Asp.net MVC : Export data to PDF file

In this article I am going to explain how to export data to PDF file in asp.net MVC. 

In previous article I have explained how to export data to Excel file in asp.net MVC, how to checkuploaded image is Grayscale or not in asp.net and how to check height and width(dimensions) and size of image before uploading in asp.net.

 Description:I have created table Employees and insert some dummy data into it. I want to export the data to PDF files. I am using itextsharp DLL to generate PDF file.

 Implementation: 

Model

  public partial class Employee

    {

        public int Id { get; set; }

        public string Name { get; set; }

        public Nullable<int> Phone { get; set; }

        public Nullable<int> Salary { get; set; }

        public string Department { get; set; }

        public string EmailId { get; set; }

    }

 Add Controller

Add controller to project.  Add iTextsharp namespaces. Create method to export the data to PDF.

Complete code of controller:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.Mvc;

using MVC_Project.Models;

using iTextSharp.text;

using iTextSharp.text.pdf;

using iTextSharp.text.xml;

using System.Web.Helpers;

using System.IO;

namespace MVC_Project.Controllers

{

    public class ExportController : Controller

    {

        //

        // GET: /Export/

        DemoEntities1 db = new DemoEntities1();

        public ActionResult Index()

        {

            var emp = db.Employees.ToList();

            return View(emp);           

        }

        public ActionResult CreatePdf()

        {

            List<Employee> emp = new List<Employee>();

            emp = db.Employees.ToList();

            WebGrid grid = new WebGrid(source: emp, canPage: false, canSort: false);

            string gridHtml = grid.GetHtml(

                   columns: grid.Columns(

                            grid.Column("Id", "Id"),

                            grid.Column("Name", "Name"),

                            grid.Column("Phone", "Phone"),

                            grid.Column("Salary", "Salary"),

                            grid.Column("Department", "Department"),

                             grid.Column("EmailId", "Email")

                           )

                    ).ToString();

            string exportData = String.Format("{0}{1}", "", gridHtml);

            var bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(exportData);

            using (var input = new MemoryStream(bytes))

            {

                var output = new MemoryStream();

                var document = new iTextSharp.text.Document(PageSize.A4, 50, 50, 50, 50);

                var writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, output);

                writer.CloseStream = false;

                document.Open();

                var xmlWorker = iTextSharp.tool.xml.XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance();

                xmlWorker.ParseXHtml(writer, document, input, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);

                document.Close();

                output.Position = 0;

                return File(output, "application/pdf","EmployeePDF.pdf");

            }

        }

    }

}

Add View

Add view for Index action. On button click call the CreatePDF method.

Complete code of view:

@{

    ViewBag.Title = "MVC : Export to PDF";

}

<style type="text/css">

    .webgrid {

        font-size: 1.2em;

        width: 80%;

        display: table;

        border-collapse: collapse;

    }

    .header {

        background-color: #3F95C5;

        color: #fff;

        padding-bottom: 4px;

        padding-top: 5px;

        text-align: center;

    }

        .header a {

            text-decoration: none;

            color: #fff;

        }

    td {

        text-align: center;

    }

    table img {

        width: 150px;

    }

    .row-style {

        background-color: #E6E6E6;

    }

        .row-style:hover {

            background-color: #C0C0C0;

        }

    .alternating-row {

        background-color: #DEEDF5;

    }

        .alternating-row:hover {

            background-color: #6EA0C3;

        }

    .btn {

        border: none;

        background: transparent;

    }

    .content {

        min-height: 550px;

    }

</style>

<h2>Export to PDF</h2>

<div class="content">

    <a href="@Url.Action("CreatePdf", "Export")">

        <img src="@Url.Content("~/images/pdf-button.png")" />

    </a>

    @{var grid = new WebGrid(Model, canPage: true, rowsPerPage: 50, ajaxUpdateContainerId: "gridContent");

    <div id="gridContent">

        @grid.GetHtml(

        tableStyle: "webgrid",

        headerStyle: "header",

        footerStyle: "footer",

        rowStyle: "row-style",

        alternatingRowStyle: "alternating-row",

    mode: WebGridPagerModes.All,

    columns: grid.Columns

    (

        grid.Column("Name", "Name"),

        grid.Column("Phone", "Phone"),

        grid.Column("Salary", "Salary"),

         grid.Column("Department", "Department"),

                //if else condition to check email id

             grid.Column("Email", format: (item) =>

             {

                 if (item.emailid == null)

                     return Html.Raw("Email not available");

                 else

                     return (item.EmailId);

             })

               )

                 )

    </div>

    }

</div>