Integrating PrizmDoc Releases with Your Code

The Viewing Client offers complete customizability. However, performing customization adds additional maintenance costs. If you choose to perform significant customization, consider how you will integrate future releases of the Viewing Client with your code.

You can choose to run the default Viewing Client with no changes outside of configuration parameters passed in to the Viewing Client in your web tier. This allows for the simplest integration with subsequent releases. More likely, you will want to customize the CSS, HTML, and even the unobfuscated JavaScript libraries to ensure that the Viewing Client meets the needs of your product.

Below are a few guidelines to help you make the right decisions in customizing your Viewing Client:

Viewing Client API (viewerControl.js)

The Viewing Client API is the base building block of the Viewing Client. We ensure that API changes are backward compatible with point releases (for example, PrizmDoc v11.1 → PrizmDoc v11.2) and will not introduce breaking changes unless critical. With major releases we also endeavor to ensure backward compatibility with previous releases of the Viewing Client API.

HTML Templates and CSS

The Viewing Client that is shipped with the product will be maintained and enhanced from release to release. The Viewing Client HTML and CSS markup will change with each release. Once you have begun to modify your markup, it is recommended that you consider subsequent PrizmDoc releases as sample code, in which you would evaluate product changes and choose to incorporate all or parts of those changes into your customization.

JavaScript files (viewer.js)

The Viewing Client JavaScript that lies above the Viewing Client API is unobfuscated and open for customization. While we expect many developer needs will be satisfied through configuration parameters and minor HTML or styling changes, some developers will desire to modify viewer.js for more advanced customization. You should carefully consider your development and ongoing maintenance strategy to ensure that future releases of PrizmDoc are easy to integrate into your customizations. We cannot guarantee backward compatibility of viewer.js in future releases as it is central to the functionality of the Viewing Client.