One powerful feature that enhances the interactivity and utility of PDF documents is the actions in these documents. By embedding actions such as document jumping, navigation controls, or even media playing, users can transform static documents into dynamic tools that streamline workflows, improve user engagement, and automate routine tasks, making the use of PDFs more efficient and versatile than ever before. This article will show how to use Spire.PDF for Python to create actions in PDF documents with Python code effortlessly.
- Create a Navigation Action in PDF with Python
- Create a Sound Action in PDF with Python
- Create a File Open Action in PDF with Python
Install Spire.PDF for Python
This scenario requires Spire.PDF for Python and plum-dispatch v1.7.4. They can be easily installed in your Windows through the following pip command.
pip install Spire.PDF
If you are unsure how to install, please refer to: How to Install Spire.PDF for Python on Windows
Create a Navigation Action in PDF with Python
A navigation button is an action that allows users to jump to a specified position on a designated page within a document. Developers can create a PdfDestination object, use it to create a PdfGoToAction, and then create an annotation based on this object and add it to the page to complete the creation of the navigation button. The following are the detailed steps:
- Create an object of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document using PdfDocument.LoadFromFile() method.
- Create a PdfDestination object and set its property.
- Create a PdfGoToAction object based on the destination.
- Draw a rectangle on a page using PdfPageBase.Canvas.DrawRectangle() method.
- Create a PdfActionAnnotation object based on the action and add it to the page using PdfPageBase.Annotations.Add() method.
- Save the document using PdfDocument.SaveToFile() method.
- Python
from spire.pdf import *
# Create an instance of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document
pdf = PdfDocument()
pdf.LoadFromFile("Sample.pdf")
# Create a PdfDestination instance and set its properties
destination = PdfDestination(pdf.Pages[0])
destination.Location = PointF(0.0, 0.0)
destination.Mode = PdfDestinationMode.Location
destination.Zoom = 0.8
# Create a rectangle
rect = RectangleF.FromLTRB(70, pdf.PageSettings.Size.Height - 120, 140, pdf.PageSettings.Size.Height - 100)
# Create a PdfGoToAction instance
action = PdfGoToAction(destination)
# Draw a rectangle on the second page
pdf.Pages.get_Item(1).Canvas.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.get_LightGray(), rect)
# Draw text of the button
font = PdfFont(PdfFontFamily.TimesRoman, 14.0)
stringFormat = PdfStringFormat(PdfTextAlignment.Center)
pdf.Pages.get_Item(1).Canvas.DrawString("To Page 1", font, PdfBrushes.get_Green(), rect, stringFormat)
# Create a PdfActionAnnotation instance
annotation = PdfActionAnnotation(rect, action)
# Add the annotation to the second page
pdf.Pages.get_Item(1).Annotations.Add(annotation)
# Save the document
pdf.SaveToFile("output/AddPDFNavigationButton.pdf")
pdf.Close()
Create a Sound Action in PDF with Python
Developers can embed audio as actions in PDF documents, which allows the audio to play when the user performs a specified action, such as playing when the file opens or when a button is clicked. The following are the steps for creating a sound action:
- Create an instance of PdfDocument class.
- Load a PDF document using PdfDocument.LoadFromFile() method.
- Create an instance of PdfSoundAction class with an audio file.
- Set the audio parameters through properties under PdfSound class.
- Set the playing parameters through properties under PdfSoundAction class.
- Get a page using PdfDocument.Pgaes.get_Item(() method.
- Draw an image on the page using PdfPageBase.Canvas.Draw() method.
- Create a PdfActionAnnotation object with the sound action at the location of the image.
- Add the annotation to the page
- Or you can only set the sound action as the action performed after the document is opened through PdfDocument.AfterOpenAction property. This doesn’t need to add it as an annotation on a PDF page.
- Save the document using PdfDocument.SaveToFile() method.
- Python
from spire.pdf import *
# Create a PdfDocument instance and load a PDF file
pdf = PdfDocument()
pdf.LoadFromFile("Sample.pdf")
# Get the first page of the document
page = pdf.Pages.get_Item(0)
# Create an instance of PdfSoundAction with the sound file path
soundAction = PdfSoundAction("Wave.wav")
# Set the audio parameters
soundAction.Sound.Bits = 16
soundAction.Sound.Channels = PdfSoundChannels.Stereo
soundAction.Sound.Encoding = PdfSoundEncoding.Signed
soundAction.Sound.Rate = 44100
# Set the playing parameters
soundAction.Volume = 0.5
soundAction.Repeat = True
soundAction.Mix = True
soundAction.Synchronous = False
# Draw an image on the page
image = PdfImage.FromFile("Sound.png")
page.Canvas.DrawImage(image, PointF(30.0, 30.0))
# Create an instance of PdfActionAnnotation with the sound action
rect = RectangleF.FromLTRB(30.0, 30.0, image.GetBounds().Width + 30.0, image.GetBounds().Height + 30.0)
annotation = PdfActionAnnotation(rect, soundAction)
# Add the annotation to the page
page.Annotations.Add(annotation)
# Set the sound action to play after the document is opened
# pdf.AfterOpenAction = soundAction
# Save the document
pdf.SaveToFile("output/AddMusicPDF.pdf")
pdf.Close()
Create a File Open Action in PDF with Python
The PdfLaunchAction class represents a file open action in PDF that allows users to open the corresponding file by clicking on a button on a PDF page. Developers can specify the absolute or relative path of the file to be opened and whether to open in a new window when creating a file open action. The detailed steps for creating a file open action in a PDF document are as follows:
- Create an object of PdfDocument class and load a PDF document using PdfDocument.LoadFromFile() method.
- Get a page of the document using PdfDocument.Pages.get_Item() method.
- Draw a rectangle on the page using PdfPageBase.Canvas.DrawRectangle() method.
- Create an object of PdfLaunchAction class and specify the file path and path type.
- Set the opening mode to new window through PdfLaunchAction.IsNewWindow property.
- Create an object of PdfActionAnnotation class based on the action and set its color through PdfActionAnnotation.Color property.
- Add the annotation to the page using PdfPageBase.Annotations.Add() method.
- Save the document using PdfDocument.SaveToFile() method.
- Python
from spire.pdf import *
# Create an instance of PdfDocument class
pdf = PdfDocument()
# Load a PDF file
pdf.LoadFromFile("Sample.pdf")
# Get the first page of the document
page = pdf.Pages.get_Item(0)
# Draw a rectangle on the page
rect = RectangleF.FromLTRB(50, pdf.PageSettings.Size.Height - 100, 200, pdf.PageSettings.Size.Height - 80)
page.Canvas.DrawRectangle(PdfPens.get_LightGray(), rect)
# Draw text in the rectangle
page.Canvas.DrawString("Click to open Sample 2", PdfFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14.0), PdfBrushes.get_Green(), rect, PdfStringFormat(PdfTextAlignment.Center))
# Create a PdfLaunchAction object
action = PdfLaunchAction("Sample2.pdf", PdfFilePathType.Relative)
action.IsNewWindow = True
# Create a PdfActionAnnotation object based on the action
annotation = PdfActionAnnotation(rect, action)
annotation.Color = PdfRGBColor(Color.get_Blue())
# Add the annotation to the page
page.Annotations.Add(annotation)
# Save the document
pdf.SaveToFile("output/CreatePDFLaunchAction.pdf")
pdf.Close()
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