We have a challenge here to provide a Smart PDF output from a CAD system developed in C++ using Visual Studio 2008. The PDF output needs to provide live links on the page and a whole host of bookmarked information. We continually find plug-in types of solutions, but we require cross-platform support (Windows, Linux Redhat, Solaris 10).

Does anyone have suggestions for how to develop this without having to develop our own complete solution in-house? Do we pay Adobe for some kind of developer API to their PDF output system? Research shows that there are many more options out there that could be either free/open source, or low cost. Suggestions?