you can bind it to your custom UI to make use of all the features. Refer to our API reference for more details.

Toolbar customization

You can design and use your own toolbar by hiding the built-in toolbar from the PdfViewerControl. Refer to this documentation for more details about toggling the visibility of the toolbar and also check out our custom toolbar example in GitHub location, where we have used ribbon control instead of built-in toolbar for PdfViewerControl. Execution of custom toolbar sample will look alike as follows.

A screenshot of a custom toolbar

Appearance customization

As it inherits from System.Windows.Controls.Control, you can change the appearance of the control to fit the look and feel of your application. You can customize the appearance either by creating your own control template or by choosing any of the Syncfusion supported built-in themes that are available in the Syncfusion.Shared.WPF assembly. Check out our visual styles example for the built-in themes supported by PdfViewer control in GitHub location. Execution of visual styles sample with theme “Office 2010 Blue” will look alike as follows.

A screenshot of visual styles sample

Summary

For more information, refer to our user guide documentation. You can also refer to the Feature Tour site to get an overview on all the features in PDF Viewer. Refer this documentation to know about the required assemblies for creating PDF Viewer control.

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