Generating and Displaying PDF file in Flex/Java

Question

We have Flex on the front end and Java on the back end. When a user will request for a PDF file, request will go to the Java backend, where a PDF file will be generated using Jasper Reports. What we dont know is how to display this PDF file in browser; since we dont want to use JSP/Servlets etc - It has to be flex only. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Flash Player cannot natively render PDF files. This is possible using Adobe AIR but not in a Flex application. Your best bet is to call navigateToURL() and open a Servlet in a new browser tab/window. The Servlet can simply write contents of the PDF file to the OutputStream and set the appropriate HTTP headers.