Place link annotations with IAC

Question

Hi together,
I want to place 'invisible' rectangle annotations on drawings, which link to other drawings (pdf). This is to be done using OLE Automation of the Acrobat Interapplication Communication. I already succeeded in doing so with a plug-in, but I need to do it from outside Acrobat. In the IAC OLE API I miss some essential methods. To illustrate this here is my code of the plug-in (C++):
void PlaceLink(int iLeft, int iTop, int iRight, int iBottom, CString cstrFileToOpen)
    AVDoc avDoc = AVAppGetActiveDoc();
    PDDoc pdDoc = AVDocGetPDDoc(avDoc);
    PDPage page = NULL;
    PDAnnot annot,linkannot;
    //Create an ASFixed object and define its borders
    ASFixedRect fr;
    fr.left = ASInt32ToFixed(iLeft);
    fr.top = ASInt32ToFixed(iTop);
    fr.right = ASInt32ToFixed(iRight);
    fr.bottom = ASInt32ToFixed(iBottom);
    PDLinkAnnotBorder frBorder;
    frBorder.width=0;
    //Create a PDPage object
    page = PDDocAcquirePage(pdDoc, 0);
    //Create a PDAnnot object and
    //Cast the PDAnnot object to a PDLinkAnnot object
    annot = PDPageCreateAnnot(page, ASAtomFromString("Link"),&fr);
    linkannot = CastToPDLinkAnnot(annot);
    //Set the border and the action, then add it to a page
    ASAtom pathType = ASAtomFromString("Cstring");
    ASFileSys fileSys = ASGetDefaultFileSysForPath(pathType,cstrFileToOpen);
    ASPathName pathLaunchFile = ASFileSysCreatePathName(fileSys,pathType,cstrFileToOpen, NULL);
    PDFileSpec laFile = PDFileSpecNewFromASPath(pdDoc,fileSys,pathLaunchFile,NULL);
    PDAction linkAction = PDActionNewFromFileSpec(pdDoc,ASAtomFromString("Launch"),laFile);
    PDLinkAnnotSetAction(linkannot,linkAction);
    PDLinkAnnotSetBorder(linkannot, &frBorder);
    PDPageAddAnnot(page,-2,linkannot);
In comparison here is my code for IAC OLE so far (C#):
private void btnStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
     Acrobat.AcroAVDoc avBaseDoc = new Acrobat.AcroAVDoc();
     avBaseDoc.Open(strBasefile, strBasefile);
     avBaseDoc.BringToFront();
     Acrobat.AcroPDDoc pdDoc = avBaseDoc.GetPDDoc() as Acrobat.AcroPDDoc;
     Acrobat.AcroPDPage pdPage = pdDoc.AcquirePage(0) as Acrobat.AcroPDPage;
     Acrobat.AcroRect anRect = new Acrobat.AcroRect();
     anRect.Left = 100; anRect.Top = 100;
     anRect.right = 300; anRect.bottom = 200;
     Acrobat.AcroPDAnnot pdAnnot = pdPage.AddNewAnnot(-1, "Link", anRect) as Acrobat.AcroPDAnnot;
In comparison there are some essential methods/properties I have not found until now:
- setting the border to 0 (PDLinkAnnotSetBorder(linkannot, &frBorder) and PDLinkAnnotBorder at all)
- setting the action and file to launch (PDLinkAnnotSetAction(linkannot,linkAction), PDActionNewFromFileSpec(pdDoc,ASAtomFromString("Launch"),laFile)) and PDAction at all)
My impression is, that there really aren't such methods and it seems not to be possible to place link annotations with IAC OLE. But before I give up, maybe I'm only blind, I want to ask other developers, wether they can comfirm this. (Any Adobe staff is also welcome to give an answere)
Thanks in advance
Rolf

Answer 1

Thanks Leonard,
now I know for sure, that I have to put my effort in looking for alternatives, such as you described.
In the meantime I have found another alternative: using the jsObj.
Currently I succeeded in placing the link and setting simple actions like going to the next page. Next thing I have to find out is, wether it is possible to open another PDF via JS or if there are some security issues to be taken into account...
Thanks again and have a great day
Rolf