Implementing an interactive pdf in iOS

Question

I have to load a timesheet file in to an ipad app, which is in pdf or xls format. After loading these files(xls/pdf), I need to edit the values in timesheet file and save it. I could load these files in a UIWebView, but i couldn't edit these files. I need to know, how to make these files(xls/pdf) editable? Another question is that I need to convert the pdf file to xls format and xls file to pdf format from inside an ipad app. I hope this is pretty clear.

Answer 1

You should read PDF file using Quartz APIs and present it in your own view if you want to support editing. See below links

Is it possible to combine multiple pdf files into a single pdf file programmatically in iphone?

PDF editing with iPhone sdk

http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/iphone-sdk-tutorials/10989-pdf-creation-tutorial.html

The idea is if you just want text editing, read and draw your pdf file using quartz 2D APIs, show all text objects inside pdf in editable text elements, let user change and and on save create/replace text objects in original pdf using Quartz 2D.

I got this code to draw a text string in pdf file

// Create URL for PDF file
NSString *documentsDirectory = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filename = @"test.pdf";
NSURL *fileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPathComponents:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:documentsDirectory, filename, nil]];

// Create PDF context
CGContextRef pdfContext = CGPDFContextCreateWithURL((CFURLRef)fileURL, NULL, NULL);
CGPDFContextBeginPage(pdfContext, NULL);
UIGraphicsPushContext(pdfContext);

// Flip coordinate system
CGRect bounds = CGContextGetClipBoundingBox(pdfContext);
CGContextScaleCTM(pdfContext, 1.0, -1.0);
CGContextTranslateCTM(pdfContext, 0.0, -bounds.size.height);

// Drawing commands
[@"Hello World!" drawAtPoint:CGPointMake(100, 100) withFont:[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:72.0f]];

// Clean up
UIGraphicsPopContext();
CGPDFContextEndPage(pdfContext);
CGPDFContextClose(pdfContext);