In this article I will explain how to export selected (checked) GridView Rows to PDF file in ASP.Net using C# and VB.Net.
The GridView consists of a CheckBox column to select / check the GridView Rows and when the Button is clicked then only the selected (checked) Rows are exported to PDF file.
Database
For this article I am making use of the Microsoft’s Northwind Database. Download and install instructions are provided in the link below
HTML Markup
The HTML Markup consists of an ASP.Net GridView and a Button. The first column is a TemplateField consisting of a CheckBox to select rows.
<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" HeaderStyle-BackColor="#3AC0F2" HeaderStyle-ForeColor="White" RowStyle-BackColor="#A1DCF2" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false">
<Columns>
<asp:TemplateField>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:CheckBox ID="chkSelect" runat="server" />
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>
<asp:BoundField DataField="ContactName" HeaderText="Contact Name" ItemStyle-Width="150px" />
<asp:BoundField DataField="City" HeaderText="City" ItemStyle-Width="100px" />
<asp:BoundField DataField="Country" HeaderText="Country" ItemStyle-Width="100px" />
</Columns>
</asp:GridView>
<br />
<asp:Button ID="btnExport" runat="server" Text="Export To PDF" OnClick="ExportToPDF" />
Namespaces
You will need to import the following namespaces
C#
using System.IO;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Configuration;
using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;
VB.Net
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Configuration
Imports iTextSharp.text
Imports iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser
Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf
Binding the GridView
Below is the code to bind the GridView with records from the Customers table of the Northwind database
C#
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
this.BindGrid();
}
}
private void BindGrid()
{
string strConnString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["constr"].ConnectionString;
using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(strConnString))
{
using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Customers"))
{
using (SqlDataAdapter sda = new SqlDataAdapter())
{
cmd.Connection = con;
sda.SelectCommand = cmd;
using (DataTable dt = new DataTable())
{
sda.Fill(dt);
GridView1.DataSource = dt;
GridView1.DataBind();
}
}
}
}
}
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
If Not IsPostBack Then
Me.BindGrid()
End If
End Sub
Private Sub BindGrid()
Dim strConnString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("constr").ConnectionString
Using con As New SqlConnection(strConnString)
Using cmd As New SqlCommand("SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Customers")
Using sda As New SqlDataAdapter()
cmd.Connection = con
sda.SelectCommand = cmd
Using dt As New DataTable()
sda.Fill(dt)
GridView1.DataSource = dt
GridView1.DataBind()
End Using
End Using
End Using
End Using
End Sub
![Exported selected (checked) GridView Rows to PDF in ASP.Net]()
Export selected (checked) GridView Rows to PDF in ASP.Net
Below is the code for exporting selected (checked) GridView rows to PDF file.
First a loop is executed over the GridView Rows and all the rows for which the corresponding CheckBox is not checked are hidden by setting the Visible property to False.
Finally the GridView is rendered into an HTML string using HtmlTextWriter and then the generated HTML is added to the iTextSharp PDF Document, which is then export to PDF through the Response Stream.
Note: The iTextSharp DLL supplied with the code sample of this article has been modified to allow GridView Styles, Colors and Formatting. Thus if you use any other copy of iTextSharp, the GridView Styles, Colors and Formatting won’t be rendered in the exported PDF.
C#
protected void ExportToPDF(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
{
using (HtmlTextWriter hw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw))
{
//Hide the Column containing CheckBox
GridView1.Columns[0].Visible = false;
foreach (GridViewRow row in GridView1.Rows)
{
if (row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
{
//Hide the Row if CheckBox is not checked
row.Visible = (row.FindControl("chkSelect") as CheckBox).Checked;
}
}
GridView1.RenderControl(hw);
StringReader sr = new StringReader(sw.ToString());
Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 10f, 0f);
HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);
PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream);
pdfDoc.Open();
htmlparser.Parse(sr);
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 ExportToPDF(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Using sw As New StringWriter()
Using hw As New HtmlTextWriter(sw)
'Hide the Column containing CheckBox
GridView1.Columns(0).Visible = False
For Each row As GridViewRow In GridView1.Rows
If row.RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then
'Hide the Row if CheckBox is not checked
row.Visible = TryCast(row.FindControl("chkSelect"), CheckBox).Checked
End If
Next
GridView1.RenderControl(hw)
Dim sr As New StringReader(sw.ToString())
Dim pdfDoc As New Document(PageSize.A4, 10.0F, 10.0F, 10.0F, 0.0F)
Dim htmlparser As New HTMLWorker(pdfDoc)
PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream)
pdfDoc.Open()
htmlparser.Parse(sr)
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 Using
End Using
End Sub
Public Overrides Sub VerifyRenderingInServerForm(control As Control)
' Verifies that the control is rendered
End Sub
![Exported selected (checked) GridView Rows to PDF in ASP.Net]()
RegisterForEventValidation can only be called during Render();
Demo
Downloads
Download Code
