Export GridView Template Column To PDF

Rahul Saxena
May 20, 2015
11.2k
0
3
Article

We can have any type of column in a Grid View by using a Template column like Link, Drop Down, Radio button and check box list. So how to export all those into a PDF file? We will learn how to do that here.

I got a business requirement to design a form as in the following and export this into a PDF.

The following is my SQL Server Table in Design mode:

Script of my table

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Employee]
(
[ID] [int] IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL,
[Name] [varchar](50) NULL,
[Email] [varchar](500) NULL,
[Country] [varchar](50) NULL
) ON [PRIMARY] GO

Here, to export the Grid View Data to a PDF we need to add a reference of iTextSharp as in the following:

aspx code

Now the following is my aspx code:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="ExportGridViewTemplateColumnToPDF.Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title>Export Grid View Template Column (Link, Drop Down List, Radio Button, Check Box List) To PDF</title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" HeaderStyle-BackColor="#666666" HeaderStyle-ForeColor="White" Font-Names="Verdana"
RowStyle-BackColor="#E4E4E4" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333" GridLines="None">
<AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="#284775" Font-Names="Verdana" />
<Columns>
<asp:BoundField DataField="Id" HeaderText="Id" ItemStyle-Width="30px">
<ItemStyle Width="30px"></ItemStyle>
</asp:BoundField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Name">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:HyperLink ID="lnkName" runat="server" NavigateUrl="#" Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>'>
</asp:HyperLink>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Email">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:TextBox ID="txtEmail" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Email") %>'>
</asp:TextBox>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Country">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:TextBox ID="txtCountry" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Country") %>'>
</asp:TextBox>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Reporting Manager">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlManager" runat="server">
<asp:ListItem Text="Shambhu Sharma" Value="Shambhu Sharma" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Amol Malhotra" Value="Amol Malhotra" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Manu Khanna" Value="Manu Khanna" />
</asp:DropDownList>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Designation" ItemStyle-ForeColor="Red" ItemStyle-Font-Size="10pt">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:CheckBoxList ID="chkDesignation" runat="server" RepeatColumns="3" RepeatDirection="Horizontal">
<asp:ListItem Text="Softwate Developer" Value="Softwate Developer" Selected="True" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Technical Analyst" Value="Technical Analyst" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Consultant" Value="Consultant" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Solution Architect" Value="Solution Architect" />
<asp:ListItem Text="Project Manager" Value="Project Manager" />
</asp:CheckBoxList>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Experience" ItemStyle-ForeColor="Blue" ItemStyle-Font-Size="10pt">
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:RadioButtonList ID="rblExperience" runat="server" RepeatColumns="2" RepeatDirection="Horizontal">
<asp:ListItem Text="1-2 Years" Value="1-2 Years" Selected="True" />
<asp:ListItem Text="2-4 Years" Value="2-4 Years" />
<asp:ListItem Text="4-6 Years" Value="4-6 Years" />
<asp:ListItem Text="10+ Years" Value="10+ Years" />
</asp:RadioButtonList>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
</Columns>
<EditRowStyle BackColor="#999999" />
<FooterStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
<HeaderStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" ForeColor="White" Font-Bold="True"></HeaderStyle>
<PagerStyle BackColor="#284775" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
<RowStyle BackColor="#F7F6F3" ForeColor="#333333"></RowStyle>
<SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#E2DED6" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />
<SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#E9E7E2" />
<SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#506C8C" />
<SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#FFFDF8" />
<SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#6F8DAE" />
</asp:GridView>
<br />
<asp:Button ID="btnGridViewExport" runat="server" Text="Export To PDF" OnClick="btnGridViewExport_ExportToPDF" />
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>

aspx.cs code

Now my aspx.cs code is:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.IO;
using System.Data;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;
using iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace ExportGridViewTemplateColumnToPDF {
public partial class Default: System.Web.UI.Page {
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
if (!this.IsPostBack) {
BindEmployees();
}
}
private void BindEmployees() {
string constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["RConnection"].ConnectionString;
using(SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(constr)) {
using(SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Employee ORDER BY ID")) {
using(SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter()) {
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
cmd.Connection = con;
da.SelectCommand = cmd;
da.Fill(dt);
GridView1.DataSource = dt;
GridView1.DataBind();
}
}
}
}
protected void btnGridViewExport_ExportToPDF(object sender, EventArgs e) {
using(StringWriter sw = new StringWriter()) {
HtmlTextWriter hw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);
foreach(TableCell cell in GridView1.HeaderRow.Cells) {
cell.BackColor = GridView1.HeaderStyle.BackColor;
}
foreach(GridViewRow row in GridView1.Rows) {
foreach(TableCell cell in row.Cells) {
cell.BackColor = GridView1.RowStyle.BackColor;
List < Control > controls = new List < Control > ();
//Add controls to be removed to Generic List
foreach(Control control in cell.Controls) {
controls.Add(control);
}
//Loop through the controls to be removed and replace then with Literal
foreach(Control control in controls) {
switch (control.GetType().Name) {
case "HyperLink":
cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
Text = (control as HyperLink).Text
});
break;
case "TextBox":
cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
Text = (control as TextBox).Text
});
break;
case "LinkButton":
cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
Text = (control as LinkButton).Text
});
break;
case "DropDownList":
cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
Text = (control as DropDownList).SelectedItem.Text
});
break;
case "CheckBoxList":
foreach(ListItem item in (control as CheckBoxList).Items) {
if (item.Selected) {
cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
Text = item.Text + " "
});
}
}
break;
case "RadioButtonList":
cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
Text = (control as RadioButtonList).SelectedItem.Text
});
break;
}
cell.Controls.Remove(control);
}
}
}
GridView1.RenderControl(hw);
StringReader sr = new StringReader(sw.ToString());
iTextSharp.text.Document pdfDoc = new iTextSharp.text.Document(iTextSharp.text.PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 10f, 0f);
HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);
PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream);
pdfDoc.Open();
htmlparser.Parse(sr);
pdfDoc.Close();
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=GridViewExport.pdf");
Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);
Response.Write(pdfDoc);
Response.End();
}
}
public override void VerifyRenderingInServerForm(Control control) {
/* Verifies that the control is rendered */
}
}
}

web.config file

The following is my web.config file where I define my connection string:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433
-->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5" />
<httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5" />
</system.web>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="RConnection" connectionString="Server=INDIA\MSSQLServer2k8;database=TestDB;UID=sa; pwd=india;"/>
</connectionStrings>
</configuration>

Test

Now run the application.

Now you can change the value from Drop Down List, Radio Button or Check Box List as in the following:

You can make change in your from and do the export again as in the following: