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Accessing the Viewer's Elements

React PDF provides data-rp attributes to access specific elements so that you can customize the viewer easily.

Attributedescription
data-rp="moreOptionsDropdown"The dropdown container of the More Options menu
data-rp="page-{pageNumber}"Page element
Remark: ReplacepageNumber with a specific value (e.g., data-rp="page-21")
data-rp="page-{pageNumber}-canvas"Page canvas element
Remark: ReplacepageNumber with a specific value (e.g., data-rp="page-21-canvas")
data-rp="page-{pageNumber}-textLayer"Page text layer element
Remark: ReplacepageNumber with a specific value (e.g., data-rp="page-21-textLayer")
data-rp="pages"Page container element
data-rp="sidebar"Sidebar container
data-rp="thumbnailSidebar"Thumbnail sidebar container
data-rp="topBar"The top bar container which consists of 3 sections (i.e. left, center and right)
data-rp="topBarCenter"The middle section of the top bar container which consists of the zoom feature
data-rp="topBarLeft"The left section of the top bar container which consists of search and page navigation
data-rp="topBarRight"The right section of the top bar container which consists of the rest of the features, including those in the More Options

Remark: If you would like to access other elements, please submit a request on GitHub.

Example: Accessing topBarRight Element to Prepend a Button

  1. Create a button element

    const buttonElement = useMemo(() => {
      const button = document.createElement('button')
      button.innerHTML = 'N'
      return button
    }, [])

  2. Get the element of the right section of the top bar container

    const topBarRight = ref.current?.querySelector('[data-rp="topBarRight"]')

  3. Add a button element to the element

    topBarRight?.prepend(buttonElement)

  4. Remove the button element when the component is cleaned up

    const cleanupOnLoaded = useCallback(() => {
      if (buttonElement) {
        buttonElement.remove()
      }
    }, [buttonElement])

    Remark: Use this function for dev mode due to the useEffect’s caveats

Putting everything together

import { useRef, useCallback, useMemo } from 'react'
import { RPConfig, RPProvider, RPDefaultLayout, RPPages } from '@pdf-viewer/react'


export const AppPdfViewer = () => {
  const ref = useRef(null)


  // Create the button element.
  const buttonElement = useMemo(() => {
    const button = document.createElement('button')
    button.innerHTML = 'N'
    return button
  }, [])


  const handleLoaded = useCallback(() => {
    // Get the element of the React PDF Viewer.
    const topBarRight = ref.current?.querySelector('[data-rp="topBarRight"]')
    // Add the button element to the top bar.
    topBarRight?.prepend(buttonElement)
  }, [buttonElement])


  // Remove the button element when the component is cleaned up.
  const cleanupOnLoaded = useCallback(() => {
    if (buttonElement) {
      buttonElement.remove()
    }
  }, [buttonElement])


  return (
    <RPConfig licenseKey="YOUR_LICENSE_KEY">
      <RPProvider src="https://cdn.codewithmosh.com/image/upload/v1721763853/guides/web-roadmap.pdf">
        <RPDefaultLayout ref={ref} onLoaded={handleLoaded} cleanupOnLoaded={cleanupOnLoaded}>
          <RPPages />
        </RPDefaultLayout>
      </RPProvider>
    </RPConfig>
  )
}

Screenshot 2568-02-21 at 13.45.58

Select moreOptionsDropdown Element

Because More Options dropdown is not visible by default, you will need to use MutationObserver API to monitor changes of a specific DOM element.

An example: Accessing moreOptionsDropdown Element to Prepend a Button

  1. Define Mutation Observer Configuration

    const config = {
      attributes: false,
      childList: true,
      subtree: false
    }
    

    let observer

  2. Attach a Button to the Dropdown using Observer

    const handleMoreOptionsMount = useCallback(
      (elemContainer) => {
        const observerCallback = () => {
          const moreOptions = elemContainer.querySelector('[data-rp="moreOptionsDropdown"]')
          if (moreOptions) {
            moreOptions?.prepend(buttonElement)
          }
        }
    

        observer = new MutationObserver(observerCallback)
        observer.observe(elemContainer, config)
      },
      [buttonElement]
    )

  3. Cleanup the Observer on Unmount

    useEffect(() => {
      return () => observer?.disconnect()
    }, [])

Putting everything together

import { useRef, useCallback, useMemo, useEffect } from 'react'
import { RPConfig, RPProvider, RPDefaultLayout, RPPages } from '@pdf-viewer/react'


// Options for the Observer
const config = {
  attributes: false,
  childList: true,
  subtree: false
}


let observer


export const AppPdfViewer = () => {
  const ref = useRef(null)


  // Create the button element
  const buttonElement = useMemo(() => {
    const button = document.createElement('button')
    button.innerHTML = 'N'
    return button
  }, [])


  const handleMoreOptionsMount = useCallback(
    (elemContainer) => {
      const observerCallback = () => {
        const moreOptions = elemContainer.querySelector('[data-rp="moreOptionsDropdown"]')
        if (moreOptions) {
          moreOptions?.prepend(buttonElement)
        }
      }


      observer = new MutationObserver(observerCallback)
      observer.observe(elemContainer, config)
    },
    [buttonElement]
  )


  const handleLoaded = useCallback(() => {
    const elemContainer = ref.current?.querySelector('[data-rp="container"]')
    if (elemContainer) {
      handleMoreOptionsMount(elemContainer)
    }
  }, [handleMoreOptionsMount])


  // Remove the button element when the component is cleaned up
  const cleanupOnLoaded = useCallback(() => {
    if (buttonElement) {
      buttonElement.remove()
    }
  }, [buttonElement])


  // Cleanup the Observer on Unmount
  useEffect(() => {
    return () => observer?.disconnect()
  }, [])


  return (
    <RPConfig licenseKey="YOUR_LICENSE_KEY">
      <RPProvider src="https://cdn.codewithmosh.com/image/upload/v1721763853/guides/web-roadmap.pdf">
        <RPDefaultLayout ref={ref} onLoaded={handleLoaded} cleanupOnLoaded={cleanupOnLoaded}>
          <RPPages />
        </RPDefaultLayout>
      </RPProvider>
    </RPConfig>
  )
}

Screenshot 2568-02-21 at 14.05.30