How to view PDF files in a modal/overlay

Question

I have pdf (managed) files on the server that I want users to view in a modal. This will be part of a module I'm creating. There are a couple of modules that help with this, but I haven't found a good way to incorporate those yet.

One of the most promising seems PDF Reader, but it requires you to create a node before it will do its magic. I would like to just use the file (managed file, stored using Drupal) and not create a separate node for each file.

I'm open for any suggestion. I have already implemented some CTools modals and Modal Forms (for easy display of Webform content) so I can work with that. But maybe it would be easier to create a node on the fly of the content type created for PDF Reader (say pdf file) and show that with a custom node--pdf-file.tpl.php. But how to create such a node then and how to get it in a modal?

Or maybe there is a more simple solution altogether. I'm using Drupal 7.

Answer 1

PDF Reader does not require you to create node. It only requires you to have file in a field, in any kind of entity. If your file is managed, something uses it (in usage table). just expose that data to entity api, make file a field and you are good.

If you want to avoid entities, this module is open source. Use it as a learning tool. Borrow it's code. Give credit where credit is due, and use as you need.

Answer 2

You can use the native browser solution to render the PDF and colorbox for the popup (using the iframe method).

Colorbox is a light-weight customizable lightbox plugin for jQuery. This module allows for integration of Colorbox into Drupal.