How to convert HTML to PDF in MVC

Example #1 - How to stream a PDF directly to the end user with ASP.NET C# MVC

• By commenting out line #17 you can switch between showing the file inside the browser window itself (if supported by the browser), and downloading as an attachment.

  • 	public ActionResult Run()
    	{
    	string apiKey = "YOUR-API-KEY";
    	string value = "http://www.google.com"; // a url starting with http or an HTML string
    	using (var client = new WebClient())
    	{
    	// Build the conversion options
    	NameValueCollection options = new NameValueCollection();
    	options.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	options.Add("value", value);
    	// Call the API convert to a PDF
    	MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(client.UploadValues("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf", options));
    	// Make the file a downloadable attachment - comment this out to show it directly inside
    	HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfilename.pdf");
    	// Return the file as a PDF
    	return new FileStreamResult(ms, "application/pdf");
    	}
    	}

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• • Example #2 - How to convert a webpage to an image using ASP.NET C#

  Line #12 allows you to change the default output format so the html is converted into an image. You can use "png", "bmp" or "svg" formats for images. You could add line #12 to the above example to steam the image to the user (or as an attachment), or you can use this example which instead saves the image to your disk.

  • 	public void Run()
    	{
    	string apiKey = "YOUR-API-KEY";
    	string value = "http://www.google.com"; // a url starting with http or an HTML string
    	using (var client = new WebClient())
    	{
    	// Build the conversion options
    	NameValueCollection options = new NameValueCollection();
    	options.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	options.Add("value", value);
    	options.Add("OutputFormat", "jpg");
    	// Call the API convert to an image
    	byte[] result = client.UploadValues("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf", options);
    	// Save the image to disk
    	System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(Server.MapPath(Path.Combine("~/", @"c:\temp\myimage.jpg")), result);
    	}
    	}

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• • Example #3 - How to convert an HTML string to a PDF using ASP.NET C#

  You can also convert an HTML string to a PDF by supplying the HTML directly. It can be as complex as you like and may include image references and stylesheeet information -- just make sure it is valid HTML

  • 	public void Run()
    	{
    	string apiKey = "YOUR-API-KEY";
    	string value = "<h1>An <strong>Example</strong>HTML String</h1>"; // a direct HTML string
    	using (var client = new WebClient())
    	{
    	// Build the conversion options
    	NameValueCollection options = new NameValueCollection();
    	options.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	options.Add("value", value);
    	ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Tls12; //needed for older .net versions
    	// Call the API convert to an image
    	byte[] result = client.UploadValues("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf", options);
    	// Save the image to disk
    	System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(Server.MapPath(Path.Combine("~/", @"c:\temp\mypdf.pdf")), result);
    	}
    	}
    	//using query string in a Get
    	public void DownloadFile()
    	{
    	string apiKey = "YOUR-API-KEY";
    	string value = "http://www.google.com"; // a url starting with http or an HTML string.
    	using (var client = new WebClient())
    	{
    	client.QueryString.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	client.QueryString.Add("value", value);
    	client.DownloadFile("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf/", @"c:\temp\mypdf.pdf");
    	}
    	}

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• • Example #4 - Using C# MVC to convert a URL and add a footer

  By default page margins are set to zero. In this example, we increase the bottom margin to 30 to allow space for a page footer. Note you could use a Url to the file, or you could pass the whole file as a string with the FooterHtml parameter

  • 	public ActionResult TestC()
    	{
    	string apiKey = "YOUR-API-KEY";
    	string value = "http://www.google.com";
    	using (var client = new WebClient())
    	{
    	// Build the conversion options
    	NameValueCollection options = new NameValueCollection();
    	options.Add("apikey",apiKey);
    	options.Add("value", value);
    	options.Add("MarginBottom", "30");
    	options.Add("FooterUrl", "https://examplehtml2pf.com/examples/footer.htm");
    	// Call the API convert to a PDF
    	MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(client.UploadValues("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf", options));
    	// Make the file a downloadable attachment - comment this out to show it directly inside
    	HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition:attachment;", "filename=devis.pdf");
    	// Return the file as a PDF
    	return new FileStreamResult(ms, "application/pdf");
    	}
    	}

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    Here is an example custom HTML footer file with page numbers. Do not forget the doctype.

    	<!DOCTYPE html>
    	<html>
    	<head>
    	<script>
    	function subst() {
    	var vars = {};
    	var x = window.location.search.substring(1).split('&');
    	for (var i in x) { var z = x[i].split('=', 2); vars[z[0]] = unescape(z[1]); }
    	var x = ['frompage', 'topage', 'page', 'webpage', 'section', 'subsection', 'subsubsection'];
    	for (var i in x) {
    	var y = document.getElementsByClassName(x[i]);
    	for (var j = 0; j < y.length; ++j) y[j].textContent = vars[x[i]];
    	}
    	}
    	</script>
    	</head>
    	<body style="border:0; margin: 0;" onload="subst()">
    	<table style="border-bottom: 1px solid black; width: 100%">
    	<tr>
    	<td class="section"></td>
    	<td style="text-align:right">
    	Page <span class="page"></span> of <span class="topage"></span>
    	</td>
    	</tr>
    	</table>
    	</body>
    	</html>

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    This is an example which hides the header on page 1 and 3

    	<!DOCTYPE html>
    	<html>
    	<head>
    	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
    	<script>
    	function subst() {
    	var vars = {};
    	var x = document.location.search.substring(1).split('&');
    	for (var i in x) { var z = x[i].split('=', 2); vars[z[0]] = unescape(z[1]); }
    	var x = ['frompage', 'topage', 'page', 'webpage', 'section', 'subsection', 'subsubsection'];
    	for (var i in x) {
    	var y = document.getElementsByClassName(x[i]);
    	for (var j = 0; j < y.length; ++j) y[j].textContent = vars[x[i]];
    	if (vars['page'] == 1) { // If page is 1, set FakeHeaders display to none
    	document.getElementById("FakeHeaders").style.display = 'none';
    	}
    	if (vars['page'] == 3) { // If page is 3, set FakeHeaders display to none
    	document.getElementById("FakeHeaders").style.display = 'none';
    	}
    	}
    	}
    	</script>
    	</head>
    	<body style="border:0;margin:0;" onload="subst()">
    	<table style="border-bottom: 1px solid pink; width: 100%; margin-bottom:5px;" id="FakeHeaders">
    	<tr>
    	<th>Your awesome table column header 1</th>
    	<th>Column 2</th>
    	<th style="text-align:right">
    	Page <span class="page"></span>/<span class="topage"></span>
    	</th>
    	</tr>
    	</table>
    	</body>
    	</html>

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• • Example #5 - How to convert a webpage to an PDF and stream it to the browser using ASP.NET C#

  Line #20 allows you to stream the bytes directly to the browser to use as an attachment

  • 	public void Run()
    	{
    	string apiKey = "YOUR-API-KEY";
    	string value = "http://www.google.com"; // a url starting with http or an HTML string
    	using (var client = new WebClient())
    	{
    	// Build the conversion options
    	NameValueCollection options = new NameValueCollection();
    	options.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	options.Add("value", value);
    	// Call the API convert to an image
    	byte[] result = client.UploadValues("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf", options);
    	// Set response type to PDF
    	Response.Clear();
    	Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
    	// Comment this next line out to attempt to stream inline into the browser (if browser supports it)
    	Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfilename.pdf");
    	// Return the file as a PDF
    	Response.BinaryWrite(result);
    	Response.End();
    	}
    	}

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• • Example #6 - ASP.NET 5 and C# MVC 6

  The WebClient has been replaced with HttpClient in ASP.NET 5. Other aspects follow the same format.

  • 	using (var client = new HttpClient())
    	{
    	var param = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    	param.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	param.Add("value", url);
    	var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(param);
    	var result = client.PostAsync("https://api.examplehtml2pf.com/pdf", content).Result;
    	if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    	{
    	MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(result.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync().Result);
    	return File(stream, "application/pdf", "MyPdfFile.pdf");
    	}
    	}

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• • Example #7 - Batch/Asynchronous Process

  For PDF conversion taking more than 30 seconds or input/output files more than 6 Mb, you need to use the batch/asynchronous parameters.

  • 	using (var client = new HttpClient())
    	{
    	var param = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    	param.Add("apikey", apiKey);
    	param.Add("value", url);
    	param.Add("Batch", "true");
    	//as an alternative to polling, you can pass the webhook option parameter
    	//from your website where the api could post back once the pdf file is ready
    	//the same JSON Result is posted back with Status=Ready and the PDFLink
    	param.Add("Webhook", "https://b2b-example.customer.com/my-webhook");
    	var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(param);
    	var result = client.PostAsync(apiUrl, content).Result;
    	if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    	{
    	string jsonResult = result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
    	JObject jsonParsed = JObject.Parse(jsonResult);
    	if (jsonParsed["PdfToken"] != null)
    	{
    	string pdfToken = jsonParsed["PdfToken"].ToString();
    	param.Add("PdfToken", pdfToken);
    	content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(param);
    	//polling every 30 seconds to check if the pdf file is ready
    	do
    	{
    	result = client.PostAsync(apiUrl, content).Result;
    	jsonResult = result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
    	jsonParsed = JObject.Parse(jsonResult);
    	string status = "";
    	if (jsonParsed["Status"] != null)
    	status = jsonParsed["Status"].ToString();
    	if (status == "Ready")
    	{
    	File.WriteAllBytes("MyPdfFile.pdf", client.GetByteArrayAsync(jsonParsed["PdfLink"].ToString()).Result);
    	break;
    	}
    	else
    	{
    	//wait for 30 seconds
    	System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30000);
    	}
    	} while (true);
    	}
    	}
    	}

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