PSPDFKit for Web Introduces New CRUD API

PSPDFKit for Web 2020.5 has arrived! This new version includes tons of small improvements and fixes, along with a big enhancement for developers: It’s now possible to use the same methods for creating, modifying, and deleting annotations, form fields, form field values, bookmarks, and comments. You can perform these operations in bulk and even mix object types in the same operation.

Please refer to our Server and Web changelogs for a complete list of features and bug fixes.

The New CRUD API

Before, each document object type used its own set of methods for creation and manipulation: createAnnotation(), deleteBookmark(), updateAnnotation(), and so on. With 2020.5, we’re introducing a new refactored CRUD API that allows you to handle all object types with the same methods — create(), update(), and delete() — all of which can perform multiple operations in a single call.

Performing operations in bulk also provides performance benefits, as the UI can apply multiple changes with a single additional render. This improvement becomes more noticeable as the number of operations increases. The event system has adapted as well, and all bulk operations of the same type pertaining to a single CRUD API call will be notified in a single event.

Applying these operations will now be easier, and the chance for errors in your code is significantly reduced. The former methods, which are now deprecated, will still work until the next major release, so you’ll have enough time to update your implementation by following our migration guide.

Keyboard Navigation Improvements

In 2020.5, we’re continuing our efforts to make PSPDFKit for Web more accessible: Interaction with toolbar responsive groups has now been improved, as has keyboard navigation and screen reader support for annotation toolbars.

There’s still plenty to do regarding a11y, but with these changes, we’re confident we’re headed in the right direction.

Standalone Performance

Our build tooling for standalone deployment has also been updated. Our tests report significant improvements in compilation, instantiation, and initialization times for standalone’s WASM artifacts. Such improvements clearly reflect in the perceived performance.

And More

An important number of small improvements and fixes have also made their way into this release. For a complete list of changes, see the PSPDFKit for Web 2020.5 and PSPDFKit Server 2020.5 changelogs, as well as the migration guides for PSPDFKit for Web 2020.5 and PSPDFKit Server 2020.5.

Please email us at [email protected] if you’re interested in any of our features. We’d love to hear about your use case and discuss how to best implement it.