Convert HTML to PDF in .NET

Question

I want to generate a PDF by passing HTML contents to a function. I have made use of iTextSharp for this but it does not perform well when it encounters tables and the layout just gets messy.

Is there a better way?

Answer 1

EDIT: New Suggestion HTML Renderer for PDF using PdfSharp

(After trying wkhtmltopdf and suggesting to avoid it)

HtmlRenderer.PdfSharp is a 100% fully C# managed code, easy to use, thread safe and most importantly FREE (New BSD License) solution.

Usage

1. Download HtmlRenderer.PdfSharp nuget package.

2. Use Example Method.

   public static Byte[] PdfSharpConvert(String html)
   {
       Byte[] res = null;
       using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
       {
           var pdf = TheArtOfDev.HtmlRenderer.PdfSharp.PdfGenerator.GeneratePdf(html, PdfSharp.PageSize.A4);
           pdf.Save(ms);
           res = ms.ToArray();
       }
       return res;
   }
   

A very Good Alternate Is a Free Version of iTextSharp

Until version 4.1.6 iTextSharp was licensed under the LGPL licence and versions until 4.16 (or there may be also forks) are available as packages and can be freely used. Of course someone can use the continued 5+ paid version.

I tried to integrate wkhtmltopdf solutions on my project and had a bunch of hurdles.

I personally would avoid using wkhtmltopdf - based solutions on Hosted Enterprise applications for the following reasons.

1. First of all wkhtmltopdf is C++ implemented not C#, and you will experience various problems embedding it within your C# code, especially while switching between 32bit and 64bit builds of your project. Had to try several workarounds including conditional project building etc. etc. just to avoid "invalid format exceptions" on different machines.
2. If you manage your own virtual machine its ok. But if your project is running within a constrained environment like (Azure (Actually is impossible withing azure as mentioned by the TuesPenchin author