HTML to PDF .NET Examples

This page contains various examples of using the HTML to PDF API in .NET. The examples are complete and fully functional. Read more about how to convert HTML to PDF in .NET.

Basic examples
Advanced examples
Template rendering examples

Basic examples

Convert a web page to a PDF file

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "example.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a web page to in-memory PDF

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
            byte[] pdf = client.convertUrl("http://www.example.com");

            // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
            // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a web page and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // create an output stream for the conversion result
            FileStream outputStream = new FileStream("example.pdf", FileMode.CreateNew);

            // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
            client.convertUrlToStream("http://www.example.com", outputStream);

            // close the output stream
            outputStream.Close();
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a local HTML file to a PDF file

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertFileToFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html", "MyLayout.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a local HTML file to in-memory PDF

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
            byte[] pdf = client.convertFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html");

            // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
            // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a local HTML file and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // create an output stream for the conversion result
            FileStream outputStream = new FileStream("MyLayout.pdf", FileMode.CreateNew);

            // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
            client.convertFileToStream("/path/to/MyLayout.html", outputStream);

            // close the output stream
            outputStream.Close();
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a string containing HTML to a PDF file

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertStringToFile("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>", "HelloWorld.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a string containing HTML to in-memory PDF

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
            byte[] pdf = client.convertString("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>");

            // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
            // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a string containing HTML and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // create an output stream for the conversion result
            FileStream outputStream = new FileStream("HelloWorld.pdf", FileMode.CreateNew);

            // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
            client.convertStringToStream("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>", outputStream);

            // close the output stream
            outputStream.Close();
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Get info about the current conversion

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setDebugLog(true);

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertFileToFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html", "MyLayout.pdf");
            
            // print URL to the debug log
            System.Console.WriteLine("Debug log url: " + client.getDebugLogUrl());
            
            // print the number of available conversion credits in your account
            System.Console.WriteLine("Remaining credit count: " + client.getRemainingCreditCount());
            
            // print the number of credits consumed by the conversion
            System.Console.WriteLine("Consumed credit count: " + client.getConsumedCreditCount());
            
            // print the unique ID of the conversion
            System.Console.WriteLine("Job id: " + client.getJobId());
            
            // print the total number of pages in the output document
            System.Console.WriteLine("Page count: " + client.getPageCount());
            
            // print the size of the output in bytes
            System.Console.WriteLine("Output size: " + client.getOutputSize());
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Advanced examples

Customize the page size and the orientation

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setPageSize("Letter");
            client.setOrientation("landscape");
            client.setNoMargins(true);

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "letter_landscape.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Put the source URL in the header and the page number in the footer

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setHeaderHeight("15mm");
            client.setFooterHeight("10mm");
            client.setHeaderHtml("<a class='pdfcrowd-source-url' data-pdfcrowd-placement='href-and-content'></a>");
            client.setFooterHtml("<center><span class='pdfcrowd-page-number'></span></center>");
            client.setMarginTop("0");
            client.setMarginBottom("0");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "header_footer.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Create fillable PDF form

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setEnablePdfForms(true);

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertStringToFile("<html><body>Enter name:<input type=text></body></html>", "form.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Zoom the HTML document

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setScaleFactor(300);

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "zoom_300.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Set PDF metadata

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setAuthor("Pdfcrowd");
            client.setTitle("Hello World");
            client.setSubject("Demo");
            client.setKeywords("Pdfcrowd,demo");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "with_metadata.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Create a Powerpoint like presentation from an HTML document

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setPageLayout("single-page");
            client.setPageMode("full-screen");
            client.setInitialZoomType("fit-page");
            client.setOrientation("landscape");
            client.setNoMargins(true);

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("https://pdfcrowd.com/api/", "slide_show.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert an HTML document section

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setElementToConvert("#main");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("https://pdfcrowd.com/api/", "html_part.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Inject an HTML code

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setCustomJavascript("el=document.createElement('h2'); el.textContent='Hello from Pdfcrowd API'; el.style.color='red'; el_before=document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0]; el_before.parentNode.insertBefore(el, el_before.nextSibling)");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "html_inject.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Convert a responsive web page as it appears on a large device

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setViewportWidth(992);
            client.setRenderingMode("viewport");
            client.setSmartScalingMode("viewport-fit");
            client.setNoMargins(true);

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("https://getbootstrap.com/", "bootstrap.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Create an in-memory archive (ZIP) and convert it

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Compression;

public class ApiTest
{
    private static void addFileToArchive(String fName, String fPath, ZipArchive archive) {
        var entry = archive.CreateEntry(fName);

        using(var entryStream = entry.Open()) {
            using(var readStream = File.OpenRead(fPath)) {
                pdfcrowd.ConnectionHelper.CopyStream(readStream, entryStream);
            }
        }
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // create ZIP archive
            MemoryStream inStream = new MemoryStream();
            using(ZipArchive archive = new ZipArchive(inStream, ZipArchiveMode.Create, true))
            {
                // add HTML content to the archive
                ZipArchiveEntry htmlEntry = archive.CreateEntry("index.html");
                using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(htmlEntry.Open()))
                {
                    writer.Write(@"<html>
                        <head>
                            <style>
                             @font-face
                             {
                                 font-family: 'OpenSans';
                                 src: url(fonts/OpenSans.ttf) format('truetype');
                             }
                    
                             h1
                             {
                                 font-family: OpenSans;
                             }
                            </style>
                        </head>
                        <body>
                            <h1>Hello World</h1>
                            <img src='images/logo.png'>
                        </body>
                    </html>");
                }

                // add required local files to the archive
                addFileToArchive("fonts/OpenSans.ttf", "/your-path-to/fonts/OpenSans.ttf", archive);
                addFileToArchive("images/logo.png", "/your-path-to/images/logo.png", archive);
            }

            inStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);

            // create an output stream for the conversion result
            FileStream outputStream = new FileStream("HelloFromZip.pdf", FileMode.CreateNew);

            // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
            client.convertStreamToStream(inStream, outputStream);

            // close the output stream
            outputStream.Close();
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Renderer debugging - highlight HTML elements

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setCustomJavascript("libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 191, 0, 0.1)', borderColor:null})");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "highlight_background.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Renderer debugging - borders with spacing around HTML elements

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setCustomJavascript("libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({borderColor: 'orange', backgroundColor: null, padding: '4px', margin: '4px'})");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "highlight_borders.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Template rendering Examples

Create PDF from JSON data

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setDataString(@"{
            ""name"": ""World"",
            ""product"": ""Pdfcrowd API""
        }");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertStringToFile("Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}", "output.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Create PDF from XML data

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setDataString(@"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""UTF-8""?>
        <data>
          <name>World</name>
          <product>Pdfcrowd API</product>
        </data>");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertStringToFile("Hello {{ data.name }} from {{ data.product }}", "output.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Create PDF from YAML data

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setDataString(@"name: World
product: Pdfcrowd API");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertStringToFile("Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}", "output.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Create PDF from CSV data

using System;
using System.IO;

public class ApiTest
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // create the API client instance
            pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient client =
                new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

            // configure the conversion
            client.setDataString(@"name,product
World,Pdfcrowd API");

            // run the conversion and write the result to a file
            client.convertStringToFile("Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}", "output.pdf");
        }
        catch(pdfcrowd.Error why)
        {
            // report the error
            System.Console.Error.WriteLine("Pdfcrowd Error: " + why);

            // rethrow or handle the exception
            throw;
        }
    }
}