Question

Is there any way to view PDF files in a Winforms tool? I’ve seen solutions such as converting the pdf file into images and showing them in an picture box. However, I am asking whether i can view the file as PDF. Is there any tool from adobe or from Microsoft that supports this?

Answer 1

you can use System.Diagnostics.Process.Start as well as WIN32 ShellExecute function by means of interop, for opening PDF files using the default viewer:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("SOMEAPP.EXE","Path/SomeFile.Ext");

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("shell32. dll")]
private static extern long ShellExecute(Int32 hWnd, string lpOperation, 
                                    string lpFile, string lpParameters, 
                                        string lpDirectory, long nShowCmd);

Another approach is to place a WebBrowser Control into your Form and then use the Navigate method for opening the PDF file:

ThewebBrowserControl.Navigate(@"c:\the_file.pdf");