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Save PDF annotations on Android

By default, Nutrient will save annotations asynchronously and automatically when the onStop() lifecycle event is called.

Nutrient can write annotations into a PDF under the following conditions:

  • The PDF must be in a writeable location. This means that it either has to be in a writeable directory on the file system, or the ContentProvider from which the file is loaded must allow saving. For maximum performance, ask for WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission when opening files from external storage. This will allow Nutrient to bypass the slow ContentProvider APIs.

  • If the PDF was opened from a custom DataProvider, it has to implement WriteableDataProvider and properly handle writing to a file.

  • The PDF must be valid according to the Adobe PDF specification. Some PDFs are broken but still work somewhat, so Nutrient can render the content. If Nutrient detects a mismatch in the object tree or is unable to find objects, annotation saving will be stopped, since there would be a risk of damaging the document.

Annotation saving

By default, Nutrient auto saves changes to a document and to annotations inside PdfFragment#onStop — effectively, this means every time the fragment is sent to the background, e.g. when switching to another application or when leaving the viewer activity. You can disable auto saving via the #autosaveEnabled setter on the PdfConfiguration.Builder:

// By default, auto save is enabled.
val config = PdfConfiguration.Builder()
    .autosaveEnabled(false)
    .build()

val fragment = PdfFragment.newInstance(documentUri, config)
...
// By default, auto save is enabled.
final PdfConfiguration config = new PdfConfiguration.Builder()
    .autosaveEnabled(false)
    .build();

final PdfFragment fragment = PdfFragment.newInstance(documentUri, config);
...

If you’re using the PdfActivity, you can also deactivate auto save via the #autosaveEnabled setter of the PdfActivityConfiguration.Builder:

// By default, auto save is enabled.
val config = PdfActivityConfiguration.Builder(context)
    .autosaveEnabled(false)
    .build()

PdfActivity.showDocument(context, documentUri, config)
...
// By default, auto save is enabled.
final PdfActivityConfiguration config =
    new PdfActivityConfiguration.Builder(context)
        .autosaveEnabled(false)
        .build();

PdfActivity.showDocument(context, documentUri, config);
...

Modifying and saving annotations

If an annotation is modified (i.e. if it has been changed since the document has been loaded) a call to Annotation#isModified will return true. Furthermore, the PdfDocument#wasModified method will return true if annotations were added, changed, or removed. Once you save the document and its annotations, they’re no longer marked as modified.

Information

If you’re editing annotations using one of the annotation tools, modifications to the edited annotation and document will only be visible after you exit the current tool mode by calling PdfFragment#exitCurrentlyActiveMode. If the annotation tool is still active (i.e. the tool is selected in the annotation creation toolbar), 

override fun onDocumentLoaded(document : PdfDocument) {
    assert(document.wasModified() == false)

    // Add an annotation to the document.
    val annotation = NoteAnnotation(0, RectF(100, 132, 132, 100), "Test annotation", NoteAnnotation.CROSS)
    document.annotationProvider.addAnnotationToPage(annotation)

    assert(annotation.isModified() == true)
    assert(document.wasModified() == true)

    // This will write the document back to its original location.
    document.saveIfModified()

    assert(annotation.isModified() == false)
    assert(document.wasModified() == false)
}
@Override public void onDocumentLoaded(@NonNull PdfDocument document) {
    assert document.wasModified() == false;

    // Add an annotation to the document.
    NoteAnnotation annotation = new NoteAnnotation(0, new RectF(100, 132, 132, 100), "Test annotation", NoteAnnotation.CROSS);
    document.getAnnotationProvider().addAnnotationToPage(annotation);

    assert annotation.isModified() == true;
    assert document.wasModified() == true;

    // This will write the document back to its original location.
    document.saveIfModified();

    assert annotation.isModified() == false;
    assert document.wasModified() == false;
}

Document-saving callbacks

The DocumentListener interface provides three callback methods that allow you to listen to and intercept saving attempts. #onDocumentSave(PdfDocument, DocumentSaveOptions) is called right before the PdfFragment or the PdfActivity save a document, allowing you to alter the DocumentSaveOptions or cancel the saving attempt completely by returning false.

Information

Saving callbacks aren’t called when using the PdfDocument save methods directly, but only when the fragment or activity is saving the document — for example, when auto save is enabled or when you explicitly call fragment.save(). 

/**
 * The password used to save the document may be null. Your app can
 * ask for this prior to saving.
 */
private var documentPassword : String? = null

override fun onDocumentSave(document : PdfDocument, saveOptions : DocumentSaveOptions) : Boolean {
    saveOptions.setPassword(documentPassword)

    // By returning `true`, saving is continued. Alternatively, you could return `false` to cancel saving.
    return true
}
/**
 * The password used to save the document may be null. Your app can
 * ask for this prior to saving.
 */
private String documentPassword;

@Override
public boolean onDocumentSave(PdfDocument document, DocumentSaveOptions saveOptions) {
    saveOptions.setPassword(documentPassword);

    // By returning `true`, saving is continued. Alternatively, you could return `false` to cancel saving.
    return true;
}

The DocumentListener#onDocumentSaved(PdfDocument) method is called after the document has been successfully saved. If the document couldn’t be saved due to an error, the #onDocumentSaveFailed(Throwable) method is called instead, and it passes in the exception that caused the failure:

override fun onDocumentSaved(document : PdfDocument) {
    Toast.makeText(context, "Document successfully saved.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
}

override fun onDocumentSaveFailed(exception : Throwable?) {
    AlertDialog.Builder(context)
        .setMessage("Error while saving the document. Please try again.")
        .show()
}
@Override
public void onDocumentSaved(@NonNull PdfDocument document) {
    Toast.makeText(context, "Document successfully saved.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}

@Override
public void onDocumentSaveFailed(Throwable exception) {
    new AlertDialog.Builder(context)
        .setMessage("Error while saving the document. Please try again.")
        .show();
}
Information

We also have an extensive guide about the DocumentListener interface.