Create a custom viewer app for the iPad and iPhone

The Viewer Details panel lets you provide your viewer names and account ID information.

Viewer Name

Provide a viewer name that appears below the App icon on the iPad. As a general rule, use 13 characters or fewer to avoid truncating the name.

To test your App name on the iPad, open a website in iPad Safari, choose Add to Home Screen from the Safari menu, and then type the desired Viewer name. If the name is truncated, use a smaller name.

Viewer Version

Specify the most recent viewer.

The Viewer Builder includes a previous version for backup purposes.

Viewer Type

Specify the viewer type (see Types of custom viewer apps). The availability of some options depends on the type of account.

Multi-Issue

A multi-folio viewer app includes a library that lets users download content that is hosted on the Adobe Distribution Service.

Built-in Single Issue

A single-folio app includes built-in content. When you select this option, the Exported Folio option appears. Specify the .zip file created using the Export option in the Folio Producer Organizer.

Multi-Issue with Entitlement

(Enterprise only) Create a viewer app that uses a custom entitlement server to determine which customers can download content. If you select this option, you use your own subscription service. Consult with Apple. Entitlement only apps cannot be enabled for Newsstand.

Multi-Issue with iTunes Subscription

Create a viewer app that uses the Apple App Store subscription model.

Multi-Issue with Entitlement and iOS Subscription

(Enterprise only) Create a viewer app that uses a custom entitlement server to determine which customers can download content. Customers can subscribe either through your subscription service or through the Apple App Store.

Adobe Content Viewer

Create a version of the Adobe Content Viewer instead of downloading it from the App Store. See Create a custom Adobe Content Viewer for iPad and iPhone.

Title (Library View)

Provide the title that will appear at the top of the viewer library. For best results, use no more than 35 characters.

Title ID/Password

Provide the appropriate Adobe ID and password for your app. Specify the same Adobe ID you use to create folios for this title. Make sure that the Adobe ID is assigned the Application role in the Account Administration tool. The Adobe ID for the app can be different from the Adobe ID used to sign in to Viewer Builder.

PDF Zooming Enabled

Select this option to allow your users to pinch and zoom non-interactive pages. Make sure that you select the PDF image format option when creating your folio.

Bookmarks Enabled

Select this option to allow your users to bookmark their favorite articles in the app. If enabled, a Bookmarks icon appears on the upper right area of the viewer nav bar. Bookmarks are not yet available in the iPhone viewer.

Folio Auto-Archiving Enabled

Select this option enable auto-archiving of folios when the customer downloads the maximum number of folios allowed. Indicate whether the archiving is turned on by default. Customers can use the device settings to turn auto-archiving on or off. Also specify the maximum number of downloaded folios (between 6 and 90) for your viewer app. When the threshold number is reached, the least recently updated folios are archived automatically. Customers cannot change the threshold number. Customers can re-download any archived folio.

Optional URL Scheme

Specify the custom URL scheme that launches the viewer app from Safari and other apps. To ensure uniqueness, Apple recommends that you use the reverse-DNS format (com.publisher.publication). For best results with Twitter social sharing, use 32 characters or fewer.

For example, suppose you specify “com.sportspub.kayaking” as the URL scheme. If you embed a “com.sportspub.kayaking://” link on your webpage, clicking the link from the mobile browser opens the viewer app. For more information, see Apple’s developer website.

Optional iPhone Welcome Screen

(Enterprise only) You can create a .zip file that includes HTML assets for your iPhone viewer. This HTML page is displayed only the first time your customers start the iPhone viewer. The HTML page can contain links for restoring previous purchases and dismissing the welcome screen. For details on creating these links, see Custom HTML Store API Reference.

Exported Folio

Specify the .zip file or .folio file to be built in with the viewer. To create a .zip file, use the Export option in the Folio Producer Organizer. See Export folios for single-folio viewers.

Supported Languages

iTunes displays the languages in which the viewer app is available. The viewer interface is translated into multiple languages, but your folio content most likely isn’t. Select at least one language in which your viewer should appear.

The following options appear if you choose one of the entitlement options for Viewer Type.

Service URL

Specify the main URL for your entitlement service. An entitlement service is required for enabling subscriptions.

Service Auth URL

Specify the URL where the authentication service is hosted. The authentication service indicates when users have signed in.

Integrator ID

Adobe provides the Integrator ID when your entitlement account is provisioned within our servers.

Create Account URL

Specify the URL where customers can sign up for a subscription through the publisher, not through the Apple subscription process. This URL is used when users tap a “Subscribe” button that links to your entitlement service.

Forgot Password URL

Specify the URL where customers can retrieve their forgotten password.

Optional Existing Subscription URL

Specify the URL where customers can indicate an existing print subscription while signing up for a digital subscription. Leave this field blank to disable the print subscription link button in the viewer.

Send App ID and Version

This option allows the Viewer app’s ID and Version strings to be sent in entitlement API calls.

Banner Page URL

Specify the URL that displays the subscription banner if the user is connect to the internet. This full-width banner appears in the upper section of the viewer library above the subscription tile and available folios.

Offline Banner Assets

Select the .zip file containing the assets to be used as the banner if the user is not connected to the internet. The .zip file should include a single HTML file, one or more image files, and optional CSS files. The .zip file should not contain subfolders; all content should be on the same level.

Banner Height

Specify the height of the banner that appears in the viewer library.

The following options appear if you choose one of the subscription options for Viewer Type.

Subscription Tiles

Specify background images that describe the Apple subscription options. For landscape tiles that appear when the device is rotated sideways, specify a 463x135-pixel image for iPad 1&2, and specify a 936x270-pixel image for iPad3. For portrait tiles, specify 331x180 and 662x360-pixel images for the two different iPad sizes.

Tapping any part of the tile launches the iOS subscription options. These options are determined by the subscription in-app purchase information you specify in iTunes Connect.

Optional Library Subscription Tile URL

Specify a URL that is displayed in an in-app browser window when the customer taps the subscription tile. This webpage can include messaging that is not necessarily related to subscriptions.

Optional Remote Custom Dialog URL

This URL loads when the customer completes the subscription process. For example, you can request user information or provide additional details about your products.

Subscription Type

Select Paid if you have a retail subscription app. For Subscription Products, click the plus icon to specify at least one Apple iTunes Connect product ID and corresponding duration. These options appear when customers tap the subscription tile or the Subscribe button.

Select Free if you are creating a Newsstand app with Apple’s Free Subscription option. Specify the Free Subscription Product ID you specified in iTunes Connect.

Important: Shared secret information is required for subscription apps. Use iTunes Connect to create or view your shared secret. Use the Account Administrator tool to specify the shared secret characters for the application account. Then sign in to the Folio Producer Organizer to trigger the shared secret update.

Use this panel to specify app icons and splash screens that will appear in iTunes and the iPad.

App icons

The icons that you specify will be used on the iPad home screen when installed, and on the device App Store when viewed from the iPad. Specify 29x29, 50x50, and 72x72 pixel icons in PNG format for iPad 1&2 devices. Specify 58x58, 100x100, and 144x144 pixel icons in PNG format for iPad3 devices. Specify 29x29, 57x57, 58x58, and 114x114 icons for the iPhone. Apple rounds the corners automatically. Do not scale up smaller artwork. Use 72ppi, RGB, flattened, high-quality PNG files.

Note: Always include a .png extension in your image filenames.

Splash Screens

When the Viewer is started, a splash screen appears for approximately three seconds. For landscape splash screens, specify the following images using 72 ppi, RGB, flattened, high-quality PNG files.

• 1024x768 and 768x1024 pixel images for iPad 1&2

• 2048x1536 and 1536x2048 pixel images for iPad3

• 320x480 pixel image for iPhone 3GS

• 640x960 pixel image for iPhone 4/4S

For best results, make your splash screen image different from your cover. If the cover and the splash screen are identical, users may think the app is frozen when they first start it. Some publishers add “Loading . . .” to the splash images.

Optional artwork

The large app icon will be displayed for your app on the desktop App Store and if needed, will be used to feature your app on the App Store. Specify a 512x512-pixel image for low-resolution iPad and iPhone devices and a 1024x1024-pixel image for high-resolution iPad and iPhone devices. You can also specify this image while submitting your app to the Apple Store. Do not scale up smaller artwork. Use 72ppi, RGB, flattened, high-quality PNG files.

Shine on app icon

Indicate whether you want your application icons to include the shine effect, which looks like a light is shining on the upper portion of the icon.

Shine off (left) and on (right)

Optional Fonts ZIP for HTML

If you apply fonts to text in your HTML stacks or web view overlays, you can include them in either the .folio file or the Viewer. If you choose to include them in the Viewer, compress the fonts in a .zip folder. The .zip file should not contain subfolders; all content should be on the same level.

If you enable Newsstand, your viewer app appears in the Newsstand folder of iPads with iOS5 installed. To enable Newsstand, you must create a viewer app with iTunes subscription—either iTunes Subscription only or Entitlement with iTunes Subscription, but not Entitlement only. In addition, you must enable push notifications.

Enable Newsstand

Select this option to allow your viewer to appear in the Newsstand folder.

Magazine/Newspaper

Determine whether Newsstand should classify your viewer app as a magazine or newspaper.

Binding Edge

Select an option to determine the adornment appearance on the Newsstand icon when a customer double-taps the Home button to display the active apps. For example, choosing Left binding displays a binding edge on the left and page adornments on the right.

Newsstand Icon

Specify a PNG icon that appears in the Newsstand folder. Use a 72 ppi, RGB, flattened, high-quality PNG file at 96x128 pixels for the iPad 1&2 and 192x256 for iPad3. This icon is used as the cover image in Newsstand. This icon is replaced by the cover image of the most recently published folio.

This panel lets you customize the Navigation Toolbar that appears in your custom viewer at the bottom of the library.

Hide Home Button

If the Navigation Toolbar is displayed, tapping the the Library button does the same thing as the Home button. To avoid this redundancy, you can hide the Home button.

Show Navigation Toolbar

Select this option to display the Navigation Toolbar at the bottom of the viewer.

Specify whether the Navigation Toolbar should appear in all views, including folio view, or if it should be hidden when folios are viewed.

Hide Viewer Icon

If Show Navigation Toolbar is selected, you can hide the Viewer icon that appears by default. Tapping the Viewer icon displays the previously viewed folio.

Enable “hot zone” Navigation

If you select this option, invisible hot zones appear on the left and right sides of every article (or page if the article scrolls only horizontally). Tapping a hot zone jumps to the next or previous article. Hot zones are especially useful for full-screen overlays, such as slideshows.

If an overlay appears in the hot zone area, tapping that area activates the overlay, not the hot zone, unless the overlay is full-screen (covering at least 95% of the viewer area).

Hide Buy Buttons

Select this option if you want folios to be available for purchase only through a subscription and not through individual purchase.

Hide Free Folios

Select this option to hide free folios from your library. This option is especially useful if you want to use your custom server to entitle customers to specify folios based on their sign in account information.

For information on restricting folios, see Using restricted distribution with Digital Publishing Suite.

Hide Sign In Button

Select this option if you want a Sign In button to appear in the upper left corner of the web page that appears when users tap any of the custom icons.

Icon Up State

Click the plus icon on the right side of the panel to create a custom button for the Navigation Toolbar. Specify PNG files to be displayed as the normal button appearance. Use a 75x43-pixel image for iPad 1&2 and a 150x86-pixel image for iPad3.

When users tap a custom icon, an in-app browser displays the contents of the HTML file you provide, such as a website for a store, a news feed, or help page. Customers can tap a Close button to return to library view. You can specify as many as three custom toolbar buttons.

Icon Down State

Specify PNG files to be displayed when the button is tapped. Use a 75x43-pixel image for iPad 1&2 and a 150x86-pixel image for iPad3. For example, you can change the image border from black to red.

Icon Disabled State

Specify PNG files to be displayed when the button is not available, such as during a download. Use a 75x43-pixel image for iPad 1&2 and a 150x86-pixel image for iPad3. For example, you can display a dimmed version of a shopping cart for a “Store” button.

Type

Select WebView to display the contents of an HTML file you specify. Select Navigation only if you’re publishing a Woodwing-based app in which you can use the Intent metadata to jump to a cover, table of contents, or help article. Specify the intent in the Label field.

Label

This option is primarily used for Woodwing migration publications to specify an article intent.

You can also use the Label option to jump to the store from an article. If you specify “Store” for the Label value, you can create a button or hyperlink with “ww.gotoStore” specified in the URL field. This lets customers tap a button to open a store in an article. See Create navto hyperlinks for HTML articles.

Icon HTML Resources ZIP

Specify a .zip file containing the assets to be used for the web view that appears when users tap the toolbar button. The .zip file should include a single HTML file and any required image and CSS files. The .zip file should not contain subfolders; all content should be on the same level.

Lock Orientation

If you want the web view that appears when users tap the toolbar button to display in only one orientation, choose Horizontal or Vertical.

Auto Launch

One of the custom toolbar buttons can be set to Auto Launch. When Auto Launch is turned on, opening the viewer library displays the HTML page automatically.

Show Navigation Controls

Display navigation controls such as a Back button and a Refresh button for the web page.

These settings control whether customers can share articles from your app through Facebook, Twitter, email, or copy/paste. Social sharing is not available for single-issue apps or iPhone devices.

To understand the Social Sharing workflow, see Using social media. To learn how to configure Facebook for social sharing, see Setting up a DPS App for Social Networking.

Enable Email Sharing

Select this option to add Email to the social sharing menu in the upper right area of the viewer nav bar. Customers can select this option to send an email message with a link to the article or Publication URL.

Enable Twitter Sharing

Select this option to add Twitter to the social sharing menu. Customers can select this option to post a message to their Twitter feed.

Enable Copy Link Sharing

Select this option to add Copy Link to the social sharing menu. Customers can select this option to copy the URL of the shared article or publication and paste it in a web page or other location.

Enable Facebook Sharing

Select this option to add Facebook to the social sharing menu. Customers can select this option to leave a comment and link on their Facebook wall.

Facebook App ID

Specify the App ID obtained from the Facebook developer site.

Publication URL

Specify the URL that contains information about your publication. The link to the Publication URL appears when customers share a protected article.

Apple requires all applications to be signed by a valid certificate and provisioned before they can be run on the iPad. In the Provisioning section, you specify the mobileprovision files. You specify the certificates when you download the generated viewer apps.

For information on creating certificates and mobileprovision files, see the iPad Publishing Companion Guide PDF which is available on the Dashboard.

Enterprise Signed Build

Select this option only if you want to use an enterprise provisioning certificate for a viewer to be distributed only within your organization. Specify an App ID and your enterprise mobileprovision file. See Creating an enterprise signed iPad viewer app.

Distribution Mobileprovision

The mobileprovision file determines which iPads can install and use your Viewer app.

Developer Mobileprovision

The mobileprovision file determines which iPads can install and use your viewer app. The mobileprovision file for the development app includes a list of iPad IDs called UDIDs.

Sideloadable Developer Build

Select this option so that you can manually add .folio files to the development viewer through iTunes. You can use only .folio files, not .zip files created using the Export button in the Folio Producer Organizer.

Enable Push Notifications

Select this option to enable Adobe push notifications. If you select this option, a red badge appears on the viewer app icon and indicates the number of available folios, or Newsstand activates a push notification process. This option is required when Newsstand is enabled.

Use Adobe Push?

If you select this option, push notifications are handled through the Adobe server. Specify the production certificate and password that you create on the Apple developer site. To set up push notifications, configure your App ID, create new mobileprovision files, and create a productin push certificate. For detailed instructions, see the iPad Publishing Companion Guide PDF.

If you deselect this option (Enterprise only), you can specify a third-party push server. Specify the server in the Push URL field. Specify any additional server requests your server requires in the Custom Push Parameters field. For basic requirements in setting up your push server, see Push notifications.

If you signed in using an Adobe ID provisioned for Omniture tracking, settings for tracking user data appear on the Build Details page. This data is populated automatically. If you have an enterprise account and these options do not appear, contact your Adobe representative.

After you specify information or files for all mandatory fields, click Submit Build, and then click Finish.

The amount of time it takes to create the development and distribution apps depends on how busy the server is.

Certificates are required for two different Viewer apps—a development app and a distribution app. The development app is for testing; the distribution app is what you submit to Apple once you test and approve the development app.

1. Select your viewer app in the Manage page where your custom viewer builds appear.

2. Click Developer Viewer (.ipa) to download the developer app.

3. Specify your developer p12 certificate and password, and then click Download And Sign.

   Developer P12 Certificate

   The .p12 file saves your certificate private key information. Creating the .p12 certificate requires you to use the Apple Developer site to create and download a certificate and then use the Keychain Access utility to export the private key of that certificate as a .p12 certificate.

   Developer P12 Password

   When you create the .p12 certificate, you are prompted to create a password. Blank passwords do not work. If you used a blank password, create the .p12 certificate again with a real password.

4. Add the development app (.ipa) to your iTunes library, and follow the instructions in the “iPad Publishing Companion Guide.pdf” to test your app.

5. If the developer app works as designed, return to the Manage page in Viewer Builder and click Distribution Viewer (.zip). Specify the distribution certificate information, and click Download And Sign.

After you download and test your custom viewer, submit the distribution viewer (.zip) to Apple.

Submitting the development app

If your developer app works as designed, submit the distribution app (.zip) to the Apple Store. For details, see the iPad Publishing Companion Guide PDF.

Changing the approval status

When your submitted app is approved and appears in the store, please open Viewer Builder and click the Approval Status next to the custom app. Enter the information and click Submit. A link to your app will be added to the Digital Publishing Gallery.

Updating a build

If you need to create different icons or make other changes, select the viewer app on the main page, and click Edit. Your information and selections remain intact. Make the necessary changes, and then submit the build again. Your app will be updated.

Deleting a build

If you no longer need the developer and distribution apps, select the viewer app on the main page, and click Delete.