Cross-Browser Acrobat PDF Loader
Budget: €750 – €1,500 EUR
I need a browser extension that lets me keep using the classic Adobe Acrobat ActiveX control to render online PDFs and AcroForms directly inside a modern tab, yet without falling back to IE11 mode, “IE Tab” or any similar workaround. To get around the WebExtensions sandbox I want the extension to hand off the PDF URL to a small native helper executable, launched through native-messaging, that embeds the ActiveX control and streams its window back into the tab (Chromium’s Native Host or Firefox’s counterpart will do the talking).
Target browsers are Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and, if technically feasible, Mozilla Firefox. A single code base with small per-browser tweaks is preferred.
Operation flow
• The user visits a URL that ends in .pdf or that the server flags as application/pdf.
• The extension checks the current domain against an allow-list that I can manage from a built-in settings page. Wildcards such as *.example.com must be accepted.
• If the domain is allowed the helper is started (or reused) and the PDF displays seamlessly inside the page; otherwise the request is ignored and the browser’s normal behaviour takes over.
Configuration and persistence
All settings can sit in the extension’s storage area. Export and import to JSON would be a plus but not mandatory.
Deliverables
• Full source code for the WebExtension, the native helper, and any bridge library you write
• Clear build instructions for Windows 10/11 so I can reproduce the binaries from scratch
• An Inno Setup script that installs the helper, registers the native-messaging manifest for each supported browser, and offers a clean uninstall
Acceptance
I will consider the job done when I can clone the repo, run the build steps, install through the provided installer, and open a test PDF (fill in form fields and QES sign signature fields) on an allowed domain in Chrome, Edge and (when supported) Firefox without any IE compatibility layer.
Target browsers are Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and, if technically feasible, Mozilla Firefox. A single code base with small per-browser tweaks is preferred.
Operation flow
• The user visits a URL that ends in .pdf or that the server flags as application/pdf.
• The extension checks the current domain against an allow-list that I can manage from a built-in settings page. Wildcards such as *.example.com must be accepted.
• If the domain is allowed the helper is started (or reused) and the PDF displays seamlessly inside the page; otherwise the request is ignored and the browser’s normal behaviour takes over.
Configuration and persistence
All settings can sit in the extension’s storage area. Export and import to JSON would be a plus but not mandatory.
Deliverables
• Full source code for the WebExtension, the native helper, and any bridge library you write
• Clear build instructions for Windows 10/11 so I can reproduce the binaries from scratch
• An Inno Setup script that installs the helper, registers the native-messaging manifest for each supported browser, and offers a clean uninstall
Acceptance
I will consider the job done when I can clone the repo, run the build steps, install through the provided installer, and open a test PDF (fill in form fields and QES sign signature fields) on an allowed domain in Chrome, Edge and (when supported) Firefox without any IE compatibility layer.