Can not display PDF (format invalid) on Android

[matteoferigo]

Hi, I'm trying to open a file located in cordova.file.cacheDirectory, I open successfully images files, but when I'm opening a PDF a popup shows me:

Can not display PDF (filename.pdf is in an invalid format)

My code is like this:

$cordovaFile.checkFile(folder, fileName)
.then((fs) => {
  console.log('File system', url, fs)
  fs.file((data) => {
    const url = `${folder}${fileName}`;
    console.log('File data', url, data)
    $cordovaFileOpener2.open(url, data.type)
    .then(
      (response) => console.log('File is open', response),
      (error) => console.error('cordovaFileOpener2', error)
    )
  })
})
.catch((error) => console.error('cordovaFile', error))

The console log:

File system /data/data/APP_ID/cache/FILENAME.pdf
FileEntry
  filesystem: FileSystemfullPath: "/data/data/APP_ID/cache/FILENAME.pdf"
  isDirectory: false
  isFile: true
  name: "FILENAME.pdf"
  nativeURL: "file:///data/data/APP_ID/cache/FILENAME.pdf"
  __proto__: Entry

File data /data/data/APP_ID/cache/FILENAME.pdf
File
  end: 194
  lastModified: 1490258571000
  lastModifiedDate: 1490258571000
  localURL: "cdvfile://localhost/root/data/data/APP_ID/cache/FILENAME.pdf"
  name: "FILENAME.pdf"
  size: 194
  start: 0
  type:"application/pdf"
  __proto__: Object

File is open undefined

[pwlin]

Maybe your PDF file is corrupt?

[matteoferigo]

The same file is readable on iOS. I think that the problem is with PDF on Android platform. I can open images without any problem, but seams like Android cannot read PDF files.

I am using a Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android 6.0.1

[pwlin]

Can you open your pdf with inappbrowser plugin?

[xSEx]

I have nearly the same problem.
On my desk, I have 2 Android devices. The first one with Android 4.4.2 and the other one with Android 6.0.
I installed my programmed application on both devices. They should download the files from a server folder to my device (Cordova File Transfer) and open it afterwards (File Opener 2).
The elder device with Android 4.4.2 downloads and opens the PDF without a problem.
But the problems appear on the device with Android 6.0. The PDF-files are downloaded, but not opened.
I connected the device to my computer and had a look in the console log by the ADB plugin for Chrome .
The console logs this:

Error status: undefined - Error message: undefined

Is there a solution for this problem?
Or is this a known problem?

[pwlin]

Try to open your pdf with inappbrowser plugin. It might be much easier for you.

[xSEx]

It doesn't work with the inappbrowser. There i get only blank pdfs.
I tried several files and sources (stored in the app/ stored on a server) but none of them worked.
The inappbrowser will display my downloaded jpg-file but not the pdf.

[pwlin]

inappbrowser has a much larger community around it. Can you please ask the same question over there? They might even have a slack chat group or something with people who might be able to really help. I think if you get your pdf working with inappbrowser, you can use the same file path to call fileopener2.

[matteoferigo]

Problem found! The file url (placed on a NGINX server) redirects to a https url, so the download via $cordovaFileTransferSource.download corrupts the file and made it not possible to open it up.

Anyway it's not possible to read from cordova.file.applicationDirectory on Android devices, so I changed my code like this:

const tempFolder = cordova.file.externalDataDirectory;

// check if file is located in temp folder
$cordovaFile.checkFile(tempFolder, fileName)
.then(openFileEntry)
.catch(() => {
  // if file not, copy into temp folder
  $cordovaFile.copyFile(srcFolder, fileName, tempFolder, fileName)
  .then(openFileEntry)
  .catch(({message}) => reportError(message))
})

function openFileEntry(fs) {
  const filePath = fs.nativeURL;
  // get mime
  fs.file(({type}) => {
    $cordovaFileOpener2.open(filePath, type)
  });
}

[pwlin]

Amazing! Thank you for sharing your solution.

[hathemi]

i have the same problem. so how did you manage to download pdf file ?