In this article I will explain with an example, how to create Password Protected (Secured) PDF using iTextSharp library in ASP.Net MVC.
 
 
 

Download iTextSharp and XmlWorkerHelper Libraries

In order to install iTextSharp and XmlWorkerHelper library from Nuget, please refer the following articles.
iTextSharp – Install iTextSharp library using Nuget
XmlWorkerHelper – Install iTextSharp.XmlWorker library using Nuget
 
 

Entity Framework Model

Once the Entity Framework is configured and connected to the database table, the Model will look as shown below.
Note: For more details on using Entity Framework in ASP.Net MVC, please refer my article ASP.Net MVC: Simple Entity Framework Tutorial with example.
ASP.Net MVC: Create Password Protected ( Secured ) PDF using iTextSharp
 
 

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.
using System.IO;
using System.Data;
using System.Text;
using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;
using iTextSharp.tool.xml;
 
 

Controller

The Controller consists of following Action methods.

Action method for handling GET operation

Inside this Action method, the records from the Customers Table are fetched using Entity Framework and returned to the View.
 

Action method for handling POST operation

This Action method gets called, when Export Button is clicked.
Note: The following Action method performs File Download and hence the return type is set to FileResult.
 
Inside this Action Method, Top 10 Customer records are fetched from the Customers Table using Entity Framework and then using the StringBuilder class, a string consisting of an HTML Table is generated.
Then, the HTML string is read using an object of StringReader class which is then supplied to the ParseXHtml method of the XMLWorkerHelper class which converts it to PDF document and saves it to the MemoryStream class object.
The MemoryStream class object is converted into BYTE Array which is passed as parameter to PdfReader class.
Another MemoryStream object is created which is used for making PDF Password Protected using the Encrypt method of PdfEncrypter class and the result is saved in the output MemoryStream object.
Note: The Encrypt method accepts the password as parameter.
 
Finally, the MemoryStream class object is converted to BYTE Array and exported as PDF file using the File function.
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // GET: Home
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        NorthwindEntities entities = new NorthwindEntities();
        return View(from customer in entities.Customers.Take(10)
                    select customer);
    }
 
    [HttpPost]
    public FileResult ExportToPDF()
    {
        NorthwindEntities entities = new NorthwindEntities();
        List<object> customers = (from customer in entities.Customers.ToList().Take(10)
                                  select new[] {
                                      customer.ContactName,
                                      customer.City,
                                      customer.Country
                                 }).ToList<object>();
 
        //Building an HTML string.
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
 
        //Table start.
        sb.Append("<table border='1' cellpadding='5' cellspacing='0' style='border: 1px solid #ccc;font-family: Arial;'>");
 
        //Building the Header row.
        sb.Append("<tr>");
        sb.Append("<th style='background-color: #B8DBFD;border: 1px solid #ccc'>Contact Name</th>");
        sb.Append("<th style='background-color: #B8DBFD;border: 1px solid #ccc'>City</th>");
        sb.Append("<th style='background-color: #B8DBFD;border: 1px solid #ccc'>Country</th>");
        sb.Append("</tr>");
 
        //Building the Data rows.
        for (int i = 0; i <customers.Count;i++)
        {
            string[] customer = (string[])customers[i];
            sb.Append("<tr>");
            for (int j = 0; j < customer.Length; j++)
            {
                //Append data.
                sb.Append("<td style='border: 1px solid #ccc'>");
                sb.Append(customer[j]);
                sb.Append("</td>");
            }
            sb.Append("</tr>");
        }
 
        //Table end.
        sb.Append("</table>");
 
        byte[] bytes = null;
        using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
        {
            StringReader sr = new StringReader(sb.ToString());
            Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 100f, 0f);
            PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, memoryStream);
            pdfDoc.Open();
            XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, pdfDoc, sr);
            pdfDoc.Close();
            bytes = memoryStream.ToArray();
        }
 
        // Adding password to PDF.
        using (MemoryStream output = new MemoryStream())
        {
            string password = "pass@123";
            PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(bytes);
            PdfEncryptor.Encrypt(reader, output, true, password, password, PdfWriter.ALLOW_SCREENREADERS);
            return File(output.ToArray(), "application/pdf", "GridViewExport.pdf");
        }
    }
}
 
 

View

HTML Markup

Inside the View an HTML Table is populated with customer records using FOR EACH loop executed over the Model.
The View consists of an HTML Form which has been created using the Html.BeginForm method with the following parameters.
ActionName – Name of the Action. In this case the name is Save.
ControllerName – Name of the Controller. In this case the name is Home.
FormMethod – It specifies the Form Method i.e. GET or POST. In this case it will be set to POST.
The HTML Form consists of a Submit Button which when clicked, the Form is submitted.
@{
     Layout = null;
}
 
<!DOCTYPE html>
 
<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Index</title>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="Grid">
        <table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #ccc;">
            <tr>
                <th style="background-color:#B8DBFD;border:1px solid #ccc">Contact Name</th>
                <th style="background-color:#B8DBFD;border:1px solid #ccc">City</th>
                <th style="background-color:#B8DBFD;border:1px solid #ccc">Country</th>
            </tr>
            @foreach (Customer customer in Model)
            {
                <tr>
                    <td style="border:1px solid #ccc">@customer.ContactName</td>
                    <td style="border:1px solid #ccc">@customer.City</td>
                    <td style="border:1px solid #ccc">@customer.Country</td>
                </tr>
            }
        </table>
    </div>
    <br />
    @using (Html.BeginForm("ExportToPDF", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
    {
        <input id="btnSubmit" type="submit" value="ExportTo PDF" />
    }
</body>
</html>
 
 

Screenshots

The Form

ASP.Net MVC: Create Password Protected ( Secured ) PDF using iTextSharp
 

Exported PDF

ASP.Net MVC: Create Password Protected ( Secured ) PDF using iTextSharp
 
 

Downloads

PasswordProtected_PDF_MVC.zip