iTextSharp Generate PDF in Memory and send as Email Attachment using C VBNet and ASPNet

In this article I will explain with an example, how to dynamically generate PDF in Memory and send as Email Attachment in ASP.Net using C# and VB.Net.

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

Mail Server Settings in Web.Config file

The following Mail Server settings need to be saved in the Web.Config file.

Note: It is necessary to use the sender’s email address credentials while defining the Gmail SMTP Server Credentials as Gmail the sender’s email address must be same as the Gmail Username specified in credentials.

<system.net>

<network

host= "smtp.gmail.com"

port= "587"

enableSsl= "true"

userName= "sender@gmail.com"

password= "GMAILor2STEP-PASSWORD"

defaultCredentials= "true"/>

</smtp>

</mailSettings>

</system.net>

MailMessage class properties

Following are the required properties of the MailMessage class.

From – Sender’s email address.

To – Recipient(s) Email Address.

CC – Carbon Copies. (If any)

BCC – Blind Carbon Copies. (If any)

Subject – Subject of the Email.

Body – Body of the Email.

IsBodyHtml – Specify whether body contains text or HTML mark up.

Attachments – Attachments. (If any)

ReplyTo – ReplyTo Email address.

SmtpClient class methods

Following are the methods of the SMTP class.

Host – SMTP Server URL (Gmail: smtp.gmail.com)

Port – Port Number of the SMTP sever (Gmail: 587)

EnableSsl – Specify whether your host accepts SSL Connections (Gmail: True)

UseDefaultCredentials – Set to True in order to allow authentication based on the Credentials of the Account used to send emails

Credentials – Valid login credentials for the SMTP server (Gmail: email address and password)

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.

using System.Data;

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

using System.Net;

using System.Net.Mail;

using System.Net.Configuration;

using System.Configuration;

using iTextSharp.text;

using iTextSharp.text.pdf;

using iTextSharp.tool.xml;

VB.Net

Imports System.Data

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Text

Imports System.Net

Imports System.Net.Mail

Imports System.Net.Configuration

Imports System.Configuration

Imports iTextSharp.text

Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf

Imports iTextSharp.tool.xml

Generating PDF in Memory and sending as email attachment using C# and VB.Net

Inside the Page_Load event handler, the DataTable is created with some dummy data and SendPDFEmail method is called.

Note: For more details on how to create dummy DataTable, please refer my article Dynamically create DataTable and bind to GridView in ASP.Net.

Inside the SendPDFEmail function, using the StringBuilder class an HTML string is generated. This HTML string is basically a Receipt from a company containing the details of an Order.

Then, generated HTML string is converted to PDF document using ParseXHtml method of XmlWorkerHelper class and saved into the MemoryStream class object.

Finally, the email is being sent with the generated PDF as an attachment and success the message is displayed in JavaScript Alert Message Box using RegisterStartupScript method.

protected void Page_Load(object sender,EventArgs e)

{

if (!this.IsPostBack)

{

DataTable dt = new DataTable();

dt.Columns.AddRange(new DataColumn[3] {

new DataColumn("OrderId"),

new DataColumn("Product"),

new DataColumn("Quanity")});

dt.Rows.Add(101,"Sun Glasses", 5);

dt.Rows.Add(102,"Jeans", 2);

dt.Rows.Add(103,"Trousers", 12);

dt.Rows.Add(104,"Shirts", 9);

this.SendPDFEmail(dt);

}

private void SendPDFEmail(DataTable dt)

{

string companyName = "ASPSnippets Private Limited";

int orderNo = 2303;

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

sb.Append("<table width='100%' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2'>");

sb.Append("<tr><td align='center' style='background-color: #18B5F0' colspan='2'><b>Order Sheet</b></td></tr>");

sb.Append("<tr><tdcolspan='2'></td></tr>");

sb.Append("<tr><td><b>Order No:</b>");

sb.Append(orderNo);

sb.Append("</td><td><b>Date: </b>");

sb.Append(DateTime.Now);

sb.Append(" </td></tr>");

sb.Append("<tr><tdcolspan='2'><b>Company Name :</b> ");

sb.Append(companyName);

sb.Append("</td></tr>");

sb.Append("</table>");

sb.Append("<br />");

sb.Append("<table border='1' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2' width='100%'>");

sb.Append("<tr>");

foreach (DataColumn column in dt.Columns)

{

sb.Append("<th style='background-color: #D20B0C; color: #FFFFFF'>");

sb.Append(column.ColumnName);

sb.Append("</th>");

}

sb.Append("</tr>");

foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)

{

sb.Append("<tr>");

foreach (DataColumn column in dt.Columns)

{

sb.Append("<td>");

sb.Append(row[column]);

sb.Append("</td>");

}

sb.Append("</tr>");

}

sb.Append("</table>");

byte[] bytes = null;

using (StringReader sr = new StringReader(sb.ToString()))

{

Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 10f, 0f);

using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())

{

PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc,memoryStream);

pdfDoc.Open();

XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, pdfDoc, sr);

pdfDoc.Close();

bytes = memoryStream.ToArray();

memoryStream.Close();

}

//ReadSmtpsection fromweb.Config file.

SmtpSection smtpSection = (SmtpSection)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("system.net/mailSettings/smtp");

using (MailMessage mm = new MailMessage(smtpSection.From, "receiver@gmail.com"))

{

mm.Subject = "iTextSharp PDF";

mm.Body = "iTextSharp PDF Attachment";

mm.Attachments.Add(new Attachment(new MemoryStream(bytes), "iTextSharpPDF.pdf"));

mm.IsBodyHtml = false;

//Sending Email.

using (SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient())

{

smtp.Host = smtpSection.Network.Host;

smtp.Port = smtpSection.Network.Port;

smtp.EnableSsl = smtpSection.Network.EnableSsl;

smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = smtpSection.Network.DefaultCredentials;

smtp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(smtpSection.Network.UserName, smtpSection.Network.Password);

smtp.Send(mm);

ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(this.GetType(), "alert", "alert('Email sent.');", true);

}

VB.Net

Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

If Not Me.IsPostBack Then

Dim dt As New DataTable()

dt.Columns.AddRange(New DataColumn(2) {

New DataColumn("OrderId"),

New DataColumn("Product"),

New DataColumn("Quanity")})

dt.Rows.Add(101, "Sun Glasses", 5)

dt.Rows.Add(102, "Jeans", 2)

dt.Rows.Add(103, "Trousers", 12)

dt.Rows.Add(104, "Shirts", 9)

Me.SendPDFEmail(dt)

End If

End Sub

Private Sub SendPDFEmail(dt As DataTable)

Dim companyName As String = "ASPSnippets Private Limited"

Dim orderNo As Integer = 2303

Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

sb.Append("<table width='100%' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2'>")

sb.Append("<tr><td align='center' style='background-color: #18B5F0' colspan='2'><b>Order Sheet</b></td></tr>")

sb.Append("<tr><tdcolspan='2'></td></tr>")

sb.Append("<tr><td><b>Order No:</b>")

sb.Append(orderNo)

sb.Append("</td><td><b>Date: </b>")

sb.Append(DateTime.Now)

sb.Append(" </td></tr>")

sb.Append("<tr><tdcolspan='2'><b>Company Name :</b> ")

sb.Append(companyName)

sb.Append("</td></tr>")

sb.Append("</table>")

sb.Append("<br />")

sb.Append("<table border='1' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2' width='100%'>")

sb.Append("<tr>")

For Each column As DataColumn In dt.Columns

sb.Append("<th style='background-color: #D20B0C; color: #FFFFFF'>")

sb.Append(column.ColumnName)

sb.Append("</th>")

sb.Append("</tr>")

For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows

sb.Append("<tr>")

For Each column As DataColumn In dt.Columns

sb.Append("<td>")

sb.Append(row(column))

sb.Append("</td>")

sb.Append("</tr>")

sb.Append("</table>")

Dim bytes As Byte() = Nothing

Using sr As New StringReader(sb.ToString())

Dim pdfDoc As New Document(PageSize.A4, 10.0F, 10.0F, 10.0F, 0F)

Using memoryStream As New MemoryStream()

Dim writer As PdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, memoryStream)

pdfDoc.Open()

XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, pdfDoc, sr)

pdfDoc.Close()

bytes = memoryStream.ToArray()

memoryStream.Close()

End Using

'ReadSmtpsection fromweb.Config file.

Dim smtpSection As SmtpSection = CType(ConfigurationManager.GetSection("system.net/mailSettings/smtp"), SmtpSection)

Using mm As New MailMessage(smtpSection.From, "receiver@gmail.com")

mm.Subject = "iTextSharp PDF"

mm.Body = "iTextSharp PDF Attachment"

mm.Attachments.Add(New Attachment(New MemoryStream(bytes), "iTextSharpPDF.pdf"))

mm.IsBodyHtml = False

'Sending Email.

Using smtp As New SmtpClient()

smtp.Host = smtpSection.Network.Host

smtp.Port = smtpSection.Network.Port

smtp.EnableSsl = smtpSection.Network.EnableSsl

smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = smtpSection.Network.DefaultCredentials

smtp.Credentials = New NetworkCredential(smtpSection.Network.UserName,smtpSection.Network.Password)

smtp.Send(mm)

ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(Me.GetType(), "alert", "alert('Email sent.');", True)

End Using

End Sub

Screenshots

Email received with the PDF as attachment

iTextSharp: Generate PDF in Memory and send as Email Attachment using C#, VB.Net and ASP.Net

The generated PDF document

Demo

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iTextSharp: Generate PDF in Memory and send as Email Attachment using C#, VB.Net and ASP.Net

Related

Download iTextSharp and XmlWorkerHelper Libraries

Mail Server Settings in Web.Config file

MailMessage class properties

SmtpClient class methods

Namespaces

Generating PDF in Memory and sending as email attachment using C# and VB.Net

Screenshots

Email received with the PDF as attachment

The generated PDF document

Demo

Downloads

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