We can have any type of column in a Grid View by using a Template column like Link, Drop Down, Radio button and check box list. So how to export all those into a PDF file? We will learn how to do that here.

I got a business requirement to design a form as in the following and export this into a PDF.

The following is my SQL Server Table in Design mode:



Script of my table

  1. CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Employee]
  2. (
  3. [ID] [int] IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL,
  4. [Name] [varchar](50) NULL,
  5. [Email] [varchar](500) NULL,
  6. [Country] [varchar](50) NULL
  7. ) ON [PRIMARY] GO

Here, to export the Grid View Data to a PDF we need to add a reference of iTextSharp as in the following:



aspx code

Now the following is my aspx code:

  1. <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="ExportGridViewTemplateColumnToPDF.Default" %>
  2. <!DOCTYPE html>
  3. <html
  4. xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  5. <head runat="server">
  6. <title>Export Grid View Template Column (Link, Drop Down List, Radio Button, Check Box List) To PDF</title>
  7. </head>
  8. <body>
  9. <form id="form1" runat="server">
  10. <div>
  11. <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" HeaderStyle-BackColor="#666666" HeaderStyle-ForeColor="White" Font-Names="Verdana"
  12. RowStyle-BackColor="#E4E4E4" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333" GridLines="None">
  13. <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="#284775" Font-Names="Verdana" />
  14. <Columns>
  15. <asp:BoundField DataField="Id" HeaderText="Id" ItemStyle-Width="30px">
  16. <ItemStyle Width="30px"></ItemStyle>
  17. </asp:BoundField>
  18. <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Name">
  19. <ItemTemplate>
  20. <asp:HyperLink ID="lnkName" runat="server" NavigateUrl="#" Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>'>
  21. </asp:HyperLink>
  22. </ItemTemplate>
  23. </asp:TemplateField>
  24. <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Email">
  25. <ItemTemplate>
  26. <asp:TextBox ID="txtEmail" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Email") %>'>
  27. </asp:TextBox>
  28. </ItemTemplate>
  29. </asp:TemplateField>
  30. <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Country">
  31. <ItemTemplate>
  32. <asp:TextBox ID="txtCountry" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Country") %>'>
  33. </asp:TextBox>
  34. </ItemTemplate>
  35. </asp:TemplateField>
  36. <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Reporting Manager">
  37. <ItemTemplate>
  38. <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlManager" runat="server">
  39. <asp:ListItem Text="Shambhu Sharma" Value="Shambhu Sharma" />
  40. <asp:ListItem Text="Amol Malhotra" Value="Amol Malhotra" />
  41. <asp:ListItem Text="Manu Khanna" Value="Manu Khanna" />
  42. </asp:DropDownList>
  43. </ItemTemplate>
  44. </asp:TemplateField>
  45. <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Designation" ItemStyle-ForeColor="Red" ItemStyle-Font-Size="10pt">
  46. <ItemTemplate>
  47. <asp:CheckBoxList ID="chkDesignation" runat="server" RepeatColumns="3" RepeatDirection="Horizontal">
  48. <asp:ListItem Text="Softwate Developer" Value="Softwate Developer" Selected="True" />
  49. <asp:ListItem Text="Technical Analyst" Value="Technical Analyst" />
  50. <asp:ListItem Text="Consultant" Value="Consultant" />
  51. <asp:ListItem Text="Solution Architect" Value="Solution Architect" />
  52. <asp:ListItem Text="Project Manager" Value="Project Manager" />
  53. </asp:CheckBoxList>
  54. </ItemTemplate>
  55. </asp:TemplateField>
  56. <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Experience" ItemStyle-ForeColor="Blue" ItemStyle-Font-Size="10pt">
  57. <ItemTemplate>
  58. <asp:RadioButtonList ID="rblExperience" runat="server" RepeatColumns="2" RepeatDirection="Horizontal">
  59. <asp:ListItem Text="1-2 Years" Value="1-2 Years" Selected="True" />
  60. <asp:ListItem Text="2-4 Years" Value="2-4 Years" />
  61. <asp:ListItem Text="4-6 Years" Value="4-6 Years" />
  62. <asp:ListItem Text="10+ Years" Value="10+ Years" />
  63. </asp:RadioButtonList>
  64. </ItemTemplate>
  65. </asp:TemplateField>
  66. </Columns>
  67. <EditRowStyle BackColor="#999999" />
  68. <FooterStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
  69. <HeaderStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" ForeColor="White" Font-Bold="True"></HeaderStyle>
  70. <PagerStyle BackColor="#284775" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
  71. <RowStyle BackColor="#F7F6F3" ForeColor="#333333"></RowStyle>
  72. <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#E2DED6" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />
  73. <SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#E9E7E2" />
  74. <SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#506C8C" />
  75. <SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#FFFDF8" />
  76. <SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#6F8DAE" />
  77. </asp:GridView>
  78. <br />
  79. <asp:Button ID="btnGridViewExport" runat="server" Text="Export To PDF" OnClick="btnGridViewExport_ExportToPDF" />
  80. </div>
  81. </form>
  82. </body>
  83. </html>

aspx.cs code

Now my aspx.cs code is:

  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using System.Linq;
  4. using System.Web;
  5. using System.Web.UI;
  6. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
  7. using System.IO;
  8. using System.Data;
  9. using iTextSharp.text.pdf;
  10. using iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser;
  11. using System.Configuration;
  12. using System.Data.SqlClient;
  13. namespace ExportGridViewTemplateColumnToPDF {
  14. public partial class Default: System.Web.UI.Page {
  15. protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  16. if (!this.IsPostBack) {
  17. BindEmployees();
  18. }
  19. }
  20. private void BindEmployees() {
  21. string constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["RConnection"].ConnectionString;
  22. using(SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(constr)) {
  23. using(SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Employee ORDER BY ID")) {
  24. using(SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter()) {
  25. DataTable dt = new DataTable();
  26. cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
  27. cmd.Connection = con;
  28. da.SelectCommand = cmd;
  29. da.Fill(dt);
  30. GridView1.DataSource = dt;
  31. GridView1.DataBind();
  32. }
  33. }
  34. }
  35. }
  36. protected void btnGridViewExport_ExportToPDF(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  37. using(StringWriter sw = new StringWriter()) {
  38. HtmlTextWriter hw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);
  39. foreach(TableCell cell in GridView1.HeaderRow.Cells) {
  40. cell.BackColor = GridView1.HeaderStyle.BackColor;
  41. }
  42. foreach(GridViewRow row in GridView1.Rows) {
  43. foreach(TableCell cell in row.Cells) {
  44. cell.BackColor = GridView1.RowStyle.BackColor;
  45. List < Control > controls = new List < Control > ();
  47. //Add controls to be removed to Generic List
  48. foreach(Control control in cell.Controls) {
  49. controls.Add(control);
  50. }
  51. //Loop through the controls to be removed and replace then with Literal
  52. foreach(Control control in controls) {
  53. switch (control.GetType().Name) {
  54. case "HyperLink":
  55. cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
  56. Text = (control as HyperLink).Text
  57. });
  58. break;
  59. case "TextBox":
  60. cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
  61. Text = (control as TextBox).Text
  62. });
  63. break;
  64. case "LinkButton":
  65. cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
  66. Text = (control as LinkButton).Text
  67. });
  68. break;
  69. case "DropDownList":
  70. cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
  71. Text = (control as DropDownList).SelectedItem.Text
  72. });
  73. break;
  74. case "CheckBoxList":
  75. foreach(ListItem item in (control as CheckBoxList).Items) {
  76. if (item.Selected) {
  77. cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
  78. Text = item.Text + " "
  79. });
  80. }
  81. }
  82. break;
  83. case "RadioButtonList":
  84. cell.Controls.Add(new Literal {
  85. Text = (control as RadioButtonList).SelectedItem.Text
  86. });
  87. break;
  88. }
  89. cell.Controls.Remove(control);
  90. }
  91. }
  92. }
  93. GridView1.RenderControl(hw);
  94. StringReader sr = new StringReader(sw.ToString());
  95. iTextSharp.text.Document pdfDoc = new iTextSharp.text.Document(iTextSharp.text.PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 10f, 0f);
  96. HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);
  97. PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream);
  98. pdfDoc.Open();
  99. htmlparser.Parse(sr);
  100. pdfDoc.Close();
  101. Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
  102. Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=GridViewExport.pdf");
  103. Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);
  104. Response.Write(pdfDoc);
  105. Response.End();
  106. }
  107. }
  108. public override void VerifyRenderingInServerForm(Control control) {
  109. /* Verifies that the control is rendered */
  110. }
  111. }
  112. }

web.config file

The following is my web.config file where I define my connection string:

  1. <?xml version="1.0"?>
  2. <!--
  3. For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
  4. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433
  5. -->
  6. <configuration>
  7. <system.web>
  8. <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5" />
  9. <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5" />
  10. </system.web>
  11. <connectionStrings>
  12. <add name="RConnection" connectionString="Server=INDIA\MSSQLServer2k8;database=TestDB;UID=sa; pwd=india;"/>
  13. </connectionStrings>
  14. </configuration>

Test

Now run the application.



Now you can change the value from Drop Down List, Radio Button or Check Box List as in the following:







You can make change in your from and do the export again as in the following: