Creating PDF documents in ASP.NET

• Download 081_hello_pdf_src.zip - 1,076.5 KB

Introduction

This short article explains how to create PDF documents from ASP.NET web pages using the free library http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/.

The code

First of all I create a simple "Hello PDF". Next I will create a more complex PDF document with tables. To start creating PDF documents you need to download the itextsharp library from http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/ and reference it in your project. The PDF documents are created "on the fly" by the web page "ShowPDF.aspx". This page does also a "Response.Redirect" to the created PDF. First import some required Namespaces:

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports iTextSharp.text
Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf

Next I decide in the Page_Load event which document was requested by the user:

Partial Class ShowPDF
   Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
   
   Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
      If Request.QueryString("id") = 1 Then
         ShowHello()
       Else
         ShowTable()
       End If
   End Sub
End Class

The ShowHello function creates the most simple document with just one string "Hello World" and the redirects the user to the newly created document:

Sub ShowHello()
   Dim doc As Document = New Document
   PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, New FileStream(Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "\1.pdf", FileMode.Create))
   doc.Open()
   doc.Add(New Paragraph("Hello World"))
   doc.Close()
   Response.Redirect("~/1.pdf")
End Sub

A more complex example

The function ShowTable is slightly more complex, but also creates a PDF document and redirects the user:

Sub ShowTable()
   Dim doc As Document = New Document
   PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, New FileStream(Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "\2.pdf", FileMode.Create))
   doc.Open()
   Dim table As Table = New Table(3)
   table.BorderWidth = 1
   table.BorderColor = New Color(0, 0, 255)
   table.Padding = 3
   table.Spacing = 1
   Dim cell As Cell = New Cell("header")
   cell.Header = True
   cell.Colspan = 3
   table.AddCell(cell)
   cell = New Cell("example cell with colspan 1 and rowspan 2")
   cell.Rowspan = 2
   cell.BorderColor = New Color(255, 0, 0)
   table.AddCell(cell)
   table.AddCell("1.1")
   table.AddCell("2.1")
   table.AddCell("1.2")
   table.AddCell("2.2")
   table.AddCell("cell test1")
   cell = New Cell("big cell")
   cell.Rowspan = 2
   cell.Colspan = 2
   cell.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER
   cell.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE
   cell.BackgroundColor = New Color(192, 192, 192)
   table.AddCell(cell)
   table.AddCell("cell test2")
   doc.Add(table)
   doc.Close()
   Response.Redirect("~/2.pdf")
End Sub

Using the library http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/ makes it very easy to create PDF documents from web applications.