Rotativa PDF generation working locally but not on IIS 7

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC 5 application. It has a simple form and when the user submits it, the form is stored in the cache and then another controller action is called, this action will return the model as a view as a PDF.

I have no need to save it locally, just to show it in the browser so that the user can download it.

There is no need for a database either, that is why I store the model in the cache.

Locally, on Visual studio 2013, it works fine. But when I publish it to IIS 7 I get an Unhandled Execution Error. Here is the stack trace that I get back:

 Unhandled Execution Error
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Exception:

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:


[Exception]
   Rotativa.WkhtmltopdfDriver.Convert(String wkhtmltopdfPath, String switches, String html) +1364
   Rotativa.WkhtmltopdfDriver.ConvertHtml(String wkhtmltopdfPath, String switches, String html) +70
   Rotativa.ViewAsPdf.CallTheDriver(ControllerContext context) +1986
   Rotativa.AsPdfResultBase.BuildPdf(ControllerContext context) +380
   Rotativa.AsPdfResultBase.ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context) +69
   System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultFilterRecursive(IList`1 filters, Int32 filterIndex, ResultExecutingContext preContext, ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionResult actionResult) +109
   System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultFilterRecursive(IList`1 filters, Int32 filterIndex, ResultExecutingContext preContext, ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionResult actionResult) +890
   System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultWithFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, IList`1 filters, ActionResult actionResult) +97
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass21.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +241
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<BeginExecuteCore>b__1d(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ExecuteCoreState innerState) +29
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +111
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +53
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +19
   System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<BeginProcessRequest>b__5(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ProcessRequestState innerState) +51
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +111
   System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +606
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +288


Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.34248 

I first used ActionAsPDF() but now I also tried to use return new ViewAsPDF(). Both give the same error and stack trace. Does this have to do something with permissions?

Answer 1

This error is a missing C++ redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2013 file called (MSVCP120.dll).

To solve the issue:

1. Open the C++ redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2013 downloadable link below: download Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013

2. Click Download and choose the file (vcredist_x86.exe) even if you are running X64 bit server version.

3. Install the file.

Check Jalal W Hijazi Blog http://jwhijazi.blogspot.com/2015/05/solving-rotativa-unhandled-exception.html for more details.