PDF Clipboard

A React Native module for accessing PDF data from the clipboard in Expo apps. This module provides a way to check if PDF content is available in the clipboard, retrieve the PDF data along with metadata, and clear the clipboard.

Features

• Check if the clipboard contains PDF content
• Retrieve PDF content as base64 encoded string
• Get PDF metadata (title, author, page count, etc.)
• Clear clipboard content
• Cross-platform support (iOS and Android)

Installation

Via GitHub (recommended for now)

# Install the latest version
npm install github:JustinHaut/pdf-clipboard
# or
yarn add github:JustinHaut/pdf-clipboard

Troubleshooting Installation Issues

If you encounter module resolution issues after installation, try these solutions:

1. Force TypeScript path mapping in your app's tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "paths": {
      "pdf-clipboard": ["./node_modules/pdf-clipboard/build"]
    }
  }
}

2. Create a local .npmrc file in your project root:

# .npmrc
public-hoist-pattern[]=pdf-clipboard

3. Install from a specific git tag/commit (only if needed for stability):

# Only use this if you need a specific version
yarn add github:JustinHaut/pdf-clipboard#main

4. Use resolutions in package.json (yarn workspaces):

"resolutions": {
  "pdf-clipboard": "github:JustinHaut/pdf-clipboard"
}

Via npm (coming soon)

npm install pdf-clipboard
# or
yarn add pdf-clipboard

Requirements

• Expo SDK 52 or higher
• iOS 14.0 or higher
• Android API level 21 or higher

Usage

import * as PdfClipboard from 'pdf-clipboard';

// Check if clipboard has PDF content
const checkForPdfContent = async () => {
  try {
    const hasPdf = await PdfClipboard.hasPDFContent();
    console.log('PDF detected:', hasPdf);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error checking clipboard:', error);
  }
};

// Get PDF content from clipboard
const getPdfContent = async () => {
  try {
    const content = await PdfClipboard.getPDFContent();
    if (content) {
      console.log('PDF metadata:', {
        pageCount: content.pageCount,
        title: content.title,
        author: content.author,
        fileSize: content.fileSize
      });
      
      // Use the base64 data with a PDF viewer
      const base64Data = `data:application/pdf;base64,${content.base64}`;
      // Pass base64Data to your PDF viewer
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error getting PDF content:', error);
  }
};

// Clear clipboard
const clearClipboardContent = async () => {
  try {
    await PdfClipboard.clearClipboard();
    console.log('Clipboard cleared');
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error clearing clipboard:', error);
  }
};

Example with react-native-pdf

You can use the retrieved PDF content with a PDF viewer like react-native-pdf:

import Pdf from 'react-native-pdf';
import * as PdfClipboard from 'pdf-clipboard';

// In your component
const [pdfUri, setPdfUri] = useState(null);

const getPdfContent = async () => {
  try {
    const content = await PdfClipboard.getPDFContent();
    if (content) {
      const base64Data = `data:application/pdf;base64,${content.base64}`;
      setPdfUri(base64Data);
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error getting PDF content:', error);
  }
};

// In your render
{pdfUri && (
  <Pdf
    source={{ uri: pdfUri }}
    style={{ flex: 1, width: '100%', height: 400 }}
    onLoadComplete={(numberOfPages) => {
      console.log(`PDF Loaded: ${numberOfPages} pages`);
    }}
    onError={(error) => {
      console.log('PDF Error:', error);
    }}
  />
)}

API Reference

hasPDFContent(): Promise<boolean>

Checks if the clipboard contains PDF content.

Returns: Promise that resolves to a boolean indicating whether the clipboard has PDF content.

getPDFContent(): Promise<PDFMetadata | null>

Gets the PDF content from the clipboard as a base64 string along with metadata.

Returns: Promise that resolves to a PDFMetadata object, or null if no PDF content is available.

The PDFMetadata object contains the following properties:

• base64 (string): Base64 encoded string of the PDF content
• pageCount (number, optional): Number of pages in the PDF
• title (string, optional): Title of the PDF document
• author (string, optional): Author of the PDF document
• creator (string, optional): Creator of the PDF document
• fileSize (number, optional): Size of the PDF file in bytes

clearClipboard(): Promise<void>

Clears the clipboard content.

Returns: Promise that resolves when the clipboard is cleared.

Platform-specific Notes

iOS

• Uses PDFKit to extract metadata from PDFs
• Requires iOS 14.0 or higher

Android

• Uses content resolvers to extract PDF data from URIs
• Support may vary across different Android devices

License

MIT