Create A PDF File And Download Using ASP.NET MVC

Abstract

This is a tip for creating PDF using ItextSharp and downloading the PDF file using ASP.NET MVC.

1. Introduction
   
   As we know whenever we are working on a project there is a need of reports that a user wants to view for a respective business date --  it can be any day to day transactional reports, inventory reports of stores etc. Irrespective of the project in the tip of code snippet I will be generating a PDF report of a sample records which I will fetch from database as shown below step by step.
   
   1.1 Create New Project
   
   
                                             Figure 1: New Project in VS 2015
   
   1.2 Select MVC Template for creating WEB Application as shown below:
   
   
                                                Figure 2: Selecting MVC Template
   
   Here I will using Entity Framework to retrieve records from the table. If you are new to Entity Framework my suggestion is to go and read my basic article on Entity Framework.
   
   • Getting Started With Entity Framework
   
   • First what records I am going to show into the pdf file?
   • I will be showing Employee details to the User as shown below in the snapshot.
   
   
                                    Figure 3: Information to be shown in pdf
   
   1.3 Creating your Models
   
   Now we will create Model class named Employee as shown below:
   
   
                                                   Figure 4: Creating Model Class
   
   
                                                Figure 5: Naming your Model class
   

   using System.Text;
   using System.Threading.Tasks;
   using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
   namespace DownloadPdf.Models
   {
       public class Employee
       {
   
           [Key]
           public int EmployeeId
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
           public string Name
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
           public string Gender
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
           public string City
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
           public int DepartmentId
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
           public DateTime Hire_Date
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
   
       }
   }

   So now In order to create our db connectivity I will add a class which will act as DataModel for this project.
   
   
                                    Figure 6: Creating DBContextDataModel Class
   

   using System.Data.Entity;
   
   namespace DownloadPdf.Models
   {
       public class DataModel: DbContext
       {
           public DbSet < Employee > employees
           {
               get;
               set;
           }
   
           protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuildermodelBuilder)
           {
               modelBuilder.Entity < Employee > ().ToTable("tblEmployee");
           }
   
       }
   }

   1.4 Adding the connection string,
   
   Go to server explorer
   
   
                  Figure 7: Server Explorer window
   
   Click on Data Connections and add new connection.
   
   
               Figure 8: Adding Data Connection in asp.net MVC
   
   
   
   
                              Figure 9: Selecting your db
   
   Select your server name and enter your database name. Click on ok to confirm.
   
   Right click on new created connection:
   
   
                           Figure 10: Checking Properties of new Data Connection
   
   Go to properties.
   
   
                                             Figure 11: Connection String Property
   
   And copy the connection string and create a connection string in web.config file as shown below:
   

   <connectionStrings>
       <add name="DataModel" connectionString="Data Source=DEVELOPER-VAIO;Initial Catalog=Demos;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
   </connectionStrings>

   Make sure you name connection string with same name as your DataModel. Here I will using default Home controller and show the details from the table into the view.
   

   DataModel _context = newDataModel();
   public ActionResult Index() {
       List < Employee > employees = _context.employees.ToList < Employee > ();
   
       return View(employees);
   }
   
   View
   
   
   @model IEnumerable < DownloadPdf.Models.Employee >
       @ {
           ViewBag.Title = "Home Page";
       }
   
   
   < div class = "row" >
       < div class = "col-md-12" >
       < div class = "h2 text-center" > Employee Details < /div> < tableclass = "table table-bordered" >
   
       < thead >
       < tr >
       < td >
       Id < /td> < td >
       Name < /td> < td >
       Gender < /td> < td >
       City < /td> < td >
       Hire_Date < /td> < /tr>
   
   < /thead> < tbody >
   
       @foreach(varempin Model)
   
   { < tr >
           < td > @emp.EmployeeId < /td> < td > @emp.Name < /td> < td > @emp.Gender < /td> < td > @emp.City < /td> < td > @emp.Hire_Date < /td>
   
       < /tr>
   } < /tbody>
   
   < /table>
   
   < /div> < divclass = "col-sm-2" >
       < divclass = "btnbtn-success" > @Html.ActionLink("Create Pdf", "CreatePdf", "Home") < /div>
   
   < /div> < /div>

   After running the application Our View,
   
   
                                                Figure 12: Our Employee Details View
   
   Now we will create a method to create pdf and download the same using Itextsharp so now we need to download Itextsharp.
   
   
2. ITextSharp
   
   “iText Software is a world-leading specialist in programmable PDF software libraries for professionals. Its solutions are used in sales and marketing, legal and governance, finance, IT, operations and HR by a diverse customer base that includes medical institutions, banks, governments and technology companies.”
   
   Source: About
   
   Go to Manage Nuget Package manager and search for Itextsharp as shown below:
   
   
                                             Figure 13: Installing Nuget Package Manager
   
   And install the same.
   
   Now we will see the itextsharp library added to our references.
   
   
                        Figure 14:Demonstrating Addition of ItextSharpdll in references
   
   Now let’s start creating our method for pdf creation.
   
   In MVC we have several Action Result egPartialViewResult, Content, JavaScript Result, EmptyResult, Redirect Result etc. We will be using FileResult which used to send binary file content to the response.
   
   Let get started:
   

   public FileResultCreatePdf()
   {
       MemoryStreamworkStream = newMemoryStream();
       StringBuilder status = newStringBuilder("");
       DateTimedTime = DateTime.Now;
       //file name to be created
       stringstrPDFFileName = string.Format("SamplePdf" + dTime.ToString("yyyyMMdd") + "-" + ".pdf");
       Document doc = newDocument();
       doc.SetMargins(0 f, 0 f, 0 f, 0 f);
       //Create PDF Table with 5 columns
       PdfPTabletableLayout = newPdfPTable(5);
       doc.SetMargins(0 f, 0 f, 0 f, 0 f);
       //Create PDF Table
   
       //file will created in this path
       stringstrAttachment = Server.MapPath("~/Downloadss/" + strPDFFileName);
   
   
       PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, workStream).CloseStream = false;
       doc.Open();
   
       //Add Content to PDF
       doc.Add(Add_Content_To_PDF(tableLayout));
   
       // Closing the document
       doc.Close();
   
       byte[] byteInfo = workStream.ToArray();
       workStream.Write(byteInfo, 0, byteInfo.Length);
       workStream.Position = 0;
   
   
       return File(workStream, "application/pdf", strPDFFileName);
   
   }
   
   protected PdfPTableAdd_Content_To_PDF(PdfPTabletableLayout)
   {
   
           float[] headers = {50,24,45,35,50}; //Header Widths
           tableLayout.SetWidths(headers); //Set the pdf headers
           tableLayout.WidthPercentage = 100; //Set the PDF File witdh percentage
           tableLayout.HeaderRows = 1;
           //Add Title to the PDF file at the top
   
           List < Employee > employees = _context.employees.ToList < Employee > ();
   
   
   
           tableLayout.AddCell(newPdfPCell(newPhrase("Creating Pdf using ItextSharp", newFont(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 8, 1, newiTextSharp.text.BaseColor(0, 0, 0)))) {
               Colspan = 12, Border = 0, PaddingBottom = 5, HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER
           });
   
   
           ////Add header
           AddCellToHeader(tableLayout, "EmployeeId");
           AddCellToHeader(tableLayout, "Name");
           AddCellToHeader(tableLayout, "Gender");
           AddCellToHeader(tableLayout, "City");
           AddCellToHeader(tableLayout, "Hire Date");
   
           ////Add body
   
           foreach(varempin employees)
           {
   
               AddCellToBody(tableLayout, emp.EmployeeId.ToString());
               AddCellToBody(tableLayout, emp.Name);
               AddCellToBody(tableLayout, emp.Gender);
               AddCellToBody(tableLayout, emp.City);
               AddCellToBody(tableLayout, emp.Hire_Date.ToString());
   
           }
   
           returntableLayout;
       }
       // Method to add single cell to the Header
   private static void AddCellToHeader(PdfPTabletableLayout, stringcellText)
   {
   
       tableLayout.AddCell(newPdfPCell(newPhrase(cellText, newFont(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 8, 1, iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.YELLOW)))
       {
           HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_LEFT, Padding = 5, BackgroundColor = newiTextSharp.text.BaseColor(128, 0, 0)
       });
   }
   
   // Method to add single cell to the body
   private static voidAddCellToBody(PdfPTabletableLayout, stringcellText)
   {
       tableLayout.AddCell(newPdfPCell(newPhrase(cellText, newFont(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 8, 1, iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.BLACK)))
        {
           HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_LEFT, Padding = 5, BackgroundColor = newiTextSharp.text.BaseColor(255, 255, 255)
       });
   }

   Now let’s run our Application and check whether pdf is getting generated or not?
   
   
                                                               Figure 16: View
   
   Once User click on Generate Pdf. Pdf gets generated successfully as shown below.
   
   
                                                         Figure 17: PDF Generation
   
   Now once we open the pdf we will see our records displayed in table format as shown below:
   
   
                                                 Figure 18: PDF View in Google Chrome
   
   Hence I want to commence this code snippet tip for creating PDF file using ItextSharp in ASP.NET MVC. I hope this tip was useful and stay tuned on C# Corner for upcoming topics.

Read more articles on ASP.NET:

• What To Choose Between PHP And ASP.NET
• Developing Models In ASP.NET MVC