How to create a PDF file in ASP.NET Core

3 mins read

PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format used to display the document with same formatting, independent of application software, hardware, and operating system. Syncfusion Essential PDF is a .NET PDF library used to create, read, and edit PDF documents. Using this library, you can create a PDF document in ASP.NET Core.

Steps to create a PDF file programmatically in ASP.NET Core:

Create a new C# ASP.NET Core Web Application project.
Select Web Application pattern (Model-View-Controller) for the project.
Install the Syncfusion.Pdf.Net.Core NuGet package as reference to your .NET Standard applications from NuGet.org.
A default controller with name HomeController.cs gets added on creation of ASP.NET MVC project. Include the following namespaces in that HomeController.cs file.

using Syncfusion.Pdf;
using Syncfusion.Pdf.Graphics;
using Syncfusion.Drawing;
using System.IO;

VB.NET

Imports Syncfusion.Pdf
Imports Syncfusion.Pdf.Graphics
Imports Syncfusion.Drawing
Imports System.IO

A default action method named Index will be present in HomeController.cs. Right click on Index method and select Go to View where you will be directed to its associated view page Index.cshtml.
Add a new button in the Index.cshtml as shown below.

CSHTML

@{Html.BeginForm("CreateDocument", "Home", FormMethod.Get);
{
<div>
    <input type="submit" value="Create Document" style="width:150px;height:27px" />
</div>
}
Html.EndForm();
}

Add a new action method CreateDocument in HomeController.cs and include the below code snippet to create an PDF file and download it.

//Create a new PDF document
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
 
//Add a page to the document
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
 
//Create PDF graphics for the page
PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;
 
//Set the standard font
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 20);
 
//Draw the text
graphics.DrawString("Hello World!", font, PdfBrushes.Black, new PointF(0, 0));
 
//Saving the PDF to the MemoryStream
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
 
document.Save(stream);
 
//Set the position as '0'.
stream.Position = 0;
 
//Download the PDF document in the browser
FileStreamResult fileStreamResult = new FileStreamResult(stream, "application/pdf");
 
fileStreamResult.FileDownloadName = "Sample.pdf";
 
return fileStreamResult;

VB.NET

'Create a new PDF document
Dim document As PdfDocument = New PdfDocument
 
'Add a page to the document
Dim page As PdfPage = document.Pages.Add
 
'Create PDF graphics for the page 
Dim graphics As PdfGraphics = page.Graphics
 
'Set the standard font
Dim font As PdfFont = New PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 20)
 
'Draw the text
graphics.DrawString("Hello World!", font, PdfBrushes.Black, New PointF(0, 0))
 
'Saving the PDF to the MemoryStream
Dim stream As MemoryStream = New MemoryStream
 
document.Save(stream)
 
'Set the position as '0'
stream.Position = 0
 
'Download the PDF document in the browser
Dim fileStreamResult As FileStreamResult = New FileStreamResult(stream, "application/pdf")
 
fileStreamResult.FileDownloadName = "Output.pdf"
 
Return fileStreamResult

A complete work sample can be downloaded from Create-PDF-file.zip.

By executing the program, you will get the PDF document as follows.

Take a moment to peruse the documentation, where you can find other options like drawing right-to-left text and multi-column text, consuming TrueType fonts, Standard fonts, and CJK fonts. Also, the features like PDF form filling, extract text or images from PDF, and protect PDF documents with code examples.

Refer here to explore the rich set of Syncfusion Essential PDF features.

An online sample link to generate Hello world PDF document.

How to create a PDF file in ASP.NET Core

Steps to create a PDF file programmatically in ASP.NET Core:

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