In this article I will explain with an example, how to export ASP.Net GridView Arabic, Persian or Urdu Language Characters to PDF using iTextSharp.
 
 

Download iTextSharp Libraries

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

HTML Markup

The following HTML Markup consists of:
GridView – For displaying data.

Columns

There are two BoundField columns for displaying the fields.
Button – For exporting the GridView to PDF file.
The Button has been assigned with a OnClick event handler.
<asp:GridView ID="gvCustomers" runat="server" Width="300" HeaderStyle-BackColor="#3AC0F2"
    RowStyle-BackColor="#A1DCF2" AlternatingRowStyle-BackColor="White"
    RowStyle-ForeColor="#3A3A3A" AutoGenerateColumns="false" Font-Names="Arial" Font-Size="12">
    <Columns>
        <asp:BoundField ItemStyle-Width="150px" DataField="Name" HeaderText="Name" />
        <asp:BoundField ItemStyle-Width="150px" DataField="UrduName" HeaderText="Arabic Name" />
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>
<br />
<asp:Button ID="btnExportPDF" runat="server" Text="ExportToPDF" OnClick="btnExportPDF_Click" />
 
 

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.
C#
using System.Data;
using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;
 
VB.Net
Imports System.Data
Imports iTextSharp.text
Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf
 
 

Populating GridView with Arabic, Persian or Urdu Characters

Inside the Page_Load event handler, the GridView is populated with the records from dynamic DataTable.
Note: For more details on how to create DataTable dynamically and bind to GridView, please refer my article Dynamically create DataTable and bind to GridView in ASP.Net.
 
C#
protected void Page_Load(object  sender,EventArgs e)
{
    DataTable  dt =  new DataTable();
    dt.Columns.AddRange(new DataColumn[2] {
        new DataColumn("Name"),
        new DataColumn("UrduName")
    });
    dt.Rows.Add("India", "بھارت");
    dt.Rows.Add("China", "چین");
    dt.Rows.Add("Australia", "آسٹریلیا");
    dt.Rows.Add("Nepal", "نیپال");
    gvCustomers.DataSource = dt;
    gvCustomers.DataBind();
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    Dim dt As New DataTable()
    dt.Columns.AddRange(New DataColumn() {
        New DataColumn("Name"),
        New DataColumn("UrduName")
    })
    dt.Rows.Add("India", "بھارت")
    dt.Rows.Add("China", "چین")
    dt.Rows.Add("Australia", "آسٹریلیا")
    dt.Rows.Add("Nepal", "نیپال")
    gvCustomers.DataSource = dt
    gvCustomers.DataBind()
End Sub
 
 

Exporting GridView with Arabic, Persian or Urdu Characters to PDF

When ExportPDF button is clicked, the PDF is exported.
Here, the GridView is again populated with data from database after setting AllowPaging to false.
Then, fetching the Arial font from the Windows Fonts Directory as the inbuilt iTextSharp Fonts does not properly display the Arabic, Persian or Urdu Characters.
After that, loop is executed and all the rows and cells from the GridView is inserted into an iTextSharp Table. In each cell of the iTextSharp table, the Background Color, Font color and the Text Direction is set from Right to Left.
Finally, the Table is added to an iTextSharp Document which is then exported to PDF using the Output Response Stream.
C#
protected void btnExportPDF_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    gvCustomers.AllowPaging = false;
    gvCustomers.DataBind();
 
    BaseFont bf = BaseFont.CreateFont(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir") + @"\fonts\Arial.ttf", BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, true);
 
    PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(gvCustomers.Columns.Count);
    int[] widths = new int[gvCustomers.Columns.Count];
    for (int x = 0; x < gvCustomers.Columns.Count; x++)
    {
        widths[x] = (int)gvCustomers.Columns[x].ItemStyle.Width.Value;
        string cellText = Server.HtmlDecode(gvCustomers.HeaderRow.Cells[x].Text);
 
        //Set Font and Font Color.
        Font font = new Font(bf, 10, Font.NORMAL);
        font.Color = new BaseColor(gvCustomers.HeaderStyle.ForeColor);
        PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase(12, cellText, font));
 
        //Set Header Row BackGround Color.
        cell.BackgroundColor = new BaseColor(gvCustomers.HeaderStyle.BackColor);
 
        //Important for Arabic, Persian or Urdu Text.
        cell.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL;
        table.AddCell(cell);
    }
    table.SetWidths(widths);
 
    for (int i = 0; i < gvCustomers.Rows.Count; i++)
    {
        if  (gvCustomers.Rows[i].RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
        {
            for (int j = 0; j < gvCustomers.Columns.Count; j++)
            {
                string cellText = Server.HtmlDecode(gvCustomers.Rows[i].Cells[j].Text);
 
                //Set Font and Font Color.
                Font font = new Font(bf, 10, Font.NORMAL);
                font.Color = new BaseColor(gvCustomers.RowStyle.ForeColor);
                PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase(12, cellText, font));
 
                //Set Color of row.
                if (i % 2 == 0)
                {
                    //Set Row BackGround Color.
                    cell.BackgroundColor = new BaseColor(gvCustomers.RowStyle.BackColor);
                }
 
                //Important for Arabic, Persian or Urdu Text.
                cell.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL;
                table.AddCell(cell);
            }
        }
    }
 
    //Create the PDF Document.
    Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 10f, 0f);
    PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream);
    pdfDoc.Open();
    pdfDoc.Add(table);
    pdfDoc.Close();
 
    Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
    Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=GridViewExport.pdf");
    Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);
    Response.Write(pdfDoc);
    Response.End();
}
 
public override void VerifyRenderingInServerForm(Control control)
{
    /* Verifies that the control is rendered */
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub btnExportPDF_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    gvCustomers.AllowPaging = False
    gvCustomers.DataBind()
    Dim bf As BaseFont = BaseFont.CreateFont(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir") & "\fonts\Arial.ttf", BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, True)
    Dim table As PdfPTable = New PdfPTable(gvCustomers.Columns.Count)
    Dim widths As Integer() = New Integer(gvCustomers.Columns.Count - 1) {}
 
    For x As Integer = 0 To gvCustomers.Columns.Count - 1
        widths(x) = CInt(gvCustomers.Columns(x).ItemStyle.Width.Value)
        Dim cellText As String = Server.HtmlDecode(gvCustomers.HeaderRow.Cells(x).Text)
 
        'Set Font and Font Color.
        Dim font As Font = New Font(bf, 10, Font.NORMAL)
        font.Color =  New BaseColor(gvCustomers.HeaderStyle.ForeColor)
        Dim cell As PdfPCell = New PdfPCell(New Phrase(12, cellText, font))
 
        'Set Header Row BackGround Color.
        cell.BackgroundColor = New BaseColor(gvCustomers.HeaderStyle.BackColor)
 
        'Important for Arabic, Persian or Urdu Text.
        cell.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL
        table.AddCell(cell)
    Next
 
    table.SetWidths(widths)
 
    For  i As Integer  = 0To gvCustomers.Rows.Count - 1
        If gvCustomers.Rows(i).RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then
            For j As Integer = 0 To gvCustomers.Columns.Count - 1
                Dim cellText As String = Server.HtmlDecode(gvCustomers.Rows(i).Cells(j).Text)
 
                'Set Font and Font Color.
                Dim font As Font = New Font(bf, 10, Font.NORMAL)
                font.Color = New BaseColor(gvCustomers.RowStyle.ForeColor)
                Dim cell As PdfPCell = New PdfPCell(New Phrase(12, cellText, font))
 
                'Set Color of row.
                If i Mod 2 = 0 Then
                    'Set Row BackGround Color.
                    cell.BackgroundColor = New BaseColor(gvCustomers.RowStyle.BackColor)
                End If
                'Important for Arabic, Persian or Urdu Text.
                cell.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL
                table.AddCell(cell)
            Next
        End If
    Next
 
    'Create the PDF Document.
    Dim  pdfDoc As Document = New Document(PageSize.A4, 10.0F, 10.0F, 10.0F, 0F)
    PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream)
    pdfDoc.Open()
    pdfDoc.Add(table)
    pdfDoc.Close()
 
    Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
    Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=GridViewExport.pdf")
    Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache)
    Response.Write(pdfDoc)
    Response.End()
End Sub
Public Overrides Sub VerifyRenderingInServerForm(control As Control)
    ' Verifies that the control is rendered
End Sub
 
 

Screenshots

The Form

Export ASP.Net GridView Arabic, Persian or Urdu Language Characters to PDF using iTextSharp
 

Exported PDF

Export ASP.Net GridView Arabic, Persian or Urdu Language Characters to PDF using iTextSharp
 
 

Demo

View Demo
 
 

Downloads

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