//Create a byte array that will eventually hold our final PDF
Byte[] bytes;
//Boilerplate iTextSharp setup here
//Create a stream that we can write to, in this case a MemoryStream
using (var ms = new MemoryStream()) {
//Create an iTextSharp Document which is an abstraction of a PDF but **NOT** a PDF
using (var doc = new Document()) {
//Create a writer that's bound to our PDF abstraction and our stream
using (var writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, ms)) {
//Open the document for writing
doc.Open();
//Our sample HTML and CSS
var example_html = @"<p>This <em>is </em><span class=""headline"" style=""text-decoration: underline;"">some</span> <strong>sample <em> text</em></strong><span style=""color: red;"">!!!</span></p>";
var example_css = @".headline{font-size:200%}";
/**************************************************
* Example #1 *
* *
* Use the built-in HTMLWorker to parse the HTML. *
* Only inline CSS is supported. *
* ************************************************/
//Create a new HTMLWorker bound to our document
using (var htmlWorker = new iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser.HTMLWorker(doc)) {
//HTMLWorker doesn't read a string directly but instead needs a TextReader (which StringReader subclasses)
using (var sr = new StringReader(example_html)) {
//Parse the HTML
htmlWorker.Parse(sr);
}
}
/**************************************************
* Example #2 *
* *
* Use the XMLWorker to parse the HTML. *
* Only inline CSS and absolutely linked *
* CSS is supported *
* ************************************************/
//XMLWorker also reads from a TextReader and not directly from a string
using (var srHtml = new StringReader(example_html)) {
//Parse the HTML
iTextSharp.tool.xml.XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, doc, srHtml);
}
/**************************************************
* Example #3 *
* *
* Use the XMLWorker to parse HTML and CSS *
* ************************************************/
//In order to read CSS as a string we need to switch to a different constructor
//that takes Streams instead of TextReaders.
//Below we convert the strings into UTF8 byte array and wrap those in MemoryStreams
using (var msCss = new MemoryStream(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(example_css))) {
using (var msHtml = new MemoryStream(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(example_html))) {
//Parse the HTML
iTextSharp.tool.xml.XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, doc, msHtml, msCss);
}
}
doc.Close();
}
}
//After all of the PDF "stuff" above is done and closed but **before** we
//close the MemoryStream, grab all of the active bytes from the stream
bytes = ms.ToArray();
}
//Now we just need to do something with those bytes.
//Here I'm writing them to disk but if you were in ASP.Net you might Response.BinaryWrite() them.
//You could also write the bytes to a database in a varbinary() column (but please don't) or you
//could pass them to another function for further PDF processing.
var testFile = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop), "test.pdf");
System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(testFile, bytes);