What is Aspose.PDF?
Aspose.Pdf for .NET is a set of PDF APIs for document creation and manipulation that enables your .NET applications to read, write and manipulate existing PDF documents without using Adobe Acrobat. It also allows you to create forms and manage form fields embedded in a PDF document.
This API is written in managed C# and it allows developers to add PDF Creation and manipulation functionality to their Microsoft .NET application.
Following are the some key and incredible features of Aspose.Pdf API.
So lets demonstrate preceding explanation with practically by creating one simple ASP.NET MVC application
Now let us start with a step by step approach from the creation of a simple MVC application as in the following:
1."Start", then "All Programs" and select "Microsoft Visual Studio 2015".
2."File", then "New" and click "Project", then select "ASP.NET Web Application Template", then provide the Project a name as you wish and click OK. After clicking, the following window will appear
Step 2 : Add The Reference of Aspose.PDF into project
Now the next step is to add the reference of Aspose.PDF API into our created MVC Project.
Here are the steps:
1.Right click on Solution ,find Manage NuGet Package manager and click on it.
2.After as shown into the image and type in search box "Aspose.PDF".
3.Select Aspose.PDF as shown into the image .
4.Choose version of Aspose.PDF API and click on install button.
After successfully installation of Aspose.PDF API into ASP.NET MVC project , The added reference of Aspose.PDF API will be look like as follows into our created MVC application solution as
In preceding image you can see that Aspose.Pdf API is successfully installed in our project.
Step 3: Create Model Class
Now let us create the model class file named InvoiceModel.cs by right clicking on model folder as in the following screenshot:
Note:
It is not mandatory that Model class should be in Models folder, it is just for better readability; you can create this class anywhere in the solution explorer. This can be done by creating different folder names or without folder name or in a separate class API.
InvoiceModel.cs class file code snippet:
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
namespace ConvertHTMLToPDFUsingAspose.Models
{
public class InvoiceModel
{
[Display(Name ="Customer Name")]
public string CustomerName { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Transaction Ref.")]
public string TransactionRef { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Transaction Date")]
public string TransactionDate { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Transaction Amount")]
public string TransactionAmount { get; set; }
public string Status { get; set; }
}
}
Step 4: Add Controller Class
Now let us add the MVC 5 controller as in the following screenshot:
After clicking on Add button it will show the window. Specify the Controller name as Home with suffix Controller.
Note:
•Controller name must be having suffix as 'Controller' after specifying the name of controller.
Step 5: Create Method into the HomeController.cs file.
Now modify the default code in HomeController.cs class file to convert HTML to PDF using Aspose.PDF , After modifying code will look like as follows,
HomeController.cs
using Aspose.Pdf;
using ConvertHTMLToPDFUsingAspose.Models;
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace ConvertHTMLToPDFUsingAspose.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{ // GET: Home
public ActionResult HTMLToPDF()
{
InvoiceModel Invoice = new InvoiceModel();
Invoice.CustomerName = "Vithal Wadje";
Invoice.TransactionDate = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyy");
Invoice.TransactionRef = "CMD0152PAY";
Invoice.TransactionAmount = "4000.00";
Invoice.Status = "Success";
return View(Invoice);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult HTMLToPDF(int? id)
{
//Consider this data coming from database
InvoiceModel Obj = new InvoiceModel();
Obj.CustomerName = "Vithal Wadje";
Obj.TransactionDate = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyy");
Obj.TransactionRef = "CMD0152PAY";
Obj.TransactionAmount = "4000.00";
Obj.Status = "Success";
string PdfHtmlTemplate = @"<table border=2 width=100%"+">" +@"
<tbody><tr>
<td>
Customer Name
</td>
<td>
"+Obj.CustomerName+ @"
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Transaction Ref.
</td>
<td> " + Obj.TransactionRef + @" </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Transaction Date
</td>
<td> " + Obj.TransactionDate + @" </td >
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Transaction Amount
</td >
<td> " + Obj.TransactionAmount + @" </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Status
</td>
<td> " + Obj.Status + @" </td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>";
Aspose.Pdf.License Objpdflicense = new Aspose.Pdf.License();
Objpdflicense.SetLicense(@"E:\Aspose\Aspose.Pdf.lic");
Objpdflicense.Embedded = true;
//Check if licensed applied
if (Document.IsLicensed)
{
//Set the properties for PDF file page format
HtmlLoadOptions objLoadOptions = new HtmlLoadOptions();
objLoadOptions.PageInfo.Margin.Bottom = 10;
objLoadOptions.PageInfo.Margin.Top = 20;
//Load HTML string into MemoryStream using Aspose document class
Document doc = new Document(new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(PdfHtmlTemplate)), objLoadOptions);
string FileName = "Aspose_" + DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy")+".pdf";
//Save PDF file on local hard drive or database or as you wish
doc.Save(@"C:\Saved Files\" + FileName);
}
return View(Obj);
}
}
}
Step 6: Create strongly typed view named HTMLToPDF using InvoiceModel class
Right click on View folder of created application and choose add view , select InvoiceModel class and choose 'List' scaffolding template as.
Click on Add button then it will create the view named HTMLToPDF , Now open the HTMLToPDF.cshtml view, Then some default code you will see which is generated by MVC scaffolding template, Now modify default code to make as per our requirements, After modifying the code it will look like as in the following,
HTMLToPDF.cshtml
@model ConvertHTMLToPDFUsingAspose.Models.InvoiceModel
@{
ViewBag.Title = "www.aspose.com";
}
@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
@Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<div class="form-horizontal">
<hr />
<h4>Using Aspose.Pdf for .NET</h4>
<hr />
<table class="table-bordered table">
<tr>
<td>
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.CustomerName)
</td>
<td>
@Html.DisplayFor(model => model.CustomerName)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.TransactionRef)
</td>
<td>@Html.DisplayFor(model => model.TransactionRef)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.TransactionDate)
</td>
<td>@Html.DisplayFor(model => model.TransactionDate)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.TransactionAmount)
</td>
<td>@Html.DisplayFor(model => model.TransactionAmount)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Status)
</td>
<td>@Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Status)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="form-group">
<div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10">
<input type="submit" value="Export To PDF" class="btn btn-primary" />
</div>
</div>
</div>
}
<script src="~/Scripts/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js"></script>
Now after adding the Model, View and controller into our project. The solution explorer will look like as follows
Now we have done all coding to convert HTML to PDF using Aspose.PDF in ASP.NET MVC
Step 7 : Now run the application
After running the application the UI will be look like as follows,
In the preceding Images , lets consider the preceding the transaction receipt which we wants to Export into PDF. Now click on Export to PDF button . It will generate the PDF file in our specified location as.
Now open the files , The contents of the file will be look like as follows
I hope from all preceding examples we have learned how to convert HTML to PDF using Aspose.PDF in ASP.NET MVC