Creating PDF In ASP.NET Core MVC Using Rotativa.AspNetCore

In this article, we are going to learn how to use Rotativa.AspNetCore tool to create PDFs from Views in ASP.NET Core. If you have worked with ASP.NET MVC, the Rotativa tool is already available there, which we can use for generating pdfs.

Source code

Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY

This tool was created by Italian Giorgio Bozio. He had a requirement for generating pdf in ASP.NET MVC and a recurring task was to set up a way to create PDF docs, for business flow or reporting.

In the past, I used a lot of Crystal Reports. It had a very nice editor that users who weren't programmers could use with ease. Sometimes, though, it was problematic when installing on new servers and it was expensive, especially for projects where the requirements did not involve producing new layouts frequently.

Then, I found the wkhtmltopdf command line tool, tried it, and looked at opinions on the web. The first experiences were great. It was fast and the PDF docs came out pretty nice. And, most importantly, it was free.

History of Rotativa referred from - http://letsfollowtheyellowbrickroad.blogspot.in/

What is wkhtmltopdf (wkhtmltopdf.exe)?

wkhtmltopdf is a C library.

wkhtmltopdf and wkhtmltoimage are open source (LGPLv3) command line tools to render HTML into PDF and various image formats using the Qt Web Kit rendering engine.

Definition referred to- https://wkhtmltopdf.org/

Tool to use with ASP.NET MVC

If you want a tool for creating pdf in ASP.NET MVC then you can download it from NuGet.

Command: - Install-Package Rotativa -Version 1.7.4-rc

Do not use 1.7.3, it has issues.

Find it on GitHub:- https://github.com/webgio/Rotativa

Prerequisite

1. Visual Studio 2017 with ASP.NET CORE 2.0
2. AspNetCore 1.0.6 version

Creating ASP.NET Core MVC Application

Now let’s start with creating a simple application in ASP.NET MVC Core.

Open New Visual Studio 2017 IDE.

After opening IDE, next, we are going to create ASP.NET MVC Core project. For doing that, just click File - New - Project.

After choosing a project, a new dialog will pop up with the name "New Project". In that, we are going to choose Visual C# Project Templatesà.NET Coreà ASP.NET Core Web Application. Then, we are going to name the project as "DemoRotativa".

After configuring the project, next, we are going to see project structure.


After creating the project next, we are going to install Rotativa.AspNetCore to the project.

Installing Rotativa.AspNetCore to project

We are going to install Rotativa.AspNetCore 1.0.6 version which needs dependency of AspNetCore MVC 2.o. We already have created ASP.NET CORE 2.0 project; we do not need to worry.

We can install it via package manager console or via Manage package solution Windows.

Let’s install it using package manager console.

After installing Rotativa.AspNetCore next, we need to do configuration.

Configuration Rotativa.AspNetCore setting in a startup.cs class

We add this setting in a startup.cs class inside Configure method to set a relative path to the wkhtmltopdf.exe file to access.

RotativaConfiguration.Setup(env);

Next, we need to add a new Folder in WWW with name “Rotativa” and inside this folder, we are going to add

wkhtmltopdf.exe, wkhtmltoimage.exe files.

You can download this files from GitHub if you download sample solution which I have provided

https://github.com/webgio/Rotativa.AspNetCore

Note

Download the solution and you will get this exe files.

Next, after adding exe files, we are going to add Controller.

Adding DemoController

For adding controller just right click on controller folder then choose "Add," inside that, choose to Add New item. A new dialog will popup with Add New item, inside that choose "MVC Controller Class" and Name your controller as "DemoController" and click on Add button to create a Demo controller.

After adding controller, next, we are going to Add Action to this Controller.

Adding [HttpGet] DemoViewAsPDF Action Method

We are going to add action method with name DemoViewAsPDF and this action method will return ViewAsPdf result.

Complete Code Snippet of DemoViewAsPDF

After adding Action Method, next, we are going to add “DemoViewAsPDF” View.

Adding DemoViewAsPDF View

On this View, we have added simple Billing Invoice.

Code snippet of DemoViewAsPDF View

Now we have completed with all settings so let’s save this application and access your First Pdf.

URL to access:- http://localhost:#####/demo/DemoViewAsPDF

Snapshot of Pdf

Setting Margin to Pdf

For displaying a demo of Margin we are going to add another Action Method with name “DemoPageMarginsPDF” and along with this we are also going to add View with the same name “DemoPageMarginsPDF”.