Can't preview PDFs

[hacdias]

It seems that we can't preview PDFs inside Web UI on IPFS Desktop.

1. I tried activating the plugins option on Browser Window. That would also require changing object to embed on the PDF. I changed to embed and all I got was 'Couldn't load the plugin'.
2. Also tried https://github.com/gerhardberger/electron-pdf-window but it seems that it is used so a Window can load a PDF URL and not to embed PDFs.

Needs more research.

[lidel]

We probably should avoid running plugins for security reasons.
Instead, a safer approach could be https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/

[hacdias]

@lidel do you think this should go into Web UI or just IPFS Desktop?

[lidel]

I believe preview logic should stay in Web UI.
In this case, PDF preview could get smarter: somehow check if there is native/plugin support for PDF in the browser, if not, lazy-load and run pdf.js, so the preview always works.

@olizilla do you feel the same?

[hacdias]

I agree with you! Let's wait for Oli's word.

[hacdias]

Ping @olizilla

[olizilla]

@hacdias can we just use an iframe for pdf previews?

[hacdias]

@olizilla yes, but that would need us to rely on Electron's PDF viewer through plugins. It doesn't work though. It's an issue since 3.0.0 that hasn't been fixed yet: electron/electron#12337 😞

[lidel]

This got fixed in v0.13.x where we switched to Electron 9.x which has a backported fix for electron/electron#12337