Opening PDF files from C#

[DPolley]

I was trying to use Process.Start to launch Adobe Reader and open a PDF file from a C# Windows Form applicatoin. I want the file to be opened at a specific page, so I tried:

Process.Start("C:\\ABC.pdf", "/a Page=3");

This launches Adobe Reader and brings up the correct file, but it goes to Page 1, not Page 3.

I know that from a command line the following works:

AcroRd32.exe /a Page=3 C:\ABC.pdf

But this does not:

AcroRd32.exe C:\ABC.pdf /a Page=3

I am assuming that Process.Start is putting the arguments at the end of the command line and Reader is ignoring them.

Can anyone suggest a way to make this work? I am not married to using Process.Start, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

DP

[Curtis Rutland]

Try something like this:

string acro = @"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe";
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo st = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(acro, "/a page=2 c:\\dev\\a.pdf");
System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
p.StartInfo = st;
p.Start();
 

Note that you will have to replace the location of the AcroRd32.exe with the path to the version currently installed on your machine.

This worked for me.

I was trying to use Process.Start to launch Adobe Reader and open a PDF file from a C# Windows Form applicatoin. I want the file to be opened at a specific page, so I tried:

Process.Start("C:\\ABC.pdf", "/a Page=3");

This launches Adobe Reader and brings up the correct file, but it goes to Page 1, not Page 3.

I know that from a command line the following works:

AcroRd32.exe /a Page=3 C:\ABC.pdf

But this does not:

AcroRd32.exe C:\ABC.pdf /a Page=3

I am assuming that Process.Start is putting the arguments at the end of the command line and Reader is ignoring them.

Can anyone suggest a way to make this work? I am not married to using Process.Start, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

DP

[DPolley]

Thanks for the suggestion, the problem is that the app (which will be run on many different machines) has no way of knowing what version of Reader (or some other program for reading PDFs) the machine has installed, or where it is installed.

Thanks,
DP

Try something like this:

string acro = @"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe";
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo st = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(acro, "/a page=2 c:\\dev\\a.pdf");
System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
p.StartInfo = st;
p.Start();
 

Note that you will have to replace the location of the AcroRd32.exe with the path to the version currently installed on your machine.

This worked for me.