How to create a PDF file in WPF?

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 create a PDF document in WPF.

Steps to create PDF programmatically:

1. Create a new WPF application project.
2. Install the Syncfusion.Pdf.Wpf NuGet package as reference to your .NET Framework applications from NuGet.org.
3. Include the following namespaces in the MainWindow.xaml.cs file.

C#

using Syncfusion.Pdf;
using Syncfusion.Pdf.Graphics;
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows;

VB.NET

Imports Syncfusion.Pdf
Imports Syncfusion.Pdf.Graphics
Imports System
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows

4. Add a new button in MainWindow.xaml to create a PDF document as follows.

   <Button Click="btnCreate_Click" Margin="0,0,10,12" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Height="30" BorderBrush="LightBlue" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Width="180">
       <Button.Background>
           <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.5,-0.04" StartPoint="0.5,1.04">
        <GradientStop Color="#FFD9E9F7" Offset="0"/>
        <GradientStop Color="#FFEFF8FF" Offset="1"/>
           </LinearGradientBrush>
       </Button.Background>
       <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Height="23" Margin="0,0,0,-2.52" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Width="100">
           <Image Name="image2" Margin="2" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
           <TextBlock Text="Create PDF" Height="15.96" Width="126" Margin="0,4,0,3" />
       </StackPanel>
   </Button>
   

5. Add the following code in btnCreate_Click to create a PDF file with simple text.

C#

using (PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument())
{
  //Add a page to the document
  PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
 
  //Create PDF graphics for a 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));
 
  //Save the document
  document.Save("Output.pdf");
}

VB.NET

'Create a new PDF document
Using document As PdfDocument = New PdfDocument()
 
  'Add a page to the document
  Dim page As PdfPage = document.Pages.Add()
 
  'Create PDF graphics for a 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))
 
  'Save the document
  document.Save("Output.pdf")
 
End Using

A complete working 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 will find other options like drawing right-to-left text and multi-column text, consuming TrueType fonts, Standards 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.

See Also:

Create a PDF file in Xamarin

Create a PDF file in ASP.NET Core

Create a PDF file in ASP.NET MVC

Create a PDF file in Windows Forms