Introduction

ComPDFKit PDF SDK for Swift is developed and maintained by ComPDF, enabling developers to quickly and seamlessly integrate advanced PDF functionalities—such as viewing, editing, annotating, and signing—into any iOS or macOS application.

More Information can be found at: https://www.compdf.com/guides/pdf-sdk/ios/overview

Table of Contents

• Related
• Requirements
• How to Make an iOS App in Swift with ComPDFKit
• Supports
• License
• Note

Related

• ComPDFKit PDF SDK for iOS Documentation Guide

• ComPDFKit PDF Library for Android

• How to Build a Swift PDF Editor and Reader to Edit PDF on iOS

• How to Build an iOS PDF Viewer or Editor in Objective-C

• Code Samples for iOS

• ComPDF API Reference

Requirements

ComPDFKit PDF SDK for iOS requires the latest stable version of Xcode available at the time the release was made. This is a hard requirement, as each version of Xcode is bundled with a specific version of the iOS Base SDK, which often defines how UIKit and various other frameworks behave.

• iOS 10.0 or higher.
• Xcode 13.0 or newer for Objective-C or Swift.

How to Make an iOS App in Swift with ComPDFKit

This section will help you to quickly get started with ComPDFKit PDF SDK to make an iOS/macOS app in Swift with step-by-step instructions, which include the following steps:

• Create a new iOS/macOS project in Swift.
• Integrate ComPDFKit into your apps.
• Apply the license key.
• Display a PDF document.

Video Guide!

Create a New iOS Project in Swift

In this guide, we use Xcode 12.4 to create a new iOS project.

1. Fire up Xcode, choose File -> New -> Project..., and then select iOS -> Single View Application. Click Next.

2. Choose the options for your new project. Please make sure to choose Swift as the programming language. Then, click Next.

3. Place the project to the location as desired. Then, click Create.

Integrate ComPDFKit into Your Apps

To add the dynamic xcframework "ComPDFKit.xcframework" into the "PDFViewer" project, please follow the steps below:

1. Right-click the "PDFViewer" project, select Add Files to "PDFViewer"....

   

2. Find and choose "ComPDFKit.xcframework" in the download package, and then click Add.

   Note: Make sure to check the Copy items if needed option.

   

3. Then, the "PDFViewer" project will look like the following picture.

   

4. Add the dynamic xcframework "ComPDFKit.xcframework" to the Xcode's Embedded Binaries. Left-click the project, find Embedded Binaries in the General tab, and choose Embed & Sign.

   

5. For earlier versions of Xcode (like Xcode 13), the Bitcode option might be turned on by default, which requires it to be turned off to run. The precise steps to do this are illustrated as shown in the picture below.

   

Apply the License Key

Go to ComPDF Pricing to get a free license to test this project.

1. Import the header file "ComPDFKit" to AppDelegate.swift.

2. License initialize:

   Online license:

   Follow the code below and call the method CPDFKit.verify(withOnlineLicense: "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_GOES_HERE") { code, message in} in func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool. You need to replace the LICENSE_KEY with the license you obtained.

   func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
   // Set your online license key here. ComPDFKit is commercial software.
   // Each ComPDFKit license is bound to a specific app bundle id.
   // com.compdfkit.pdfviewe
    
    CPDFKit.verify(withOnlineLicense: "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_GOES_HERE") { code, message in
    }
   }

   Offline license:

   Follow the code below and call the method CPDFKit.verifyWithKey:"LICENSE_SECRET" in func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool . You need to replace the LICENSE_KEY with the license you obtained.

     func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
     // Set your license key here. ComPDFKit is commercial software.
     // Each ComPDFKit license is bound to a specific app bundle id.
     // com.compdfkit.pdfviewer
       
       CPDFKit.verify(withKey: "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY_GOES_HERE")
       return true
   }

3. Compile and run the project. If the console outputs "version information", it means that the license has been set successfully. Otherwise, please check "Troubleshooting" or check error logs in the console to quickly identify and solve the issue.

Display a PDF Document

So far, we have added "ComPDFKit.xcframework" to the "PDFViewer" project and finished the initialization of the ComPDFKit PDF SDK. Now, let’s start building a simple PDF viewer with just a few lines of code.

1. Prepare a test PDF file, and drag and drop it into the newly created PDFView project. In this way, you can load and preview the local PDF document using NSBundle. The following image shows an example of importing a PDF document named "Online5" into the project.

   

2. Import ComPDFKit at the top of your UIViewController.swift subclass implementation:

   import ComPDFKit

3. Create a CPDFDocument object through NSURL, and create a CPDFView to display it. The following code shows how to load PDF data using a local PDF path and display it by CPDFView.

   guard let filePath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Online5", ofType: "pdf") else { return  }
   let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: filePath)
   let document = CPDFDocument(url: url)
   
   let rect = self.view.bounds
   let pdfView = CPDFView(frame: self.view.bounds)
   pdfView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
   pdfView.document = document

4. Add the created CPDFView to the view of the current controller. The sample code is shown below.

   self.view.addSubview(pdfView)

5. The code shown here is a collection of the steps mentioned above:

   override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
        super.viewWillAppear(animated)
           
        guard let filePath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Online5", ofType: "pdf") else { return  }
        let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: filePath)
        let document = CPDFDocument(url: url)
   
        let rect = self.view.bounds
        let pdfView = CPDFView(frame: self.view.bounds)
        pdfView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
        pdfView.document = document
        self.view.addSubview(pdfView)
   }

6. Connect your device or simulator, and use the shortcut Command_R to run the App. The PDF file will be opened and displayed.

   

Troubleshooting

1. Bitcode

   Even when all configurations are correct, there may still be compilation errors. First, check if the Bitcode is disabled. In earlier versions of Xcode (such as Xcode 13), the Bitcode option may be enabled by default. It needs to be set to No in order to run the app.

2. License

   If a License setting error occurs, ensure that the Identity (Bundle ID) setting in General matches the Bundle ID you provided when contacting us for the license. If an expired License message appears, please contact the ComPDFKit team to obtain the latest License and Key.

3. Cannot Run on i386 Architecture Simulator

   The version of Xcode 12.5 or newer, doesn't support i386 simulators. Apple dropped the i386 after switching to ARM processors and no longer maintains i386 architecture simulators. Please use ARM simulators or x86_64 architecture simulators to test and develop your program.

   So you need to search for Excluded Architectures in Build Settings in TARGETS, and then double-click it. A pop-up window will be popped up, click the plus sign (as shown below) to add i386.

   

4. No PDF Displayed

   Check if the special encoding is required in the path we passed in, or if the local path we passed in exists.

5. Other Problems

   If you meet some other problems when integrating our ComPDFKit PDF SDK for iOS, feel free to contact ComPDFKit's support team.

Support

ComPDF offers professional technical support and 5*24 responsive service.

• For detailed information, please visit our Guides page.

• Stay updated with the latest improvements through our Changelog.

• For technical assistance, please reach out to our Technical Support.

• To get more details and an accurate quote, please contact our Sales Team or Send an Email to us.

License

ComPDF offers developers a 30-day free trial license for free testing your iOS projects. Additionally, you'll have access to a fully-featured product with no limitations on file or user count.

Note

We are glad to announce that you can register a ComPDF API account for a free trial to process 1000 documents per month for free.