Direct link to a pdf page

[AEIOU]

I agree with Shadow. I have issues linking to wikis and webpages for the same reasons. Pointers to outside files is not a good idea for a database that may be shared with others or accessed from other devices.

LWD, please think through this carefully so you don't expose us to issues down the road whether they are inadvertent of malicious on the parts of others.

 

[monsterfurby]

There are several providers that allow hyperlinking to specific pages in a PDF. Alas, free cloud drives such as Dropbox and Google Drive don't seem to support that natively without some tinkering.

On the other hand, Dropbox *might* be able to do it fairly easily if you put the file into the "Public" directory, then create a link like this: https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/can-i-hyperlink-specific-page-pdf-file

Disclaimer: Don't do this with copyrighted material that you aren't permitted to share as the file will be in theory accessible by anyone who knows the folder name. I don't think search engine crawlers can find it, but you can never be entirely sure.

 

[Parody]

There are several providers that allow hyperlinking to specific pages in a PDF.

It's not normally providers, it's whatever is showing the PDF. Sometimes it's the Reader plugin or another local PDF viewer plugin; Firefox and Chrome (and many derived browsers) have their own implementations, some websites use server-side or HTML based renderers, and who knows what else.

For years I've had to deal with people complaining that "this PDF I got from your website doesn't work" because they were viewing them in their browser. I highly encourage everyone to disable all PDF plugins/extensions/etc. and always download and open PDFs locally.

Disclaimer: Don't do this with copyrighted material that you aren't permitted to share as the file will be in theory accessible by anyone who knows the folder name. I don't think search engine crawlers can find it, but you can never be entirely sure.

If you can reach it, so can the search engines.

 

[Bobifle]

I agree with Shadow. I have issues linking to wikis and webpages for the same reasons. Pointers to outside files is not a good idea for a database that may be shared with others or accessed from other devices.

LWD, please think through this carefully so you don't expose us to issues down the road whether they are inadvertent of malicious on the parts of others.

But it's already here, you can hyperlink to any web page, this web page may be inaccessible for any particular reason. The site down, there is no internet connection, you need to register or require a subscription...

Moreover Parody posted a snippet to exectute a batch on the local drive. So again it's already there.

I think that most of the people would know and anticipate that linking an external document would make it unavailable for players or anyone on another machine. The decision to use external links should be left to the user.

 

[monsterfurby]

It's not normally providers, it's whatever is showing the PDF. Sometimes it's the Reader plugin or another local PDF viewer plugin; Firefox and Chrome (and many derived browsers) have their own implementations, some websites use server-side or HTML based renderers, and who knows what else.

For years I've had to deal with people complaining that "this PDF I got from your website doesn't work" because they were viewing them in their browser. I highly encourage everyone to disable all PDF plugins/extensions/etc. and always download and open PDFs locally.

I'm talking specifically about document uploading sites, e.g. SlideShare, Scribd etc.

If you can reach it, so can the search engines.

Not necessarily - I'd imagine most cloud storage providers lock out crawlers. If even I can make a site invisible to search engines via robots.txt or, more brutally, .htaccess, I'm pretty sure Dropbox and co. will have thought about file protection as well.

That said, my disclaimer still applies: if it's publicly accessible, it's publicly accessible. It may not be easy to find, but unless you gate the document with a login, people *can* still find it, however unlikely that may be.

 

[Pollution]

Just my 2 cents....

I link all my source materials to my Google Drive which is private unless I share it with a particular person.

So if Player A is allowed access, he follows the link and get's the book displayed in Chrome (fair use, I have download disabled, It's the same as handing a book to someone to look up a rule). If Player B is new to the group and I haven't shared access, he'll click the link and get access denied.

If Random Stranger on the Internet A does a search for a book in my library, then they'll get nothing from my library. Completely hidden, unless I give you access.

That's how I use it anyway.

As to the page reference...that's awesome.... And I've seen it in a couple of character gen programs like Chummer 4th ed, where you link your pdfs and the program can open the book to the right page.

But that's a LOT of work to replicate in RW, so I might do it for something unwieldy like a crazy scene with special IF/Then's in it, but 9/10 times, I'll say "ultimate equipment p. 93" in my snippet and the source will tag "ultimate equipment". Click the link, opens the source, click the source link and page down to 93.

 

[Bobifle]

But that's a LOT of work to replicate in RW

Really ?

http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/sdk/AcroJS_DesignerJS.pdf#page=24


PS : we jsut need RW to support file://

 

[Parody]

I'm talking specifically about document uploading sites, e.g. SlideShare, Scribd etc.

Haven't used those, though they're under no obligation to support (or pass along to your browser's plugin) Acrobat/Reader-specific action text.

Not necessarily - I'd imagine most cloud storage providers lock out crawlers. If even I can make a site invisible to search engines via robots.txt or, more brutally, .htaccess, I'm pretty sure Dropbox and co. will have thought about file protection as well.

robots.txt is purely voluntary. Judging from my own websites' logs over the years, the best I can say is that Google seems to follow it.

.htaccess (and any similar configuration settings for non-Apache servers; not all have this feature) can restrict things...if your provider allows them, if you don't screw it up, if you don't have anything bad in your browser(s) leaking information, and if you don't ever provide access to anyone but yourself.

Any service that appears to be secure is one security issue away from yours or everyone's files being public. (Remember the celebrity photo hack from last year?)

That said, my disclaimer still applies: if it's publicly accessible, it's publicly accessible. It may not be easy to find, but unless you gate the document with a login, people *can* still find it, however unlikely that may be.

As you can tell, I think in broader terms: if you've made it available on the Internet, whether or not it's supposed to be private, it's out there for people to find. I use Dropbox, for example, and I don't put anything on there I wouldn't care about others finding. I've found plenty of things I know people thought were private in searches, and I've found my own "supposedly private" items out there as well.

I'm also an old and crotchety Internet user who used to go uphill both ways to get packets for pine and Mosaic. Grains of salt for everyone! :)

 

[davidp]

Really ?

http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/acrobat/sdk/AcroJS_DesignerJS.pdf#page=24


PS : we jsut need RW to support file://

Not so easy. If you direct Windows to open a URL that uses the file// scheme, Windows does NOT pass the #page=xxx through to the program so you don't open up the page but instead open on the first page. It does appear that for URL's starting with http or https that get opened in a browser MAY support #page=xxx syntax, but it can be browser/PDF plugin dependent.

 

[Bobifle]

Not so easy. If you direct Windows to open a URL that uses the file// scheme, Windows does NOT pass the #page=xxx

You're right, what works in a browser does not seems to work through whatever mechanism windows is using with file://.

That made me think and I came up with a solution. Since it works with browsers (http:// protocol), I simply need to start a web server on my machine , it will serve the pdf files.

I did, and now when I create an hyperlink to http://localhost:5000/realmworks/mypdf.pdf#page=12
then tadaaaa ! the pdf opens at the right page in my browser.

 

[Farling]

Has anyone tested the file:// protocol on Windows 10? Maybe MS fixed it?

 

[Bobifle]

Has anyone tested the file:// protocol on Windows 10? Maybe MS fixed it?

I've tested it

1/ Realm works does not allow it
2/ from a python shell on a win10 laptop, I can do it but the #page=xxx is removed as pointed by davidp

 

[Vargr]

Not so easy. If you direct Windows to open a URL that uses the file// scheme, Windows does NOT pass the #page=xxx through to the program so you don't open up the page but instead open on the first page. It does appear that for URL's starting with http or https that get opened in a browser MAY support #page=xxx syntax, but it can be browser/PDF plugin dependent.

Well, I could live with that - easily

As long as I could have a link to my spreadsheets and my documents.

 

[Bobifle]

Realm Works® Version 1.0.1035.195

URI schemes other than HTTP and HTTPS are now supported within embedded hyperlinks in text snippets.

Yeahh !

Note : still cannot link to a specific page (and that may not be RW's fault) but at least you can link any local document.

 

[Vargr]

Realm Works® Version 1.0.1035.195

URI schemes other than HTTP and HTTPS are now supported within embedded hyperlinks in text snippets.

This works very well!

Thank you for letting me link to spreadsheets and documents by using file:///c:/xxxxxxxxx

I really appreciate it.