1. Introduction
The PDF File Writer C# class library PdfFileWriter allows you to create PDF files directly from your .net application. The library shields you from the details of the PDF file structure. To use the library, you need to add a reference to the attached PdfFileWriter.dll class library file, add a using PdfFileWriter statement in every source file that uses the library and include the PdfFileWriter.dll with your distribution. For more details go to 4. Installation. The code was developed using .NET Framework 4.6.2 and Visual Studio 2019.
Version 1.26.0 enhancements: Support for PDF XMP Metadata and support for QR Code ECI Assinment number.
The PDF File Writer C# class library supports the following PDF document's features:
- Graphics: drawing lines, rectangles, polygons, Bezier curves, foreground and background color, patterns and shading. Section 2.1 Coordinate System.
- Decimal separator note for users in world regions using comma to denote fraction. See section 2.2 Decimal Separator.
- Drawing text. Section 2.3 Language Support, fonts and character sets.
- Drawing images: drawing raster (Bitmap) images and vector (Metafile) images. Section 2.4. Image Support.
- Barcode: support for Barcode 128, Barcode 39, Barcode interleaved 2 of 5, Barcode EAN13 and Barcode UPC-A. Section 2.5 Barcode Support.
- QR Code: support for two dimensions barcode. Section 2.6 QR Code Support.
- PDF417 barcode. Section 2.7 PDF417 Barcode.
- Web Link: Web link interactive support. Section 2.8 Web Link Support.
- Bookmarks: Support for document outlines. Section 2.9 Bookmark Support.
- Charts: Support for Microsoft Charting. Section 2.10 Charting Support.
- Print to PDF: Create a PDF document from
PrintDocument process. Section 2.11 PrintDocument Support. - Display data tables. Section 2.12 Data Table Support
- Play video files. Section 2.13 Play Video Files
- Play sound files. Section 2.14 Play Sound Files
- Attach data files. Section 2.15 Attach Data Files
- Reorder pages. Section 2.16 Reorder Pages
- PDF document output to a file or to a stream. Section 2.17 PDF Document Output.
- PDF document information dictionary. The PDF reader displays this information in the Description tab of the document properties. The information includes: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Created date and time, Modified date and time, the Application that produced the file, the PDF Producer. Section 2.18 Document Information Dictionary.
- Memory control: Write contents information of completed pages to output file and free unused memory with garbage collector. Section 2.19. Memory Control.
- Draw artwork defined by
System.Windows.Media.PathGeometry class. Input argument can be text string or PathGeometry class. Section 2.20 Windows Presentation Foundation WPF - Transparency or opaqueness is available for painting shapes, lines, text and images. Your application can set the alpha component of color for all graphics and text. Section 2.21 Transparency, Opacity, Alpha Color Component and Blending
- Blend. The library supports the PDF color blending scheme. Blending defines how the color of a new item painted over a previous item is handled. Section 2.21 Transparency, Opacity, Alpha Color Component and Blending
- Document Links and Named Destination. Section 2.22 Document Links and Named Destination.
- Encryption: support for AES-128 encryption. Section 2.23 Encryption Support.
- Sticky Notes 2.24 Sticky Notes or Text Annotation.
- Layers or Optional Content. 2.25 Layers or Optional Content.
- Initial document display. 2.26 Initial Document Display.
- XMP Metadata. 2.27 XMP Metadata.
Creating a PDF is a six steps process.
- Step 1: Create one document object
PdfDocument. - Step 2: Create resource objects such as fonts or images (i.e.
PdfFont or PdfImage). - Step 3: Create page object
PdfPage. - Step 4: Create contents object
PdfContents. - Step 5: Add text and graphics to the contents object (using
PdfContents methods). - Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 for additional pages
- Step 6: Create your PDF document file by calling
CreateFile method of PdfDocument.
Step 5 is where most of your programming effort will be spent. Adding contents is achieved by calling the methods of PdfContents class to render graphics and text. The contents class has a rich set (about 100) of methods for adding text and graphics to your document.
PdfDocument implements the IDisposable interface to release unmanaged resources. The CreateFile method calls Document.Dispose() after the PDF file is created. However, to ensure the release of resources you should wrap the PdfDocument creation and the final CreateFile with either a using statement or a try/catch block./p>
The demo program attached to this article is the test program developed to debug the library. The TestPdfFileWriter has six buttons on the main screen. Five buttons to produce examples of PDF files and one button to display all fonts available on your computer. The first button “Article Example” creates the PDF file displayed at the top of this article. Section 3. Development Guide by Example.
As stated before, the PdfFileWriter C# class library shields you from the complexities of the PDF file structure. However, good understanding of PDF file is always an advantage. Adobe PDF file specification document available from Adobe website: “PDF Reference, Sixth Edition, Adobe Portable Document Format Version 1.7 November 2006”. It is an intimidating 1310 pages document. I would strongly recommend reading Chapter 4 Graphics and sections 5.2 and 5.3 of the Text chapter 5.
If you want to analyze the PDF files created by this project, or if you want to understand PDF file structure in general, you can use the demo program attached to my previous article "PDF File Analyzer With C# Parsing Classes". This article provides a concise overview of the PDF specifications.
2. PDF File Writer Library General Notes
The PDF coordinate system origin is at the bottom left corner of the page. The X-axis is pointing to the right. The Y-axis is pointing in upward direction.
The PDF unit of measure is point. There are 72 points in one inch. The PDF File writer allows you to select your own unit of measure. All methods arguments representing position, width or height must be in your unit of measure. There are two exceptions: font size and resolution. Font size is always in points. Resolution is always in pixels per inch. The PDF File Writer converts all input arguments to points. All internal measurement values and calculations are done with double precision. At the final step when the PDF file is created, the values are converted to text strings. The conversion precision is six digits. The conversion formula used is:
if(Math.Abs(Value) < 0.0001) Value = 0.0;
String Result = ((Single) Value).ToString();
PDF readers such as Adobe Acrobat expect real numbers with a fraction to use period as the decimal separator. Some of the world regions use other decimal separators such as comma. Since Version 1.1 of the PDF File Writer library will use period as decimal separator regardless of regional setting of your computer.
The PDF File Writer library supports most of the fonts installed on your computer. The only exception is device fonts. The supported fonts follow the OpenType font specifications. More information is available at Microsoft Typography - OpenType Specification. The text to be drawn is stored in a String made of Unicode characters. The library will accept any character (0 to 65536) except control codes 0 to 31 and 128 to 159. Every character is translated into a glyph. The glyphs are drawn on the page left to right in the same order as they are stored in the string. Most font files support only a subset of all possible Unicode characters. In other words, you must select a font that supports the language of your project or the symbols you are trying to display. If the input String contains unsupported glyphs, the PDF reader will display the "undefined glyph". Normally it is a small rectangle. The test program attached to this article has a "Font Families" button. If you click it you can see all available fonts on your computer and within each font all available characters. If the language of your project is a left to right language and each character is translated into one glyph and the glyph is defined in the font, the result should be what you expect. If the result is not what you expect, here are some additional notes:
Unicode control characters. Unicode control characters are used to control the interpretation or display of text, but these characters themselves have no visual or spatial representation. The PDF File writer does not identify these characters. The library assumes that every character is a display character. They will be displayed as undefined character.
Right to left language. Normally the order of characters in a text string is the order a person would read them. Since the library draws left to right the text will be written backwards. The ReverseString method reverses the character order. This will solve the problem if the text is made only of right to left characters. If the text is a mix of right to left, left to right, numbers and some characters such as brackets ()[]<>{} it will not produce the desired results. Another limitation is TextBox class cannot break long right to left text into lines.
Ligature. In some languages a sequence of two or more characters are grouped together to display one glyph. Your software can identify these sequences and replaced them with the proper glyph.
Dotted circle. If you look at the Glyph column of Glyph Metrics screen you can see that some glyphs have a small dotted circle (i.e. character codes 2364 and 2367). These characters are part of a sequence of characters. The dotted circle is not displayed. If the advance width is zero and the bounding box is on the left side of the Y axis, this glyph will be drawen ok. It will be displayed on top of the previous character. If The advance width is not zero, this glyph should be displayed before the previous character. Your software can achieve it by reversing the two characters.
Displaying images in the PDF document is handled by the PdfImage class. This class is a PDF resource. Image sources can be:
- Image file
- .NET Image derived class such as Bitmap
- A Boolean array of black and white pixels
- QRCode barcode represented by QREncoder class
- PDF 417 barcode represented by Pdf417Encoder class
- PdfChart is a derived class of PdfImage
- PdfPrintDocument is using internally PdfImage to capture print pages
Images are saved to the PDF file in one of the following formats:
- Jpeg format (lossy compression)
- Indexed bitmap (Lossless compression)
- Gray bitmap (Lossless compression)
- Black and white bitmap (Lossless compression)
Color pictures should be saved in Jpeg format. To control the size of your image, you can reduce the resolution or change the image quality. Color pictures can be saved in shades of gray. Data size is cut by three, but you lose the color. If the image was created programmatically as in charts, and the number of colors is less than 256 the image can be saved as an indexed bitmap. Each color is represented by one byte (or less) compare to 3 bytes. This can result in a very significant file size reduction. For example, the ChartExample.pdf file is reduced from 642KB to 72KB. If the image is black and white as in PdfPrintDocument images of text, the image can be saved as BWImage. In the case of PrintExample.pdf the Jpeg file is 1795KB and the black and white version is 66KB.
Adding an image to your PDF File
Create a PdfImage class.
PdfImage MyImage = new PdfImage(Document);
Set optional parameters if required. All the parameters have a default value.
MyImage.SaveAs = SaveImageAs.Jpeg;
MyImage.CropRec = new Rectangle(x, y, width, height);
MyImage.CropPercent = new RectangleF(x, y, width, height);
MyImage.ImageQuality = PdfImage.DefaultQuality;
MyImage.Resolution = 0;
MyImage.GrayToBWCutoff = 50;
MyImage.ReverseBW = false;
MyImage.LayerControl = PdfLayer;
Load image into PdfImage object. NOTE: the loading method saves the image in the PDF output file. Once this step is done the image cannot be changed.
MyImage.LoadImage(image_source);
Draw the image into the PDF Document.
Contents.DrawImage(MyImage, PosX, PosY, Width, Height);
If you want the image to maintain correct aspect ratio use ImageSize or ImageSizePosition to calculate the width and height. If the ratio of width and height is not the same as the image, the image will look stretched in one of the directions.
SizeD MyImage.ImageSize(Double Width, Double Height);
ImageSizePos ImageSizePosition(Double Width, Double Height, ContentAlignment Alignment);
The code below illustrates how to include UPC-A barcode in a PDF document.
BarcodeEAN13 Barcode = new BarcodeEAN13("123456789010");
Contents.DrawBarcode(PosX, PosY, BarWidth, BarcodeHeight, Barcode, Font, FontSize);
In this case the class is BarcodeEAN13 with 12 digits input string. The result is UPC-A barcode.
The PDF File Writer library includes a base class Barcode. For each supported barcode one needs a derived class. The class library includes four derived classes: Barcode128, Barcode39, BarcodeInterleaved2of5 and BarcodeEAN13. The BarcodeEAN13 produces EAN-13 barcode if the input string is 13 digits and UPC-A if the input string is 12 digits. Input string with 13 digit and a leading zero is considered UPC-A.
The DrawBarcode method has a number of overloads. You specify the position of the bottom left corner of the barcode, the width of the narrow bar, the height of the barcode and the derived barcode class. There are optional arguments: justification (left, center, right) color and font to display the text. Quiet zone around the barcode is your responsibility. Optional text is displayed below the barcode. If you select color other than black you should make sure the contrast to the background is significant. Usage examples are given in 3.7 Draw Barcodes, ArticleExample.cs and OtherExample.cs.
If you want to create a derived class for another barcode, use the source code for the three included classes as an example.
The PDF File Writer library provides support for QR Code. It is based on article QR Code Encoder and Decoder .NET(Framework, Standard, Core) Class Library Written in C#. The program supports three characters sets: numeric, alphanumeric and eight-bit byte. The program does not support Kanji characters. The program will scan the data string input and selects the most effective character set. If your data can be divided into segments with just digits or just alphanumeric characters you can create a QR Code object with array of data strings.
Adding QRCode barcode to your PDF document must follow the steps below.
- Create
QREncoder object. - Set encoding options. All encoding options have default values.
- Encode a data string or a data bytes array.
- Create
PdfImage. - Draw the barcode image with
PdfContent.DrawImage
QR Code example
QREncoder QREncoder = new QREncoder();
QREncoder.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrection.M;
QREncoder.ModuleSize = 1;
QREncoder.QuietZone = 4;
Encoder.ECIAssignValue = -1;
QREncoder.Encode(ArticleLink);
PdfImage BarcodeImage = new PdfImage(Document, QREncoder);
Contents.DrawImage(BarcodeImage, 6.0, 6.8, 1.2);
For coding examples please review 3.7 Draw Barcodes, ArticleExample.cs and OtherExample.cs source code.
PDF417 barcode support software is based on article PDF417 Barcode Encoder Class Library and Demo App. The PDF417 barcode documentation and specification can be found in the following websites. Wikipedia provides a good introduction to PDF417. Click here to access the page. The PDF417 standard can be purchased from the ISO organization at this website. An early version of the specifications can be downloaded from this website for free. I strongly recommend that you download this document if you want to fully understand the encoding options.
The PDF417 barcode encodes array of bytes into an image of black and white bars. Encoding Unicode text requires converting Unicode characters into bytes. The decoder must do the reverse process to recover the text. The bytes are converted to codewords. This conversion process compresses the bytes into codewords. The encoder adds error correction codewords for error detection and recovery. Once the total number of data codewords and error correction codewords is known , the encoder divides the codewords into data rows and data columns. The final step is the creation of a black and white image.
Adding PDF417 barcode to your PDF document must follow the steps below.
- Create
Pdf417Encoder object. - Set encoding options. All encoding options have default values.
- Encode a data string or a data bytes array.
- Check the image width and height or the number of data columns and data rows to make sure image size is appropriate for your application. If it is not, adjust the layout.
- Create
PdfImage. - Draw the barcode image with
PdfContent.DrawImage
Example of PDF417 Barcode Drawing
private void DrawPdf417Barcode()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Pdf417Encoder Pdf417 = new Pdf417Encoder();
string ArticleLink = "http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/570682/PDF-File-Writer-Csharp-Class-Library-Version";
Pdf417.Encode(ArticleLink);
Pdf417.WidthToHeightRatio(2.5);
PdfImage BarcodeImage = new PdfImage(Document, Pdf417);
Contents.DrawImage(BarcodeImage, 1.1, 5.2, 2.5);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
PDF417 Barcode Object
Create PDF417 barcode object. This object can be reused serially to produce multiple barcodes.
Pdf417Encoder Pdf417 = new Pdf417Encoder();
Set optional parameters to control the encoding process.
Encoding control
The PDF417 encoder encodes Input bytes into codewords. There are three types of codewords: byte, text and numeric. The program has an algorithm to divide the data input into these three types to compress the data. The default is Auto. However, you can restrict the encoding to only bytes or only text and bytes.
Pdf417.EncodingControl = Pdf417EncodingControl.Auto;
Pdf417.EncodingControl = Pdf417EncodingControl.ByteOnly;
Pdf417.EncodingControl = Pdf417EncodingControl.TextAndByte;
Error Correction Level
The PDF417 adds error correction codewords to detect errors and correct them. More error correction codewords improves the reliability of the barcode. However, it makes the barcode bigger. Error correction level allows you to control the quality of the barcode. The ErrorCorrectionLevel enumeration has two types of values. Fixed levels from 0 to 8. And levels that are recommended values based on the number of data codewords. The default value in ErrorCorrectionLevel.AutoNormal. For more details look at Table 6 and Table 7 in the PDF417 Specification.
Pdf417.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrectionLevel.Level_0;
Pdf417.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrectionLevel.AutoNormal;
Pdf417.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrectionLevel.AutoLow;
Pdf417.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrectionLevel.AutoMedium;
Pdf417.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrectionLevel.AutoHigh;
Narrow Bar Width
The width in pixels of a narrow barcode bar. The default is 2. If this value is changed, the program makes sure that RowHeight is at least three times that value. And that QuiteZone is at least twice that value.
Pdf417.NarrowBarWidth = value;
Row Height
The height in pixels of one row. This value must be greater than or equal to 3 times the NarrowBarWidth value. The default is 6.
Pdf417.RowHeight = value;
Quiet Zone
The width of the quiet zone all around the barcode. The quiet zone is white. This value must be greater than or equal to 2 times the NarrowBarWidth value. The default is 4.
Pdf417.QuietZone = value;
Default Data Columns
The default data columns value. The value must be in the range of 1 to 30. The default is 3. After the input data is encoded, the software sets the number of data columns to the default data columns and calculates the number of data rows. If the number of data rows exceeds the maximum allowed (90), the software sets the number of rows to the maximum allowed and recalculate the number of data columns. If the result is greater than the maximum columns allowed, an exception is thrown.
Pdf417.DefaultDataColumns = value;
Global Label ID Character Set
Set Global Label ID Character Set to ISO 8859 standard. The n can be 1 to 9 or 13 or 15. If the string is null, the default of ISO-8859-1 is used. Language support is defined here.
Pdf417.GlobalLabelIDCharacterSet = "ISO-8859-n";
Global Label ID User Defined
Set Global Label ID User Defined value. The default is not used. I did not find any reference explaining the usage of this value. User defined value must be between 810900 and 811799.
Pdf417.GlobalLabelIDUserDefined = UserDefinedValue;
Global Label ID General Purpose
Set Global Label ID General Purpose value. The default is not used. I did not find any reference explaining the usage of this value. User defined value must be between 900 and 810899.
Pdf417.GlobalLabelIDGeneralPurpose = UserDefinedValue;
Encoding data
There are two encoding methods. One accepts text string as an input and the other one accepts byte array as an input.
Pdf417.Encode(string StringData);
Pdf417.Encode(byte[] BinaryData);
The barcode was designed for binary data. Therefore, the first method above must encode the string from 16 bit characters to byte array. The encode method with string input has the following conversion logic. The Global Label ID Character Set property control the conversion. It is done in two steps. Step one string to UTF8 and step two UTF8 to ISO-8859-n. If you want to encode Hebrew you should set the character set to ISO-8859-8.
public void Encode(string StringData)
{
byte[] UtfBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(StringData);
Encoding ISO = Encoding.GetEncoding(_GlobalLabelIDCharacterSet ?? "ISO-8859-1");
byte[] IsoBytes = Encoding.Convert(Encoding.UTF8, ISO, UtfBytes);
Encode(IsoBytes);
Return;
}
Final Barcode Layout
After the data was encoded, you can check the layout of the barcode by examining these values: ImageWidth, ImageHeight, DataColumns or DataRows. If you want to readjust the width and the height of the barcode you can used one of the methods below. In addition, you can readjust the optional parameters: NarrowBarWidth, RowHeight or QuietZonevalues.
Width to Height Ratio
This method will calculate the number of data rows and data columns to achieve a desired width to height ratio. The ratio includes the quiet zone. Check the return value for success.
Bool Pdf417.WidthToHeightRatio(double Ratio);
Set Data Columns
This method will calculate the number of data rows based on the desired number of data columns. Check the return value for success.
Bool Pdf417.SetDataColumns(int Columns);
Set Data Rows
This method will calculate the number of data columns based on the desired number of data rows. Check the return value for success.
Bool Pdf417.SetDataRows(int Rows);
Create PDF Document Image Resource
In this step we create a PDF document image resource from the PDF417 barcode.
PdfImage BarcodeImage = new PdfImage(Document, Pdf417);
Draw the Barcode
The last step is adding the barcode to the content of a PDF document’s page.
Contents.DrawImage(BarcodeImage, PosX, PosY, Width);
The PDF File Writer library provides support to web linking. This feature is one of the PDF interactive features described in the PDF reference manual in Section 8 Interactive Features. It is a combination of annotation and action. Annotation associates a web link with an area on the page. When the user clicks on the area, the PDF reader will activate the default web browser navigating to the desired web page.
The annotation area is a rectangle area defined by absolute coordinates relative to the bottom left corner of the page. To add a web link call AddWebLink method of the PdfPage class.
Page.AddWebLink(Double LeftPos, Double BottomPos, Double RightPos, Double TopPos, String WebLink);
Annotations are not part of the page contents. In order or the reader of your PDF document to know where to click you need to display appropriate text or graphics in the same area on the page. In other words you need to call two methods. The AddWebLink method associated with the page and a second method associated with the contents. The second method can be a graphic object such as image or a rectangle, or text. Because AddWebLink requires coordinates relative to the bottom left corner of the page, the coordinates of your graphic object must be the same. In other words, do not use translation, scaling or rotation. If you do, you need to make sure that the two areas will coincide.
The PDF File Writer has several PdfContents methods supporting text annotation.
Draw a line of text with associated web link. The text will be left justified, underlined and blue. Text position is relative to bottom left corner of the page.
PdfContents.DrawWebLink(PdfPage Page, PdfFont Font, Double FontSize,
Double TextAbsPosX, Double TextAbsPosY, String Text, String WebLink);
Draw a line of text with associated web link. Text position is relative to bottom left corner of the page.
PdfContents.DrawWebLink(PdfPage Page, PdfFont Font, Double FontSize, Double TextAbsPosX, Double TextAbsPosY,
TextJustify Justify, DrawStyle DrawStyle, Color TextColor, String Text, String WebLink);
Drawing web link within TextBox is a two step process. First you add the text and the web link string to the box using one of the AddText methods of TextBox class. Second you draw the TextBox to the page contents using one of the DrawText methods of PdfContents.
Add web link to TextBox. The text will be displayed underlined and blue.
TextBox.AddText(PdfFont Font, Double FontSize, String Text, String WebLink);
Add web link to TextBox. The text attributes are defined by DrawStyle and FontColor.
TextBox.AddText(PdfFont Font, Double FontSize, DrawStyle DrawStyle, Color FontColor, String Text, String WebLink);
Second step draw text to contents. This method assumes no extra line or paragraph spacing. Note, if you call DrawText without PdfPage argument on a TextBox with WebLink information, ApplicationException will be thrown.
PdfContents.DrawText(Double PosX, ref Double PosYTop, Double PosYBottom, Int32 LineNo, TextBox Box, PdfPage Page);
This method lets you define extra line or paragraph spacing. Note, if you call DrawText without PdfPage argument on a TextBox with WebLink information, ApplicationException will be thrown.
PdfContents.DrawText(Double PosX, ref Double PosYTop, Double PosYBottom, Int32 LineNo,
Double LineExtraSpace, Double ParagraphExtraSpace, Boolean FitTextToWidth, TextBox Box, PdfPage Page);
For coding examples please review 3.4 Draw Frame, ArticleExample.cs and OtherExample.cs source code.
Bookmarks are described in the PDF specification (section 8.2.2 Document Outline) as follows: "A PDF Document may optionally display a document outline on the screen, allowing the user to navigate interactively from one part of the document to another. The outline consists of a tree-structured hierarchy of outline items (sometimes called bookmarks), which serve as a visual table of contents to display the document's structure to the user. The user can interactively open and close individual item by clicking them with the mouse."
The OtherExample.cs source code has an example of bookmarks. At one location there is a hierarchy of three levels. You can see the result in OtherExample.pdf file.
The first step in adding bookmarks to your application is:
PdfBookmark BookmarkRoot = Document.GetBookmarksRoot();
This step activates bookmarks in your document and returns the root node.
Adding bookmarks is similar to adding controls to a windows form. The first level bookmarks are added to the root. Subsequent levels are added to existing bookmarks. At minimum you have to define a title, page, vertical position on the page and an open entries flag. Page is the PdfPage object of the page to go to. YPos is the vertical position relative to the bottom left corner of the page. Open entries flag is true if the lower level bookmarks are visible and false if the lower level are hidden. The first level is always visible by default.
PdfBookmark FirstLevel_1 = BookmarkRoot.AddBookmark("Chapter 1", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark SecondLevel_11 = FirstLevel_1.AddBookmark("Section 1.1", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark SecondLevel_12 = FirstLevel_1.AddBookmark("Section 1.2", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark ThirdLevel_121 = SecondLevel_12.AddBookmark("Section 1.2.1", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark ThirdLevel_122 = SecondLevel_12.AddBookmark("Section 1.2.2", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark SecondLevel_13 = FirstLevel_1.AddBookmark("Section 1.3", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark FirstLevel_2 = BookmarkRoot.AddBookmark("Chapter 2", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark SecondLevel_21 = FirstLevel_2.AddBookmark("Section 2.1", Page, YPos, false);
PdfBookmark SecondLevel_22 = FirstLevel_2.AddBookmark("Section 2.2", Page, YPos, false);
AddBookmark() method has four overloading variations:
public PdfBookmark AddBookmark
(
String Title,
PdfPage Page,
Double YPos,
Boolean OpenEntries
)
public PdfBookmark AddBookmark
(
String Title,
PdfPage Page,
Double YPos,
Color Paint,
TextStyle TextStyle,
Boolean OpenEntries
)
public PdfBookmark AddBookmark
(
String Title,
PdfPage Page,
Double XPos,
Double YPos,
Double Zoom,
Boolean OpenEntries
)
public PdfBookmark AddBookmark
(
String Title,
PdfPage Page,
Double XPos,
Double YPos,
Double Zoom,
Color Paint,
TextStyle TextStyle,
Boolean OpenEntries
)
PdfBookmark class exposes one more method GetChild. You can get any bookmark by calling GetChild with one or more integer arguments. Each argument is a zero base argument of the child position in the level. For example GetChild(2) is the third item of the first level. GetChild(2, 3) is the forth second level item of the third first level item.
The PDF specification has no specific support for charting. The PDF File Writer library provides charting support by allowing the developer to create a Microsoft Charting object and draw this object as an image into the PDF file. For more information about Microsoft Chart control note MSDN library documentation Visual Studio 2012 Chart Controls. The documentation for the charting name space is available at Data Visualization Charting Namespace. The attached ChartExample.cs has four examples of charts. If you intend to use charting, you need to add System.Windows.Forms.Visualization reference to your project. In each source module using Chart you need to add using System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting;.
Adding a chart to a PDF document is four steps process.
- Create Chart object.
- Create PdfChart object.
- Build the chart.
- Draw the PdfChart to PdfContents.
The recommended way to create a chart is to use a static method of PdfChart object.
Chart MyChart = PdfChart.CreateChart(PdfDocument Document, Double Width, Double Height, Double Resolution);
You can instantiate Chart class yourself.
Chart MyChart = new Chart();
MyChart.RenderingDpiY = 300;
MyChart.Width = 1950;
Mychart.Height = 1350;
Next you create a PdfChart from the Chart created above. Optionally, you can override the resolution.
PdfChart MyPdfChart = new PdfChart(PdfDocument Document, Chart MyChart, Double Resolution);
Next you build your chart. ChartExample.cs has four examples. The documentation for building a chart is beyond the scope of this article. There plenty of examples on the Internet.
PdfChart has a CreateFont method to simplify the creation of fonts. It will calculate font size based on chart's resolution.
Font CreateFont(String FontFamilyName, FontStyle Style, Double FontSize, FontSizeUnit Unit);
The last step is drawing the chart.
public void PdfContents.DrawChart(PdfChart MyPdfChart, Double OrigX, Double OrigY);
public void PdfContents.DrawChart(PdfChart MyPdfChart, Double OrigX, Double OrigY, Double Width, Double Height);
The PdfChart class provides some optional methods to control image positioning.
The ImageSize method returns the largest rectangle with correct aspect ratio that will fit in a given area.
SizeD ImageSize(Double Width, Double Height);
The ImageSizePosition method returns the largest rectangle with correct aspect ratio that will fit in a given area and position it based on ContentAlignment enumeration.
ImageSizePos ImageSizePosition(Double Width, Double Height, ContentAlignment Alignment);
Print document support allows you to print a report in the same way as printing to a printer and producing a PDF document. The difference between this method of producing a PDF file and using PdfContents to produce a PDF file is the difference between raster graphics to vector graphics. Print document support creates one jpeg image per page. PrintExample.cs has an example of creating a three page document.
Normally each page is a full image of the page. If your page is letter size and the resolution is 300 pixels per inch, each pixel is 3 bytes, the bit map of the page will be 25.245MB long. PrintPdfDocument has a method CropRect that can reduce the size of the bit map significantly. Assuming one inch margin is used, the active size of the bit map will be reduced to 15.795 MB. That is 37.4% reduction.
Document = new PdfDocument(PaperType.Letter, false, UnitOfMeasure.Inch);
PdfImageControl ImageControl = new PdfImageControl();
ImageControl.Resolution = 300.0;
PrintPdfDocument Print = new PrintPdfDocument(Document, ImageControl);
Print.PrintPage += PrintPage;
Print.SetMargins(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0);
Print.CropRect = new RectangleF(0.95F, 0.95F, 6.6F, 9.1F);
Print.AddPagesToPdfDocument();
Print.Dispose();
Document.CreateFile(FileName);
Example of PrintPage method
public void PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
{
Graphics G = e.Graphics;
G.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighQuality;
G.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;
G.PixelOffsetMode = PixelOffsetMode.HighQuality;
G.CompositingQuality = CompositingQuality.HighQuality;
Rectangle PrintArea = e.MarginBounds;
G.DrawRectangle(Pens.DarkBlue, PrintArea);
Int32 LineHeight = DefaultFont.Height + 8;
Rectangle TextRect = new Rectangle(PrintArea.X + 4, PrintArea.Y + 4, PrintArea.Width - 8, LineHeight);
String text = String.Format("Page Bounds: Left {0}, Top {1}, Right {2}, Bottom {3}",
e.PageBounds.Left, e.PageBounds.Top, e.PageBounds.Right, e.PageBounds.Bottom);
G.DrawString(text, DefaultFont, Brushes.Black, TextRect);
TextRect.Y += LineHeight;
text = String.Format("Page Margins: Left {0}, Top {1}, Right {2}, Bottom {3}",
PrintArea.Left, PrintArea.Top, PrintArea.Right, PrintArea.Bottom);
G.DrawString(text, DefaultFont, Brushes.Black, TextRect);
TextRect.Y += LineHeight;
for(Int32 LineNo = 1; ; LineNo++)
{
text = String.Format("Page {0}, Line {1}", PageNo, LineNo);
G.DrawString(text, DefaultFont, Brushes.Black, TextRect);
TextRect.Y += LineHeight;
if(TextRect.Bottom > PrintArea.Bottom) break;
}
PageNo++;
e.HasMorePages = PageNo <= 3;
return;
}
The data table classes allow you to display data tables in your PDF document. PdfTable is the main class controlling the display of one table. A table is made out of a header row and data rows. Each row is divided into cells. PdfTableCell controls the display of one header cell or one data cell. If header is used it will be displayed at the top of the table. Optionally it will be displayed at the top of each additional page. To display data in a cell, you load the data into the Value property of PdfTableCell. Data can be text string, basic numeric value, Boolean, Char, TextBox, image, QR code or barcode. Independently of data, you can load the cell with document link, web link, video, audio or embedded file. Clicking anywhere within the cell's area will cause the PDF reader to activate the document link, web link, video, audio or embedded file. The display of the data is controlled by PdfTableStyle class. PdfTable class contains a default cell style and a default header style. You can override the default styles with private styles within PdfTableCell. To display a table, you create a PdfTable object. Next you initialize the table, header cells, data cells and styles objects. Finally, you set a loop and load the cell values of one row and then draw this row. This loop continues until all data was displayed. Below you will find the necessary sequence of steps to produce a table.
When DrawRow method is called, the software calculates the required row height. Row height is the height of the tallest cell. The row will be drawn if there is sufficient space within the table. When the available space at the bottom is too small, a new page is called, and optional heading and the current row are displayed at the top of the table. If the required row height is so large that it will not fit in full empty table, an exception is raised. In order to accommodate long multi-line Strings or TextBoxes, the software can handle these cases in a flexible way. Multi-line String is converted by PdfTable into a TextBox. The PdfTableStyle class has a TextBoxPageBreakLines property. If this property is set to zero (default), the TextBox is treated as other data values. TextBox height must fit the page. If TextBoxPageBreakLines is set to a positive integer, the system will calculate cell's height as TextBox height or the height the first few lines as specified by TextBoxPageBreakLines. The system will draw the row with as many lines that fit the page. A new page will be created, and the rest of the lines will be drawn. In other words, the first block of lines of a long TextBox will be at least TextBoxPageBreakLines long. TableExample.cs source contains an example of long TextBox cells.
Create a PdfTable object.
PdfTable Table = new PdfTable(Page, Contents, Font, FontSize);
Page is the current PdfPage. Contents is the current PdfContents. Font is the table default font. FontSize is the default font size in points.
Define table's area on the page.
Table.TableArea = new PdfRectangle(Left, Bottom, Right, Top);
Table.RowTopPosition = StartingTopPosition;
The four arguments are the four sides of the table relative to bottom left corner and in user units. If on the first page the table-top position is not at the top of the page set RowTopPosition to the starting top position. On subsequent pages the table will always start at the top. If TableArea is not specified, the library will set it to default page size less one inch margin.
Divide the table width into columns.
StockTable.SetColumnWidth(Width1, Width2, Width3, ...);
The number of arguments is the number of columns. The table width less total border lines will be divided in proportion to these arguments.
Once the number of columns is set with SetColumnWidth method the library creates two PdfTableCell arrays. One array for header cells and one array for data cells.
Rows and columns of the data table can be separated by border lines. Border lines properties are defined by PdfTableBorder and PdfTableBorderStyle. There are four horizontal border lines: TopBorder, BottomBorder, HeaderHorBorder between the header row and first data row and CellHorBorder between data rows. There are two sets of vertical border lines: HeaderVertBorder array for vertical border lines within the header row, and CellVertBorder array for vertical border lines between columns within the data part of the table. Arrays size is the number of columns plus one. Array element zero is the table's left border. Array element Columns is the table's right border. All other elements are lines separating columns. Each of these lines can be defined individually. There are methods to define all border lines at once or define each individual border line.
Methods to define all border lines:
Table.Borders.ClearAllBorders();
Table.Borders.SetDefaultBorders();
Table.Borders.SetAllBorders(Double Width);
Table.Borders.SetAllBorders(Double Width, Color LineColor);
Table.Borders.SetAllBorders(Double FrameWidth, Double GridWidth);
Table.Borders.SetAllBorders(Double FrameWidth, Color FrameColor, Double GridWidth, Color GridColor);
Table.Borders.SetFrame(Double Width);
Table.Borders.SetFrame(Double Width, Color LineColor);
Each horizontal border line can be cleared or set. The example is for top border line:
Table.Borders.ClearTopBorder();
Table.Borders.SetTopBorder(Double LineWidth);
Table.Borders.SetTopBorder(Double LineWidth, Color LineColor);
Each vertical border line can be cleared or set. The example is for cell's vertical border lines:
Table.Borders.ClearCellVertBorder(Int32 Index);
Table.Borders.SetCellVertBorder(Int32 Index, Double LineWidth);
Table.Borders.SetCellVertBorder(Int32 Index, Double LineWidth, Color LineColor);
Set other optional table properties. The values given in the example below are the defaults.
HeaderOnEachPage = true;
MinRowHeight = 0.0;
Table information is processed one row at a time. Each row is made of cells. One cell per column. The display of cell's information is controlled by PdfTableStyle class. There are about 20 style properties. For the complete list view the source code or the help file. Some of these styles are specific to the type of information to be displayed. Here is an example
Table.DefaultHeaderStyle.Alignment = ContentAlignment.BottomRight;
Table.Header[0].Style = Table.HeaderStyle;
Table.Header[0].Style.Alignment = ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft;
Table.Header[0].Value = "Date";
Table.DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = ContentAlignment.MiddleRight;
Table.DefaultCellStyle.Format = "#,##0.00";
Table.Cell[0].Style = StockTable.CellStyle;
Table.Cell[0].Style.Alignment = ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft;
Table.Cell[0].Style.Format = null;
After initialization is done it is time to display the data. The example below is from TableExample.cs. It is a table of stock prices. There are 6 columns.
StreamReader Reader = new StreamReader("SP500.csv");
Reader.ReadLine();
for(;;)
{
String TextLine = Reader.ReadLine();
if(TextLine == null) break;
String[] Fld = TextLine.Split(new Char[] {','});
Table.Cell[ColDate].Value = Fld[ColDate];
Table.Cell[ColOpen].Value = Double.Parse(Fld[ColOpen], NFI.PeriodDecSep);
Table.Cell[ColHigh].Value = Double.Parse(Fld[ColHigh], NFI.PeriodDecSep);
Table.Cell[ColLow].Value = Double.Parse(Fld[ColLow], NFI.PeriodDecSep);
Table.Cell[ColClose].Value = Double.Parse(Fld[ColClose], NFI.PeriodDecSep);
Table.Cell[ColVolume].Value = Int32.Parse(Fld[ColVolume]);
StockTable.DrawRow();
}
StockTable.Close();
The DrawRow(NewPage) method has an optional argument Boolean NewPage = false. The default value is false. If you want the next row to be printed at the top of the next page, set the argument to true.
Interactive features example.
BookList.Cell[6].WebLink = WebLinkString;
BookList.Cell[6].AnnotAction = new AnnotWebLink(WebLinkString);
BookList.Cell[6].AnnotAction = new AnnotLinkAction("Chapter3");
PdfDisplayMedia Omega = new PdfDisplayMedia(PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "Omega.mp4"));
BookList.Cell[6].AnnotAction = new AnnotDisplayMedia(Omega);
PdfDisplayMedia RingSound = new PdfDisplayMedia(PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "Ring01.wav"));
BookList.Cell[6].AnnotAction = new AnnotDisplayMedia(RingSound);
PdfEmbeddedFile EmbeddedFile = PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "BookList.txt");
BookList.Cell[6].AnnotAction = new AnnotFileAttachment(EmbeddedFile, FileAttachIcon.NoIcon);
For more examples of data table source code look into ArticleExample.cs and TableExample.cs. For more detail documentation of PdfTable, PdfTableCell, PdfTableStyle and PdfTableBorder classes look into PdfFileWriter.chm help file.
The PdfFileWriter supports embedding video files in the PDF document. Full examples of playing video files are given in the page 7 of OtherExample.cs. Adding a video file requires the use of three classes. First you need to embed the video file in the PDF document.
Second you need to define how the video is to be played. The PdfDisplayMedia class has a number of methods to control the video display. Please refer to the class' source code and the documentation help file. For example: RepeatCount or ScaleMedia. If you want to play the video in a floating window you must use SetMediaWindow method.
Third you need to define the area on the PDF page that the user must click in order to activate the video. If you want to activate the video when the annotation area is visible, use ActivateActionWhenPageIsVisible.
PdfRectangle AnnotRect = ImageSizePos.ImageArea(480, 360,
AreaLeft, AreaBottom, AreaRight - AreaLeft, AreaTop - AreaBottom, ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter);
PdfDisplayMedia DisplayMedia = new PdfDisplayMedia(PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "LooneyTunes.mp4"));
PdfAnnotation Annotation = Page.AddScreenAction(AnnotRect, DisplayMedia);
PdfXObject AnnotArea = AnnotationArea(AnnotRect.Width, AnnotRect.Height, Color.Lavender, Color.Indigo, "Click here to play the video");
Annotation.Appearance(AnnotArea);
Floating window video display
PdfDisplayMedia DisplayMedia = new PdfDisplayMedia(PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "Omega.mp4"));
DisplayMedia.DisplayControls(true);
DisplayMedia.RepeatCount(0);
DisplayMedia.SetMediaWindow(MediaWindow.Floating, 640, 360, WindowPosition.Center,
WindowTitleBar.TitleBarWithCloseButton, WindowResize.KeepAspectRatio, "Floating Window Example");
Double LineSpacing = ArialNormal.LineSpacing(12.0);
Double TextPosX = PosX + 0.5 * AreaWidth;
Double TextPosY = PosY + 0.5 * AreaHeight + LineSpacing;
Double TextWidth = Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center, "Click this text to play video");
TextPosY -= LineSpacing;
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center, "in floating window");
PdfRectangle AnnotRect = new PdfRectangle(TextPosX - 0.5 * TextWidth, TextPosY - ArialNormal.DescentPlusLeading(12.0),
TextPosX + 0.5 * TextWidth, TextPosY + ArialNormal.AscentPlusLeading(12.0) + LineSpacing);
Page.AddScreenAction(AnnotRect, DisplayMedia);
The PdfFileWriter supports embedding sound files in the PDF document. Full example of playing sound file is given in the page 7 of OtherExample.cs. Embedding sound files is essentially the same as video files. The only obvious difference is that there is nothing to display.
PdfDisplayMedia DisplayMedia = new PdfDisplayMedia(PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "Ring01.wav"));
DisplayMedia.SetMediaWindow(MediaWindow.Hidden);
AnnotDisplayMedia RingSound = new AnnotDisplayMedia(DisplayMedia);
Double LineSpacing = ArialNormal.LineSpacing(12.0);
Double TextPosX = PosX + 0.5 * AreaWidth;
Double TextPosY = PosY + 0.5 * AreaHeight + LineSpacing;
Contents.DrawTextWithAnnotation(Page, ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center,
DrawStyle.Normal, Color.Red, "Click this text to play", RingSound);
TextPosY -= LineSpacing;
Contents.DrawTextWithAnnotation(Page, ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center,
DrawStyle.Normal, Color.Red, "Ringing sound", RingSound);
The PdfFileWriter supports embedding data files in the PDF document. Full example of embedding file is given in the page 7 of OtherExample.cs. The user can save the files or display the files.
PdfEmbeddedFile EmbeddedFile = PdfEmbeddedFile.CreateEmbeddedFile(Document, "BookList.txt");
AnnotFileAttachment FileIcon = new AnnotFileAttachment(EmbeddedFile, FileAttachIcon.Paperclip);
Double LineSpacing = ArialNormal.LineSpacing(12.0);
Double TextPosX = PosX + 0.5 * AreaWidth;
Double TextPosY = PosY + 0.5 * AreaHeight + LineSpacing;
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center, "Right click on the paper clip");
TextPosY -= LineSpacing;
Double TextWidth = Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center, "to open or save the attached file");
Double IconPosX = TextPosX + 0.5 * TextWidth + 0.1;
Double IconPosY = TextPosY;
PdfRectangle AnnotRect = new PdfRectangle(IconPosX, IconPosY, IconPosX + 0.15, IconPosY + 0.4);
Page.AddFileAttachment(AnnotRect, EmbeddedFile, FileAttachIcon.Paperclip);
TextPosY -= 2 * LineSpacing;
AnnotFileAttachment FileText = new AnnotFileAttachment(EmbeddedFile, FileAttachIcon.NoIcon);
Contents.DrawTextWithAnnotation(Page, ArialNormal, 12.0, TextPosX, TextPosY, TextJustify.Center,
DrawStyle.Underline, Color.Red, "File attachment (right click)", FileText);
The PdfFileWriter appends new pages to the end of the page list. If you want to move a page from its current position to a new position use the following method.
Document.MovePage(Int32 SourceIndex, Int32 DestinationIndex);
The PdfFileWriter creates PDF documents. The main class PdfDocument constructor gives you two choices to save the document. The first choice is to save the PDF file to a disk file. In this case you provide the constuctor with a file name. At the end of file creation, you call PdfDocument.CreateFile. This method writes the PDF to the file and closes the file.
PdfDocument Document = new PdfDocument(PaperType.Letter, false, UnitOfMeasure.Inch, FileName);
Document.CreateFile();
The second choice is a stream. You create a stream, either memory stream or a file stream, and you pass the stream as an argument to the PdfDocument constructor. After CreateFile method is executed, your stream contains the PDF document. Extract the document from the stream as appropriate to your application. You must close the stream in your application.
MemoryStream PdfStream = new MemoryStream();
PdfDocument Document = new PdfDocument(PaperType.Letter, false, UnitOfMeasure.Inch, PdfStream);
Document.CreateFile();
FileStream FS = new FileStream(FileName, FileMode.Create);
PdfStream.WriteTo(FS);
PdfStream.Close();
FS.Close();
The PDF document information dictionary is displayed by the PDF reader in the Description tab of the document properties. The information includes: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Created date and time, Modified date and time, the Application that produced the file, the PDF Producer. Including document information in your application is done as follows:
PdfInfo Info = new PdfInfo(Document);
Info.Title("Article Example");
Info.Author("Uzi Granot Granotech Limited");
Info.Keywords("PDF, .NET, C#, Library, Document Creator");
Info.Subject("PDF File Writer C# Class Library (Version 1.15.0)");
When PdfInfo object is created, four additional fields are added to the dictionary. You can override all of them in your code.
DateTime LocalTime = DateTime.Now;
Info.CreationDate(LocalTime);
Info.ModDate(LocalTime);
Info.Creator("PdfFileWriter C# Class Library Version " + PdfDocument.RevisionNumber);
Info.Producer("PdfFileWriter C# Class Library Version " + PdfDocument.RevisionNumber);
As a document is being built, the PDF File Writer accumulates all the information required to create the PDF file. The information is kept in memory except for images and embedded files. Images and embedded files are automatically written to the output file when they are declared. For very large documents the memory used keeps growing. The library offers methods (CommitToPdfFile) to write contents information to the output file and invoke the garbage collector to free the unused memory. The GC.Collect method takes time to execute. If execution time is an issue, set the GCCollect argument once every few pages. In other words, the CommitToPdfFile must run for every page but the cleanup is done once every few pages. Once a commit was executed, no additional information can be added. PdfTable automatically starts a new page when the next row cannot fit at the bottom of the current page. The PdfTable class has two members CommitToPdfFile and CommitGCCollectFreq to control memory usage while a table is being build. The PdfChart class generates an image from the .NET Chart class. The DrawChart method of PdfContents will perform the commit. Alternatively, you can call CommitToPdfFile method of PdfChart.
Contents.CommitToPdfFile(true);
Drawing WPF graphics is a four steps process.
- Step 1: Create
DrawWPFPath object. Input arguments are path and Y axis direction. - Step 2: Optionally add a brush by calling one of seven
SetBrush methods or call UseCurrentBrush method. - Step 3: Optionally add a pen by calling one of two
SetPen methods or call UseCurrentPen method. - Step 4: Draw the graphics object by calling
PdfContents.DrawWPFPath.
If System.Windows.Media reference is not available (i.e. your application is Windows Form), you need to add PresentationCore and WindowsBase assemblies to your application.
Programming example of drawing with WPF graphics classes is given in OtherExample.cs Example8e and Example8f.
If no brush and no pen are defined the draw graphics is taken as a clip path.
Below you will find more details how to use the DrawWPFPath class for both WPF applications and other applications.
DrawWPFPath constructor takes two arguments: path and Y axis direction. Path is either a string or System.Windows.Media.PathGeometry. The text string is defined in Path Markup Syntax. The path geometry class is described in PathGeometry Class. The Y axis direction is down when the path is defined for WPF environment. The Y axis is up for PDF environment.
| NOTE to programmers in any part of the world that use number decimal separator other than period. The text string input representing a path must be constructed exactly as define in Path Markup Syntax. Decimal numbers with fraction must use period regardless of world region. If you use optional separator between x and y values, it must be a comma. If the string is generated by another application make sure that the PathGeometry ToString is called with: PathGeometry.ToString(System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture). In other words, The Microsoft's PathGeometry.Parse method will fail to read a text string produce in Italy, for example, by PathGeometry.ToString method without IFormatProvider set to InvariantCulture.
|
There are three methods to define a brush for WPF applications. All of these methods will set the brush opacity at the same time.
There are five methods to define a brush for all applications. All of these methods will set the brush opacity at the same time.
- Set brush to
System.Drawing.Color. - Set brush to
PdfAxialShading - Set brush to
PdfRadialShading - Set brush to
PdfTilingPattern - Set brush to
UseCurrentBrush
If you want the DrawWPFPath class to set the brush to the currently selected brush, call UseCurrentBrush method.
There is one method to define a pen for WPF applications. Call SetPen method with System.Windows.Media.Pen class (See Pen Class). Note, the Pen.Brush property must be SolidColorBrush. The pen class contains all required information to draw a line, such as color and width.
There is one method to define a pen for all applications. Call SetPen with System.Drawing.Color argument. The color argument defines alpha, red, green and blue components. To set other pen characteristics set any or all of the following properties and methods:
SetPenWidthDashArrayDashPhaseLineCapLineJoinMiterLimit
If you want the DrawWPFPath class to set the pen to the currently selected pen call UseCurrentPen method.
Once DrawWPFPath class is set with all information needed to draw the path, call PdfContents.DrawWPFPath method. The DrawWPFPath class calculates the transformation matrix required to convert input path to drawing rectangle based on the path bounding box and the drawing rectangle and alignment. Alignment of zero (the default) will stretch the path to fit the drawing area. All other alignment values position the path within the drawing area according to the argument enumeration value.
public void DrawWPFPath(
DrawWPFPath Path,
double OriginX,
double OriginY,
double Width,
double Height,
ContentAlignment Alignment = 0)
By default the PDF imaging model paints objects (shapes, lines, text and images) opaquely onto the page. Each new object completely obscure the image under it. PDF has two mechanisms to change this behavior opacity and blending. The graphic state dictionary has opacity value for stroking (pen) and non-stroking (brush) operations. The opacity value of fully opaque is 1.0 and fully transparent is 0.0. The opacity value corresponds to the alpha component of a color structure such that 1.0 is 255 alpha and 0.0 is 0 alpha. If the opacity value is 0.5 a new object painted on the page will be 50% transparent. To set opacity call the SetAlphaStroking method for lines or SetAlphaNonStroking method for shapes. Blending is a process of combining the color on the page with the color of the new item being painted. To set a bland mode call the SetBlendMode method of PdfContents. The argument is BlendMode enumeration. For full description please refer to section 7.2.4 Blend Mode of the PDF specifications document. For example please refer to OtherExample.cs page 8.
Document links allow PDF document users to click on the link and jump to another part of the document. Adding document links is done in two parts. The destination is defined as a location marker. Location marker must have a unique name, a scope (LocalDest or NamedDest), and document location (page and position). NamedDest Scope can be used for either document link or for named destination or both . The second part is the link location. The two parts can be defined in any order. They are tied together by the name. The name is case sensitive. Many links can point to the same location marker.
Named destinations are targets within the PDF document. They are defined with location marker in the same way as document links. The scope has to be set to NamedDest. When a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat opens a PDF document it can open the document while displaying the target in the viewing window.
To embed a location marker call the AddLocationMarker method of PdfPage. Note: Name is case sensitive.
public void AddLocationMarker
(
string LocMarkerName,
LocMarkerScope Scope,
DestFit FitArg,
params double[] SideArg
)
To add link location call AddLinkLocation method of PdfPage.
public PdfAnnotation AddLinkAction
(
string LocMarkerName,
PdfRectangle AnnotRect
)
For more information about named destinations please refer to Adobe PDF file specification “PDF Reference, Sixth Edition, Adobe Portable Document Format Version 1.7 November 2006”. Table 8.2 on page 582.
DestFit.Fit (no arg): Display the page, with its contents magnified just enough to fit the entire page within the window both horizontally and vertically.DestFit.FitH (1 arg Top): Display the page, with the vertical coordinate top positioned at the top edge of the window and the contents of the page magnified just enough to fit the entire width of the page within the window.DestFit.FitV (1 arg Left): Display the page, with the horizontal coordinate left positioned at the left edge of the window and the contents of the page magnified just enough to fit the entire height of the page within the window.DestFit.FitR (4 args Left Bottom Right Top): Display the page, with its contents magnified just enough to fit the rectangle specified by the coordinates left, bottom, right, and topentirely within the window both horizontally and vertically.DestFit.FitB (No arg): Display the page, with its contents magnified just enough to fit its bounding box entirely within the window both horizontally and vertically.DestFit.FitBH (1 arg Top): Display the page, with the vertical coordinate top positioned at the top edge of the window and the contents of the page magnified just enough to fit the entire width of its bounding box within the window.DestFit.FitBV (1 arg Left): Display the page, with the horizontal coordinate left positioned at the left edge of the window and the contents of the page magnified just enough to fit the entire height of its bounding box within the window.
The PDF reader's calling parameters are defined in Parameters for Opening PDF Files by Adobe. If the PDF is opened on a desktop computer the calling line must be:
"path\AcroRd32.exe" /A "nameddest=ChapterXX" "path\Document.pdf"
If the PDF document is pointed by a link in a web page, the destination is appended to the link:
<a href="http://example.org/Document.pdf#ChapterXX">Target description</a>
Or: <a href="http://example.org/Document.pdf#namedsest=ChapterXX">Target description</a>
The PDF File Writer library provides support to AES 128 and Standard 128 (RC4) encryption. For more information please refer to PDF Reference sixth edition (Version 1.7) section 3.5 Encryption. The PDF File writer supports two types of encryption filters, the AES-128 and Standard 128. The Standard 128 is RC4 encryption. It is considered unsafe. For new project do not use it. It does not support public key security to encode recipient list.
To encrypt your PDF document call one of four SetEncryption methods defined in PdfDocument class:
Set Encryption with no arguments.
The PDF File Writer library will encrypt the PDF document using AES-128 encryption. The PDF reader will open the document without requesting a password. Permissions flags are set to allow all.
Document.SetEncryption();
Set Encryption with one argument.
The PDF File Writer library will encrypt the PDF document using AES-128 encryption. The argument is permissions. Permission flags are defined below. You can or together more than one permission. The PDF reference manual has full description of permissions. The PDF reader will open the document without requesting a password.
Document.SetEncryption(Permission Permissions);
Set Encryption with two arguments.
The PDF File Writer library will encrypt the PDF document using AES-128 encryption. The two arguments are user password and permissions. The PDF reader will open the document with user password. Permissions will be set as per argument.
Document.SetEncryption(String UserPassword, Permission Permissions);
Set Encryption with four arguments.
The PDF File Writer library will encrypt the PDF document using either EncryptionType.Aes128 encryption or EncryptionType.Standard128 encryption. The four arguments are user password, owner password, permissions and encryption type. If user password is null, the default password will be taken. If owner password in null, the software will generate random number password. The Standard128 encryption is considered unsafe. It should not be used for new projects.
A PDF reader such as Acrobat will accept either user or owner password. If owner password is used to open document, the PDF reader will open it with all permissions set to allow operation.
Document.SetEncryption(String UserPassword, String OwnerPassword, Permission Permissions, EncryptionType Type);
Permission flags are as follows:
public enum Permission
{
None = 0,
LowQalityPrint = 4,
ModifyContents = 8,
ExtractContents = 0x10,
Annotation = 0x20,
Interactive = 0x100,
Accessibility = 0x200,
AssembleDoc = 0x400,
Print = 0x804,
All = 0xf3c,
}
The PDF reference document defines Sticky Notes or Text Annotation in Section 8.4 page 621. “A text annotation represents a “sticky note” attached to a point in the PDF document. When closed, the annotation appears as an icon; when open, it displays a pop-up window containing the text of the note in a font and size chosen by the viewer application. Text annotations do not scale and rotate with the page; they behave as if the NoZoom and NoRotate annotation flags (see Table 8.16 on page 608) were always set. Table 8.23 shows the annotation dictionary entries specific to this type of annotation.”
Adding a sticky note to your document is very simple. You add one single line of code. The sticky note is added to a PdfPage object. It is not part of the page contents. The position of the sticky note is an absolute page location measured from the bottom left corner of the page to the top left corner of the sticky note icon. The text string is the content of the pop-up window. The stick note argument is one of enumeration items below.
Page.AddStickyNote(PageAbsPosX, PageAbsPosY,
"My first sticky note", StickyNoteIcon.Note);
public enum StickyNoteIcon
{
Comment,
Key,
Note,
Help,
NewParagraph,
Paragraph,
Insert,
}
The PDF specification document (section 4.10) defines optional contents as follows. “Optional content (PDF 1.5) refers to sections of content in a PDF document that can be selectively viewed or hidden by document authors or consumers. This capability is useful in items such as CAD drawings, layered artwork, maps, and multi-language documents.”
Adobe Acrobat viewer has navigation panels on the left side of the screen. One of them is the layers panel. If a PDF document uses layers, the layers control switches will be displayed in this panel. The user can display or hide items that were attached to these layer controls.
Adding layers to your PDF document. The full example is given in LayersExample.cs. In addition OtherExample.cs has examples of using layers to control images and annotations.
Create the main layers control object. One per document.
PdfLayers Layers = new PdfLayers(Document, "PDF layers group");
Set the list mode option. The default is all pages
Layers.ListMode = ListMode.AllPages;
Layers.ListMode = ListMode.VisiblePages;
Create one or more layers objects. Each one will correspond to one check box on the layer panel. Each one can control one or many displayed items.
PdfLayer LayerName = new PdfLayer(Layers, "Layer name");
A number of layers can be combined into radio buttons group. One group of radio buttons can be all off or just one layer on.
LayerName1.RadioButton = "Group1";
LayerName2.RadioButton = "Group1";
Set the order of layers in the layer pane. If DisplayOrder method is not used, the program will list all layers specified above on the same main level. If DisplayOrder method is used, all layers must be included
The list of layers can have sub-groups with optional name
Layers.DisplayOrder(LayerName1);
Layers.DisplayOrder(LayerName2);
Layers.DisplayOrder(LayerName3);
Layers.DisplayOrderStartGroup("Sub Group");
Layers.DisplayOrder(LayerName4);
Layers.DisplayOrder(LayerName5);
Layers.DisplayOrder(LayerName6);
Layers.DisplayOrderEndGroup();
Define an area within contents stream to be controlled by layer
Contents.LayerStart(LayerName1);
Contents.LayerEnd();
Control an image or annotation directly. The image can be anywhere within the document.
QREncoder QREncoder = new QREncoder();
QREncoder.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrection.M;
QREncoder.Encode("Some data");
PdfImage QRImage = new PdfImage(Document);
QRImage.LayerControl = LayerName1;
QRImage.LoadImage(QREncoder);
The initial document display controls the appearance of your document when it is displayed by the PDF viewer (Acrobat). It controls the left pane of the screen.
For example, open the bookmarks pane.
Document.InitialDocDisplay = InitialDocDisplay.UseBookmarks;
public enum InitialDocDisplay
{
UseNone,
UseBookmarks,
UseThumbs,
FullScreen,
UseLayers,
UseAttachments,
}
The XMP file or byte array are embedded in a metadata stream contained in a PDF object. The XMP must be encoded as UTF-8. The PdfFileWriter includes the input file or input byte array as given by the user. The user must ensure the the XMP input is a valid metafile. The XMP stream is not compressed or encrypted. This allows readers to get the metadata information with little programming. You should include the XMP matadata shortly after the PdfDocument is created and before any image is loaded. By doing so the metadata will be at the start of the file and it will be readable by simple text editors.
// adding metadata
new PdfMatadata(Document, FileName);
// or
new PdfMetadata(Document, ByteArray);
This section describes the integration of the PDF File Writer C# class library to your application. The test program TestPdfFileWriter program is a simulation of your own application. When you press on the “Article Example” button, the program executes the code in ArticleExample.cs source file. The image above displays the resulted PDF file. This method demonstrates the creation of one page document with some text and graphics. After going through this example, you should have a good understanding of the process. The other example buttons produce a variety of PDF documents. In total, practically every feature of this library is demonstrated by these examples.
The Debug check box, if checked, will create a PDF file that can be viewed with a text editor but cannot be loaded to a PDF reader. The resulted file is not compressed and images and font file are replaced with text place holder. The Debug check box should be used for debugging only.
The TestPdfFileWriter program was developed using Microsoft Visual C# 2012. It was tested for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8.
The Test method below demonstrates the six steps described in the introduction for creating a PDF file. The method will be executed when you press on the “Article Example” button of the demo program. The following subsections describe in detail each step.
public void Test
(
bool Debug,
string FileName
)
{
{
Document = new PdfDocument(PaperType.Letter, false, UnitOfMeasure.Inch, FileName);
Document.Debug = Debug;
PdfInfo Info = PdfInfo.CreatePdfInfo(Document);
Info.Title("Article Example");
Info.Author("Uzi Granot");
Info.Keywords("PDF, .NET, C#, Library, Document Creator");
Info.Subject("PDF File Writer C# Class Library (Version 1.21.0)");
DefineFontResources();
DefineTilingPatternResource();
Page = new PdfPage(Document);
Contents = new PdfContents(Page);
DrawFrameAndBackgroundWaterMark();
DrawTwoLinesOfHeading();
DrawHappyFace();
DrawBarcode();
DrawPdf417Barcode();
DrawImage();
DrawChart();
DrawTextBox();
DrawBookOrderForm();
Document.CreateFile();
Process Proc = new Process();
Proc.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(FileName);
Proc.Start();
Return;
}
The DefineFontResources method creates all the font resources used in this example. To see all the characters available for any font, press the button “Font Families”. Select a family and view the glyphs defined for each character. To view individual glyph press view or double click.
private void DefineFontResources()
{
string FontName1 = "Arial";
string FontName2 = "Times New Roman";
ArialNormal = PdfFont.CreatePdfFont(Document, FontName1, FontStyle.Regular, true);
ArialBold = PdfFont.CreatePdfFont(Document, FontName1, FontStyle.Bold, true);
ArialItalic = PdfFont.CreatePdfFont(Document, FontName1, FontStyle.Italic, true);
ArialBoldItalic = PdfFont.CreatePdfFont(Document, FontName1, FontStyle.Bold | FontStyle.Italic, true);
TimesNormal = PdfFont.CreatePdfFont(Document, FontName2, FontStyle.Regular, true);
Comic = PdfFont.CreatePdfFont(Document, "Comic Sans MS", FontStyle.Bold, true);
return;
}
ThThe DefineTilingPatternResource method defines background pattern resource for the example area. The pattern is the word “PdfFileWriter” in white over light blue background. The pattern is made of two lines of repeating the key word. The two lines are skewed by half word length.
If you want to find interesting patterns, search the internet for catalogs of companies making floor or wall tiles.p>
private void DefineTilingPatternResource()
{
WaterMark = new PdfTilingPattern(Document);
string Mark = "PdfFileWriter";
double FontSize = 18.0;
double TextWidth = ArialBold.TextWidth(FontSize, Mark);
double TextHeight = ArialBold.LineSpacing(FontSize);
double BaseLine = ArialBold.DescentPlusLeading(FontSize);
double BoxWidth = TextWidth + 2 * TextHeight;
double BoxHeight = 4 * TextHeight;
WaterMark.SetTileBox(BoxWidth, BoxHeight);
WaterMark.SaveGraphicsState();
WaterMark.SetColorNonStroking(Color.FromArgb(230, 244, 255));
WaterMark.DrawRectangle(0, 0, BoxWidth, BoxHeight, PaintOp.Fill);
WaterMark.SetColorNonStroking(Color.White);
WaterMark.DrawText(ArialBold, FontSize, BoxWidth / 2, BaseLine, TextJustify.Center, Mark);
BaseLine += BoxHeight / 2;
WaterMark.DrawText(ArialBold, FontSize, 0.0, BaseLine, TextJustify.Center, Mark);
WaterMark.DrawText(ArialBold, FontSize, BoxWidth, BaseLine, TextJustify.Center, Mark);
WaterMark.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
The DrawFrameAndBackgroundWaterMark method draws a frame around the example area with background water mark pattern. The pattern resource was define in the previous subsection.
private void DrawFrameAndBackgroundWaterMark()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Contents.SetLineWidth(0.02);
Contents.SetColorStroking(Color.DarkBlue);
Contents.SetPatternNonStroking(WaterMark);
Contents.DrawRectangle(1.0, 1.0, 6.5, 9.0, PaintOp.CloseFillStroke);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, 9.0, 1.1, 0.85, "PdfFileWriter \u25cf PDF File Writer C# Class Library \u25cf Author: Uzi Granot");
Contents.DrawWebLink(Page, ArialNormal, 9.0, 7.4, 0.85, TextJustify.Right,
DrawStyle.Underline, Color.Blue, "Click to view article", ArticleLink);
return;
}
3.5. Draw Two Lines of Heading
The DrawTwoLinesOfHeading method draws two heading lines at the center of the page. The first line is drawing text with outline special effect.
private void DrawTwoLinesOfHeading()
{
Contents.DrawText(Comic, 40.0, 4.25, 9.25, TextJustify.Center, 0.02, Color.FromArgb(128, 0, 255), Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 128), "PDF FILE WRITER");
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Contents.SetColorNonStroking(Color.Purple);
Contents.DrawText(Comic, 30.0, 4.25, 8.75, TextJustify.Center, "Example");
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
3.6. Draw Happy Face
The DrawHappyFace method is an example of drawing oval and constructing path from a line and Bezier curve.
private void DrawHappyFace()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Contents.Translate(4.25, 7.5);
Contents.SetColorNonStroking(Color.Yellow);
Contents.DrawOval(-1.5, -1.0, 3.0, 2.0, PaintOp.Fill);
Contents.SetLineWidth(0.2);
Contents.SetColorNonStroking(Color.White);
Contents.SetColorStroking(Color.Black);
Contents.DrawOval(-0.75, 0.0, 0.5, 0.5, PaintOp.CloseFillStroke);
Contents.DrawOval(0.25, 0.0, 0.5, 0.5, PaintOp.CloseFillStroke);
Contents.SetColorNonStroking(Color.Black);
Contents.MoveTo(-0.6, -0.4);
Contents.LineTo(0.6, -0.4);
Contents.DrawBezier(0.0, -0.8, 0, -0.8, -0.6, -0.4);
Contents.SetPaintOp(PaintOp.Fill);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
The DrawBarcode method is an example of drawing two barcodes EAN-13 and Code-128
private void DrawBarcode()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
BarcodeEAN13 Barcode1 = new BarcodeEAN13("1234567890128");
Contents.DrawBarcode(1.3, 7.05, 0.012, 0.75, Barcode1, ArialNormal, 8.0);
QREncoder QREncoder = new QREncoder();
QREncoder.ErrorCorrection = ErrorCorrection.M;
QREncoder.ModuleSize = 1;
QREncoder.QuietZone = 4;
QREncoder.Encode(ArticleLink);
PdfImage BarcodeImage = new PdfImage(Document);
BarcodeImage.LoadImage(QREncoder);
Contents.DrawImage(BarcodeImage, 6.0, 6.8, 1.2);
Page.AddWebLink(6.0, 6.8, 7.2, 8.0, ArticleLink);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
private void DrawPdf417Barcode()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Pdf417Encoder Pdf417 = new Pdf417Encoder();
Pdf417.DefaultDataColumns = 3;
Pdf417.Encode(ArticleLink);
Pdf417.WidthToHeightRatio(2.5);
PdfImage BarcodeImage = new PdfImage(Document);
BarcodeImage.LoadImage(Pdf417);
Contents.DrawImage(BarcodeImage, 1.1, 5.2, 2.5);
double Height = 2.5 * Pdf417.ImageHeight / Pdf417.ImageWidth;
Page.AddWebLink(1.1, 5.2, 1.1 + 2.5, 5.2 + Height, ArticleLink);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
The DrawImage method is an example of drawing an image. The PdfFileWriter support drawing images stored in all image files supported by Bitmap class and Metafile class. The ImageFormat class defines all image types. The JPEG image file type is the native image format of the PDF file. If you call the PdfImage constructor with JPEG file, the program copies the file as is into the PDF file. If you call the PdfImage constructor with any other type of image file, the program converts it into JPEG file. In order to keep the PDF file size as small as possible, make sure your image file resolution is not unreasonably high.
The PdfImage class loads the image and calculates maximum size that can fit a given image size in user coordinates and preserve the original aspect ratio. Before drawing the image we create an oval clipping path to clip the image.
private void DrawImage()
{
PdfImage Image1 = new PdfImage(Document);
Image1.Resolution = 96.0;
Image1.ImageQuality = 50;
Image1.LoadImage("TestImage.jpg");
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Contents.Translate(3.75, 5.0);
PdfRectangle NewSize = Image1.ImageSizePosition(1.75, 1.5, ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter);
Contents.DrawOval(NewSize.Left, NewSize.Bottom, NewSize.Width, NewSize.Height, PaintOp.ClipPathEor);
Contents.DrawImage(Image1, NewSize.Left, NewSize.Bottom, NewSize.Width, NewSize.Height);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
The DrawChart method is an example of defining a chart and drawing it to the PDF document.
private void DrawChart()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Chart PieChart = PdfChart.CreateChart(Document, 1.8, 1.5, 300.0);
PdfChart PiePdfChart = new PdfChart(Document, PieChart);
PiePdfChart.SaveAs = SaveImageAs.IndexedImage;
PieChart.AntiAliasing = AntiAliasingStyles.None;
PieChart.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(220, 220, 255);
PieChart.Palette = ChartColorPalette.BrightPastel;
Font DefaultFont = PiePdfChart.CreateFont("Verdana", FontStyle.Regular, 0.05, FontSizeUnit.UserUnit);
Font TitleFont = PiePdfChart.CreateFont("Verdana", FontStyle.Bold, 0.07, FontSizeUnit.UserUnit);
Title Title1 = new Title("Pie Chart Example", Docking.Top, TitleFont, Color.Purple);
PieChart.Titles.Add(Title1);
Legend Legend1 = new Legend();
PieChart.Legends.Add(Legend1);
Legend1.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(230, 230, 255);
Legend1.Docking = Docking.Bottom;
Legend1.Font = DefaultFont;
ChartArea ChartArea1 = new ChartArea();
PieChart.ChartAreas.Add(ChartArea1);
ChartArea1.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 200, 255);
Series Series1 = new Series();
PieChart.Series.Add(Series1);
Series1.ChartType = SeriesChartType.Pie;
Series1.Font = DefaultFont;
Series1.IsValueShownAsLabel = true;
Series1.LabelFormat = "{0} %";
Series1.Points.Add(22.0);
Series1.Points[0].LegendText = "Apple";
Series1.Points.Add(27.0);
Series1.Points[1].LegendText = "Banana";
Series1.Points.Add(33.0);
Series1.Points[2].LegendText = "Orange";
Series1.Points.Add(18.0);
Series1.Points[3].LegendText = "Grape";
Contents.DrawChart(PiePdfChart, 5.6, 5.0);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
The DrawTextBox method is an example of using the TextBox class. The TextBox class formats text to fit within a column. The text can be drawn using a verity of font's styles and sizes.
private void DrawTextBox()
{
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Contents.Translate(1.1, 1.1);
const double Width = 3.15;
const double Height = 3.65;
const double FontSize = 9.0;
TextBox Box = new TextBox(Width, 0.25);
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize,
"This area is an example of displaying text that is too long to fit within a fixed width " +
"area. The text is displayed justified to right edge. You define a text box with the required " +
"width and first line indent. You add text to this box. The box will divide the text into " +
"lines. Each line is made of segments of text. For each segment, you define font, font " +
"size, drawing style and color. After loading all the text, the program will draw the formatted text.\n");
Box.AddText(TimesNormal, FontSize + 1.0, "Example of multiple fonts: Times New Roman, ");
Box.AddText(Comic, FontSize, "Comic Sans MS, ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "Example of regular, ");
Box.AddText(ArialBold, FontSize, "bold, ");
Box.AddText(ArialItalic, FontSize, "italic, ");
Box.AddText(ArialBoldItalic, FontSize, "bold plus italic. ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize - 2.0, "Arial size 7, ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize - 1.0, "size 8, ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "size 9, ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize + 1.0, "size 10. ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, DrawStyle.Underline, "Underline, ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, DrawStyle.Strikeout, "Strikeout. ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "Subscript H");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, DrawStyle.Subscript, "2");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "O. Superscript A");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, DrawStyle.Superscript, "2");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "+B");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, DrawStyle.Superscript, "2");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "=C");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, DrawStyle.Superscript, "2");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "\n");
Box.AddText(Comic, FontSize, Color.Red, "Some color, ");
Box.AddText(Comic, FontSize, Color.Green, "green, ");
Box.AddText(Comic, FontSize, Color.Blue, "blue, ");
Box.AddText(Comic, FontSize, Color.Orange, "orange, ");
Box.AddText(Comic, FontSize, DrawStyle.Underline, Color.Purple, "and purple.\n");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "Support for non-Latin letters: ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, Contents.ReverseString("עברית"));
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "АБВГДЕ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "αβγδεζ");
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize, "\n");
double PosY = Height;
Contents.DrawText(0.0, ref PosY, 0.0, 0, 0.015, 0.05, TextBoxJustify.FitToWidth, Box);
Box = new TextBox(Width);
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize,
"In the examples above this area the text box was set for first line indent of " +
"0.25 inches. This paragraph has zero first line indent and no right justify.");
Contents.DrawText(0.0, ref PosY, 0.0, 0, 0.01, 0.05, TextBoxJustify.Left, Box);
Box = new TextBox(Width - 0.5, -0.5);
Box.AddText(ArialNormal, FontSize,
"This paragraph is set to first line hanging indent of 0.5 inches. " +
"The left margin of this paragraph is 0.5 inches.");
Contents.DrawText(0.5, ref PosY, 0.0, 0, 0.01, 0.05, TextBoxJustify.Left, Box);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
The DrawBookOrderForm method is an example of an order entry form or an invoice. It is an example for data table support. It demonstrate the use of PdfTable, PdfTableCell and PdfTableStyle classes.
private void DrawBookOrderForm()
{
const double Left = 4.35;
const double Top = 4.65;
const double Bottom = 1.1;
const double Right = 7.4;
const double FontSize = 9.0;
const double MarginHor = 0.04;
const double MarginVer = 0.04;
const double FrameWidth = 0.015;
const double GridWidth = 0.01;
double ColWidthPrice = ArialNormal.TextWidth(FontSize, "9999.99") + 2.0 * MarginHor;
double ColWidthQty = ArialNormal.TextWidth(FontSize, "Qty") + 2.0 * MarginHor;
double ColWidthDesc = Right - Left - FrameWidth - 3 * GridWidth - 2 * ColWidthPrice - ColWidthQty;
PdfTable Table = new PdfTable(Page, Contents, ArialNormal, FontSize);
Table.TableArea = new PdfRectangle(Left, Bottom, Right, Top);
Table.SetColumnWidth(new double[] { ColWidthDesc, ColWidthPrice, ColWidthQty, ColWidthPrice });
Table.Borders.SetAllBorders(FrameWidth, GridWidth);
PdfRectangle Margin = new PdfRectangle(MarginHor, MarginVer);
Table.DefaultHeaderStyle.Margin = Margin;
Table.DefaultHeaderStyle.BackgroundColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 255);
Table.DefaultHeaderStyle.Alignment = ContentAlignment.MiddleRight;
Table.Header[0].Style = Table.HeaderStyle;
Table.Header[0].Style.Alignment = ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft;
Table.Header[0].Value = "Description";
Table.Header[1].Value = "Price";
Table.Header[2].Value = "Qty";
Table.Header[3].Value = "Total";
Table.DefaultCellStyle.Margin = Margin;
Table.Cell[0].Style = Table.CellStyle;
Table.Cell[0].Style.MultiLineText = true;
Table.Cell[2].Style = Table.CellStyle;
Table.Cell[2].Style.Alignment = ContentAlignment.BottomRight;
Table.DefaultCellStyle.Format = "#,##0.00";
Table.DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = ContentAlignment.BottomRight;
Contents.DrawText(ArialBold, FontSize, 0.5 * (Left + Right), Top + MarginVer + Table.DefaultCellStyle.FontDescent,
TextJustify.Center, DrawStyle.Normal, Color.Purple, "Example of PdfTable support");
double Total = 0;
foreach(Order Book in Order.OrderList)
{
Table.Cell[0].Value = Book.Title + ". By: " + Book.Authors;
Table.Cell[1].Value = Book.Price;
Table.Cell[2].Value = Book.Qty;
Table.Cell[3].Value = Book.Total;
Table.DrawRow();
Total += Book.Total;
}
Table.Close();
Contents.SaveGraphicsState();
Contents.SetLineWidth(FrameWidth);
Contents.SetLineCap(PdfLineCap.Square);
double[] ColumnPosition = Table.ColumnPosition;
double TotalDesc = ColumnPosition[3] - MarginHor;
double TotalValue = ColumnPosition[4] - MarginHor;
double PosY = Table.RowTopPosition - 2.0 * MarginVer - Table.DefaultCellStyle.FontAscent;
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, FontSize, TotalDesc, PosY, TextJustify.Right, "Total before tax");
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, FontSize, TotalValue, PosY, TextJustify.Right, Total.ToString("#.00"));
PosY -= Table.DefaultCellStyle.FontLineSpacing;
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, FontSize, TotalDesc, PosY, TextJustify.Right, "Tax (13%)");
double Tax = Math.Round(0.13 * Total, 2, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero);
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, FontSize, TotalValue, PosY, TextJustify.Right, Tax.ToString("#.00"));
PosY -= Table.DefaultCellStyle.FontDescent + 0.5 * MarginVer;
Contents.DrawLine(ColumnPosition[3], PosY, ColumnPosition[4], PosY);
PosY -= Table.DefaultCellStyle.FontAscent + 0.5 * MarginVer;
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, FontSize, TotalDesc, PosY, TextJustify.Right, "Total payable");
Total += Tax;
Contents.DrawText(ArialNormal, FontSize, TotalValue, PosY, TextJustify.Right, Total.ToString("#.00"));
PosY -= Table.DefaultCellStyle.FontDescent + MarginVer;
Contents.DrawLine(ColumnPosition[0], Table.RowTopPosition, ColumnPosition[0], PosY);
Contents.DrawLine(ColumnPosition[0], PosY, ColumnPosition[4], PosY);
Contents.DrawLine(ColumnPosition[4], Table.RowTopPosition, ColumnPosition[4], PosY);
Contents.RestoreGraphicsState();
return;
}
Integrating PdfFileWriter to your application requires the following steps. Install the attached PdfFileWriter.dll file in your development area. Start the Visual C# program and open your application. Go to the Solution Explorer, right click on References and select Add Reference. Select the Browse tab and navigate your file system to the location of the PdfFileWriter.dll. When your application is published, the PdfFileWriter.dll must be included.
Source code documentation is available in as a help file PdfFileWriter.chm. The file is produced by Sandcastle. The result looks like Microsoft documentation pages.
If you want access to the source code of the PdfFileWriter project, install the PdfFileWriter project in your development area. The PdfFileWriter.dll will be in PdfFileWriter\bin\Release directory.
Add the following statement to all source modules using this library.
using PdfFileWriter;
If you intend to use charting, you need to add reference to: System.Windows.Forms.Visualization. In each source module using Chart you need to add
using System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting;
5. References
6. History
- 2013/04/01: Version 1.0 Original Version.
- 2013/04/09: Version 1.1 Support for countries with decimal separator other than period.
- 2013/07/21: Version 1.2 The original revision supported image resources with jpeg file format only. Version 1.2 support all image files acceptable to Bitmap class. See ImageFormat class. The program was tested with: Bmp, Gif, Icon, Jpeg, Png and Tiff. See Section 2.3 and Section 3.8 above.
- 2014/02/07: Version 1.3 Fix bug in PdfContents.DrawBezierNoP2(PointD P1, PointD P3).
- 2014/03/01: Version 1.4 Improved support for character substitution. Improved support for image inclusion. Some fixes related to PdfXObject.
- 2014/05/05: Version 1.5 Barcode support without use of fonts. Four barcodes are included: Code-128, Code-39, UPC-A and EAN-13. See Section 2.5 and Section 3.7.
- 2014/07/09: Version 1.6 (1) The CreateFile method resets the PdfDocument to initial condition after file creation. (2) The PdfFont object releases the unmanaged code resources properly.
- 2014/08/25: Version 1.7 Support for document encryption, web-links and QR Code.
- 2014/09/12: Version 1.8 Support for bookmarks.
- 2014/10/06: Version 1.9 Support for charting, PrintDocument and image Metafiles.
- 2014/10/12: Version 1.9.1 Fix to ChartExample. Parse numeric fields in regions with decimal separator other than period.
- 2014/12/02: Version 1.10.0 Support for data tables. Add source code documentation. Increase maximum number of images per document.
- 2015/01/12: Version 1.11.0 Support for video, sound and attachment files. Add support for Interleave 2 of 5 barcode.
- 2015/04/13: Version 1.12.0 Support for reordering pages and enhance data table border lines support.
- 2015/05/05: Version 1.13.0 PDF document output to a stream. PDF table insert page break. Image quality enhancement. Support for Standard-128 (RC4) encryption.
- 2015/06/08: Version 1.14.0 Support for long text blocks or TextBox within PDF Table.
- 2015/06/09: Version 1.14.1 one line change to Copy method of PdfTableStyle class.
- 2015/06/17: Version 1.15.0 Document information dictionary. PdfImage rewrite. Additional image saving options.
- 2015/06/18: Version 1.15.1 Remove unused source from solution explorer.
- 2015/07/27: Version 1.16.0 Unicode support. Commit page method.
- 2015/08/07: Version 1.16.1. Fix for small (<0.0001) real numbers conversion to string.
- 2015/09/01: Version 1.16.2. Fix for undefined characters. The selected font does not support characters used.
- 2015/09/22: Version 1.16.3. PdfTable constructor uses current page size to calculate the default table area rectangle. When PdfTable starts a new page the page type and orientation is taken from the previous page.
- 2015/09/30: Version 1.16.4 Consistent use of IDisposable interface to release unmanaged resources.
- 2016/01/26: Version 1.17.0 WPF graphics, transparency, color blending, elliptical arcs and quadratic Bezier curves.
- 2016/02/29: Version 1.17.1 PdfTable will display headers properly when the first column header is a TextBox.
- 2016/03/22: Version 1.17.2 PdfInfo PDF documents properties will be displayed properly .
- 2016/04/14: Version 1.17.3 Fix problem with non integer font size in regions that define decimal separator to be non period (comma).
- 2016/05/24: Version 1.18.0 Named destinations and creation of PdfFont resource.
- 2016/06/02: Version 1.18.1 Re-apply 1.17.3 fix.
- 2016/06/13: Version 1.19.0 Document links. Changes to named destination. Interactive features support to TextBox and PdfTable.
- 2016/07/27: Version 1.19.1 Fix: AddLocationMarker fix for regions with decimal separator not period.
- 2017/08/31: Version 1.19.2 Fix: Debug working directory is not saved as part of the project
- 2018/06/26: Version 1.19.3 Fix PdfFontFile.BuildLocaTable method. Long format buffer pointer initialization. Fix PdfTableCell add value type of DBNull.
- 2018/07/15: Version 1.20.0 Modify QR Code support by adding number of pixels per module.
- 2019/02/06: Version 1.21.0 Support for PDF417 barcode.
- 2019/02/13: Version 1.21.1 Fix for PDF417 barcode quiet zone.
- 2019/02/18: Version 1.22.0 Support for sticky notes.
- 2019/05/26: Version 1.23.0 Support for layers and changes to QRCode and Pdf417 barcode.
- 2019/06/06: Version 1.24.0 Support for layers control of images and annotations.
- 2019/06/20: Version 1.24.1 Support for meter as unit of measure.
- 2019/07/15: Version 1.25.0 Support for font collections (mainly CJK fonts) and for non ASCII font names.
- 2019/07/28: Version 1.26.0 Support for XMP Metadata and QR Code ECI Assignment Number.
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