[Tex/LaTex] Difference between \href{xxx.pdf}{} and \href{run:xxx.pdf}{}

hrefhyperlinkhyperreflinks

What are the differences between these two types of links?

    \href{xxx.pdf}{My PDF}
\href{run:xxx.pdf}{run:My PDF}

Both open the same file in Acrobat (but at different zoom levels?). However, in TeXShop, only the run: version opens the file. I have always used the second style, but as both seem to be valid, I am wondering if I need to change things?

Questions:

What are the difference between these two types of links?
When should I use the first style versus the second style?

Notes:

At this time, I am only asking regarding opening external pdf files. Having answers regarding non-pdf files (in case there are different issues involved) if fine too, as that may be useful to others.

Code:

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage{hyperref} 

\begin{document} 
        \href{xxx.pdf}{My PDF}\quad
    \href{run:xxx.pdf}{run:My PDF}
\end{document}

Best Answer

Here is a slightly modified version of your document:

\documentclass{article} 
\pdfobjcompresslevel=0
\pdfcompresslevel=0
\usepackage{hyperref} 
\begin{document} 
\href{xxx.pdf}{My PDF}
\href{run:xxx.pdf}{run:My PDF}
\end{document}

You get an uncompressed PDF and therefore a readable PDF (by opening it directly in your favorite editor).

The first link is coded as a GoToR action (a remote go-to action) similar to an ordinary go-to action but jumps to a destination in another PDF file instead of the current file:
```
/Subtype/Link/A<</F(xxx.pdf)/S/GoToR/D[0/Fit]>>
```
The second link is coded as a Launch action (to launch an external application):
```
/Subtype/Link/A<</F(xxx.pdf)/S/Launch>>
```

See section 12.6.4.1, p.417-418, Document management — Portable document format — Part 1: PDF 1.7

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] hyperref, natbib and PDF/A-compliance

I'm not sure if an answer is still of interest. Anyway:

1) I would strongly advise to use the pdfx package:

\usepackage[a-1b]{pdfx}

2) The error in the pdfx package is caused by the way how the timestamp is put together. Depending on your timezone (e.g. UTC+1, UTC-1, etc) you have a different sign there. This causes the issue.

Use of \getTZh doesn't match its definition.

You therefore need to put the pdfx.sty in your working directory and need to adjust that specific line accordingly:

\def\getTZh +#1#2{\edef\xTZh{#1#2}\getTZm} % change - to + if error occurs (due to timezone)

...

T\xHour:\xMin:\xSec+\xTZh:\xTZm}} % change - to + if error occurs (due to timezone)

Alternatively, you may change the timezone of your system.

3) pdfx automatically loads the hyperref package, too. If you want to have a customized hyperref setup, you can use:

\hypersetup{
   unicode,
   colorlinks=true
}

In addition to that, you need to provide a color profile and a valid xmp file. Information on this can be found in the pdfx manual. This solution relies on pdftex.

I'm not aware of any solution using dvips.

[Tex/LaTex] Did anybody succeed in opening a text file at a certain line from a PDF link

To launch from PDF the editor with an unrelated text file with specific options, probably you need do this indirectly.

Create a script that launches all what you want (e.g. containing gedit +42 file.txt). Depending on the viewer file.txt may need to be an absolute path.
Link from TeX to that script (e.g. with href)
The script extension (for example .sh or .mygedit, rungeditfromline42.sh or rungeditfromline42.mygedit) must be among the executable mime types.

Depending on the viewer, one (or both) of the following points need to be set:

(Evince, Acroread) The extension has to be associated with some type of execution of the script. One way I found for this is here (replacing Java with Bash): https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/9735/how-do-i-launch-jar-files-using-nautilus/?answer=15275#post-id-15275 (I don't know of an automatic way of doing this).
(xpdf) Make the script executable chmod +x rungeditfromline42.sh.
(No solution yet for Okular)

All that so that acroread knows how to handle (in other cases, will be treated as any normal text). I also noticed that, for some reason, evince requires the full paths (inside the scripts).

I tested this in Fedora 20. A similar problem is solved in http://latex-beamer-class.10966.n7.nabble.com/run-a-shell-script-from-a-beamer-generated-pdf-td2049.html. But the instruccions are not complete in my opinion.

EDIT 2015: How to make script extension to be associated with some type of execution of the script? (point 4 above)

(If this is step is not taken Acrobat or Evince might open the script file and not execute the script)

In ~/.local/share/applications/ create a file called run-gedit.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application

Exec=bash %f
Icon=icon

Name=run-gedit
Comment=Run the gedit file

From nautilus right-click on the rungeditfromline42.mygedit file (see above) and click the "Open With" tab, scroll down until you find "run-gedit" then click it and "Set as default". Go to Evince, click in the link to test that the script is run.

A loosely related note about SyncTeX

Since 2008 is possible to use SyncTeX to allow synchronisation between the source and PDF files.

To enable synchronisation, SyncTeX creates an auxiliary file in the format filename.synctex.gz.

Several LaTeX editors use SyncTeX by default. You do not need change the source .tex file at all. For example in TeXWorksyou only need one rigth mouse click in the PDF viewer to open a menu and then choose go to the source code (to the lines that correspond to that is actually cliked in the PDF viewer), and with same procedure in the text editor you can return to the PDF viewer (showing the page that you are actually editing).