Working with Actions in PDF

The following code snippet also work with Aspose.PDF.Drawing library.

Add Hyperlink in a PDF File

It is possible to add hyperlinks to PDF files, either to allow readers to navigate to another part of the PDF, or to external content.

In order to add web hyperlinks to PDF documents:

1. Create a Document Class object.
2. Get the Page Class you want to add the link to.
3. Create a LinkAnnotation object using the Page and Rectangle objects. The rectangle object is used to specify the location on the page where the link should be added.
4. Set the Action property to the GoToURIAction object which specifies the location of the remote URI.
5. To display a hyperlink text, add a text string on a location similar to where the LinkAnnotation object is placed.
6. To add a free text:

• Instantiate an FreeTextAnnotation object. It also accepts Page and Rectangle objects as argument, so it is possible to provide same values as specified against the LinkAnnotation constructor.
• Using the FreeTextAnnotation object’s Contents property, specify the string that should be displayed in the output PDF.
• Optionally, set the border width of both the LinkAnnotation and FreeTextAnnotation objects to 0 so that they do not appear in the PDF document.
• Once the LinkAnnotation and FreeTextAnnotation objects have been defined, add these links to the Page object’s Annotations collection.
• Finally, save the updated PDF using the Document object’s Save method.

The following code snippet shows you how to add a hyperlink to a PDF file.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddHyperlink()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "AddHyperlink.pdf"))
    {
        // Get page
        var page = document.Pages[1];
        // Create Link annotation object
        var link = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation(page, new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(100, 100, 300, 300));
        // Create border object for LinkAnnotation
        var border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(link);
        // Set the border width value as 0
        border.Width = 0;
        // Set the border for LinkAnnotation
        link.Border = border;
        // Specify the link type as remote URI
        link.Action = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction("www.aspose.com");
        // Add link annotation to annotations collection of first page of PDF file
        page.Annotations.Add(link);

        // Create Free Text annotation
        var textAnnotation = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.FreeTextAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(100, 100, 300, 300), new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.DefaultAppearance(Aspose.Pdf.Text.FontRepository.FindFont("TimesNewRoman"), 10, System.Drawing.Color.Blue));
        // String to be added as Free text
        textAnnotation.Contents = "Link to Aspose website";
        // Set the border for Free Text Annotation
        textAnnotation.Border = border;
        // Add FreeText annotation to annotations collection of first page of Document
        document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(textAnnotation);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "AddHyperlink_out.pdf");
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddHyperlink()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "AddHyperlink.pdf");
    // Get page
    var page = document.Pages[1];
    // Create Link annotation object
    var link = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation(page, new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(100, 100, 300, 300));
    // Create border object for LinkAnnotation
    var border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(link);
    // Set the border width value as 0
    border.Width = 0;
    // Set the border for LinkAnnotation
    link.Border = border;
    // Specify the link type as remote URI
    link.Action = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction("www.aspose.com");
    // Add link annotation to annotations collection of first page of PDF file
    page.Annotations.Add(link);

    // Create Free Text annotation
    var textAnnotation = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.FreeTextAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(100, 100, 300, 300), new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.DefaultAppearance(Aspose.Pdf.Text.FontRepository.FindFont("TimesNewRoman"), 10, System.Drawing.Color.Blue));
    // String to be added as Free text
    textAnnotation.Contents = "Link to Aspose website";
    // Set the border for Free Text Annotation
    textAnnotation.Border = border;
    // Add FreeText annotation to annotations collection of first page of Document
    document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(textAnnotation);

    // Save PDF document
    document.Save(dataDir + "AddHyperlink_out.pdf");
}

Another common scenario is to find a given text in the document using TextFragmentAbsorber and set its region as hyperlinks to the site. Below is a code snippet that implements this.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddHyperlinkForExistingText()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "AddHyperlink.pdf"))
    {
        // Get page
        var page = document.Pages[1];

        // The text in the document for which we want to create a link
        string textForLink = "Portable Document Format";

        // Finding the location of text on a page
        var textFragmentAbsosrber = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragmentAbsorber(textForLink);
        page.Accept(textFragmentAbsosrber);
        foreach (Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment textFragment in textFragmentAbsosrber.TextFragments)
        {
            // Create Link annotation object
            var link = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation(page, textFragment.Rectangle);
            // Create border object for LinkAnnotation
            var border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(link);
            // Set the border width value as 0
            border.Width = 0;
            // Set the border for LinkAnnotation
            link.Border = border;
            // Specify the link type as remote URI
            link.Action = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction("https://www.pdfa-inc.org/");
            // Add link annotation to annotations collection of first page of PDF file
            page.Annotations.Add(link);
        }

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "AddHyperlink_out.pdf");
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddHyperlinkForExistingText()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "AddHyperlink.pdf");

    // Get page
    var page = document.Pages[1];

    // The text in the document for which we want to create a link
    string textForLink = "Portable Document Format";

    // Finding the location of text on a page
    var textFragmentAbsosrber = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragmentAbsorber(textForLink);
    page.Accept(textFragmentAbsosrber);
    foreach (Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment textFragment in textFragmentAbsosrber.TextFragments)
    {
        // Create Link annotation object
        var link = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation(page, textFragment.Rectangle);
        // Create border object for LinkAnnotation
        var border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(link);
        // Set the border width value as 0
        border.Width = 0;
        // Set the border for LinkAnnotation
        link.Border = border;
        // Specify the link type as remote URI
        link.Action = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction("https://www.pdfa-inc.org/");
        // Add link annotation to annotations collection of first page of PDF file
        page.Annotations.Add(link);
    }

    // Save PDF document
    document.Save(dataDir + "AddHyperlink_out.pdf");
}

Create Hyperlink to pages in same PDF

Aspose.PDF for .NET provides a great feature to PDF creation as well as its manipulation. It also offers the feature to add links to PDF pages and a link can either direct to pages in another PDF file, a web URL, link to launch an Application or even link to pages in same PDF file. In order to add local hyperlinks (links to pages in same PDF file), a class named LocalHyperlink is added to Aspose.PDF namespace and this class has a property named TargetPageNumber, which is used to specify the target/destination page for hyperlink.

In order to add the local hyperlink, we need to create a TextFragment so that link can be associated with the TextFragment. The TextFragment class has a property named Hyperlink which is used to associate LocalHyperlink instance. The following code snippet shows the steps to accomplish this requirement.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddHyperlink()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Create PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document())
    {
        // Add page
        var page = document.Pages.Add();
        // Create Text Fragment instance
        var text = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("link page number test to page 7");
        // Create local hyperlink instance
        var link = new Aspose.Pdf.LocalHyperlink();
        // Set target page for link instance
        link.TargetPageNumber = 7;
        // Set TextFragment hyperlink
        text.Hyperlink = link;
        // Add text to paragraphs collection of Page
        page.Paragraphs.Add(text);
        // Create new TextFragment instance
        text = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("link page number test to page 1");
        // TextFragment should be added over new page
        text.IsInNewPage = true;
        // Create another local hyperlink instance
        link = new Aspose.Pdf.LocalHyperlink();
        // Set Target page for second hyperlink
        link.TargetPageNumber = 1;
        // Set link for second TextFragment
        text.Hyperlink = link;
        // Add text to paragraphs collection of page object
        page.Paragraphs.Add(text);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "CreateLocalHyperlink_out.pdf");
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddHyperlink()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Create PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document();
    // Add page
    var page = document.Pages.Add();
    // Create Text Fragment instance
    var text = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("link page number test to page 7");
    // Create local hyperlink instance
    var link = new Aspose.Pdf.LocalHyperlink();
    // Set target page for link instance
    link.TargetPageNumber = 7;
    // Set TextFragment hyperlink
    text.Hyperlink = link;
    // Add text to paragraphs collection of Page
    page.Paragraphs.Add(text);
    // Create new TextFragment instance
    text = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("link page number test to page 1");
    // TextFragment should be added over new page
    text.IsInNewPage = true;
    // Create another local hyperlink instance
    link = new Aspose.Pdf.LocalHyperlink();
    // Set Target page for second hyperlink
    link.TargetPageNumber = 1;
    // Set link for second TextFragment
    text.Hyperlink = link;
    // Add text to paragraphs collection of page object
    page.Paragraphs.Add(text);

    // Save PDF document
    document.Save(dataDir + "CreateLocalHyperlink_out.pdf");
}

Get PDF Hyperlink Destination (URL)

Links are represented as annotations in a PDF file and they can be added, updated or deleted. Aspose.PDF for .NET also supports getting the destination (URL) of the hyperlink in PDF file.

To get a link’s URL:

1. Create a Document object.
2. Get the Page you want to extract links from.
3. Use the AnnotationSelector class to extract all the LinkAnnotation objects from the specified page.
4. Pass the AnnotationSelector object to the Page object’s Accept method.
5. Get all the selected link annotations into an IList object using the AnnotationSelector object’s Selected property.
6. Finally, extract the LinkAnnotation Action as GoToURIAction.

The following code snippet shows how to get hyperlink destinations (URL) from a PDF file.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void GetHyperlink()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "input.pdf"))
    {
        // Traverse through all the page of PDF
        foreach (var page in document.Pages)
        {
            // Get the link annotations from particular page
            var selector = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.AnnotationSelector(new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation(page, Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle.Trivial));

            page.Accept(selector);

            // Create list holding all the links
            var list = selector.Selected;

            // Iterate through individual item inside list
            foreach (var a in list)
            {
                // Print the destination URL
                Console.WriteLine("\nDestination: " + (a.Action as Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction).URI + "\n");
            }
        }
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void GetHyperlink()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "input.pdf");

    // Traverse through all the page of PDF
    foreach (var page in document.Pages)
    {
        // Get the link annotations from particular page
        var selector = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.AnnotationSelector(new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation(page, Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle.Trivial));

        page.Accept(selector);

        // Create list holding all the links
        var list = selector.Selected;

        // Iterate through individual item inside list
        foreach (var a in list)
        {
            // Print the destination URL
            Console.WriteLine("\nDestination: " + (a.Action as Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction).URI + "\n");
        }
    }
}

Get Hyperlink Text

A hyperlink has two parts: the text that shows in the document, and the destination URL. In some cases, it’s the text rather than the URL we need.

Text and annotations/actions in a PDF file are represented by different entities. Text on a page is just a set of words and characters, while annotations bring some interactivity such as that inherent in a hyperlink.

To find the URL content, you need to work with both annotation and text. The Annotation object does not have itself have the text but sits under the text on the page. So to get the text, the Annotation gives the URL’s bounds, while the Text object gives the URL contents. Please see the following code snippet.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void ShowLinkAnnotationText()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "input.pdf"))
    {
        // Iterate through each page of PDF
        foreach (var page in document.Pages)
        {
            // Show link annotation
            ShowLinkAnnotations(page);
        }
    }
}

private static void ShowLinkAnnotations(Aspose.Pdf.Page page)
{
    foreach (var annot in page.Annotations)
    {
        if (annot is Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation)
        {
            // Print the URL of each Link Annotation
            Console.WriteLine("URI: " + ((annot as Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation).Action as Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction).URI);
            var absorber = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextAbsorber();
            absorber.TextSearchOptions.LimitToPageBounds = true;
            absorber.TextSearchOptions.Rectangle = annot.Rect;
            page.Accept(absorber);
            string extractedText = absorber.Text;
            // Print the text associated with hyperlink
            Console.WriteLine(extractedText);
        }
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void ShowLinkAnnotationText()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "input.pdf");

    // Iterate through each page of PDF
    foreach (var page in document.Pages)
    {
        // Show link annotation
        ShowLinkAnnotations(page);
    }
}

private static void ShowLinkAnnotations(Aspose.Pdf.Page page)
{
    foreach (var annot in page.Annotations)
    {
        if (annot is Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation)
        {
            // Print the URL of each Link Annotation
            Console.WriteLine("URI: " + ((annot as Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.LinkAnnotation).Action as Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToURIAction).URI);
            var absorber = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextAbsorber();
            absorber.TextSearchOptions.LimitToPageBounds = true;
            absorber.TextSearchOptions.Rectangle = annot.Rect;
            page.Accept(absorber);
            string extractedText = absorber.Text;
            // Print the text associated with hyperlink
            Console.WriteLine(extractedText);
        }
    }
}

Remove Document Open Action from a PDF File

How to Specify PDF Page when Viewing Document explained how to tell a document to open on a different page than the first. When concatenating several documents, and one or more has a GoTo action set, you probably want to remove them. For example, if combining two documents and the second one has a GoTo action that takes you to the second page, the output document will open on the second page of the second document instead of the first page of the combined document. To avoid this behavior, remove the open action command.

To remove an open action:

1. Set the Document object’s OpenAction property to null.
2. Save the updated PDF using the Document object’s Save method.

The following code snippet shows how to remove a document open action from the PDF file.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void RemoveOpenAction()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "RemoveOpenAction.pdf"))
    {
        // Remove document open action
        document.OpenAction = null;

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "RemoveOpenAction_out.pdf");
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void RemoveOpenAction()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "RemoveOpenAction.pdf");

    // Remove document open action
    document.OpenAction = null;

    // Save PDF document
    document.Save(dataDir + "RemoveOpenAction_out.pdf");
}

How to Specify PDF Page when Viewing Document

When viewing PDF files in a PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader, the files usually open on the first page. However, it is possible to set the file to open on a different page.

The XYZExplicitDestination class allows you to specify a page in a PDF file that you want to open. When passing the GoToAction object value to the Document class OpenAction property, the document opens at the page specified against the XYZExplicitDestination object. The following code snippet shows how to specify a page as the document open action.

.NET Core 3.1

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void SpecifyPage()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "SpecifyPageWhenViewing.pdf"))
    {
        // Get the instance of second page of document
        var page2 = document.Pages[2];
        // Create the variable to set the zoom factor of target page
        double zoom = 1;
        // Create GoToAction instance
        var action = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToAction(document.Pages[2]);
        // Go to 2 page
        action.Destination = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.XYZExplicitDestination(page2, 0, page2.Rect.Height, zoom);
        // Set the document open action
        document.OpenAction = action;
        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "Goto2page_out.pdf");
    }
}

.NET 8

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void SpecifyPage()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_LinksActions();

    // Open PDF document
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "SpecifyPageWhenViewing.pdf");
    // Get the instance of second page of document
    var page2 = document.Pages[2];
    // Create the variable to set the zoom factor of target page
    double zoom = 1;
    // Create GoToAction instance
    var action = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.GoToAction(document.Pages[2]);
    // Go to 2 page
    action.Destination = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.XYZExplicitDestination(page2, 0, page2.Rect.Height, zoom);
    // Set the document open action
    document.OpenAction = action;
    // Save PDF document
    document.Save(dataDir + "Goto2page_out.pdf");
}