How to generate pdf using c# with header and footer

Hi Raja, this code will help you add a header with an image and add a footer with custom text and a page number on each page using PDFFlow library and C#:

var pathImage = Path.Combine(
Environment.CurrentDirectory, "Images", "PDF.png");
var styleMain = StyleBuilder.New().SetFontSize(11);
reate a document:
DocumentBuilder.New()
.AddSection().ApplyStyle(styleMain)
.SetSize(PaperSize.A5)
.SetOrientation(PageOrientation.Portrait)
.AddHeaderToBothPages(30)
.AddParagraph()
.SetFont(Fonts.Courier(11))
.SetAlignment(HorizontalAlignment.Center)
.AddInlineImage(pathImage, 24, 24)
.SetMarginRight(5).SetMarginTop(5).ToParagraph()
.AddText("GS PDF Library")
.ToSection()
.AddParagraphToSection("This document is an example of a PDF document:" +
"A5 paper size, portrait orientation, a header with an image, " +
"a footer with a line and a page number, an empty page at the end.")
.InsertPageBreak()
.AddFooterToBothPages(20)
.AddLineToRepeatingArea()
.AddParagraph("A footer with custom text, ")
.AddPageNumberToParagraph("page #")
.SetAlignment(HorizontalAlignment.Center)
uild a file:
.ToDocument().Build("Result.pdf");

The result will be like this:

you can also find more real examples on their website
hope this will help you.

Hi,

Use page events and below is the sample code

private void CreatePDF()
{
string fileName = string.Empty;

DateTime fileCreationDatetime = DateTime.Now;

fileName = string.Format("{0}.pdf", fileCreationDatetime.ToString(@"yyyyMMdd") + "_" + fileCreationDatetime.ToString(@"HHmmss"));

string pdfPath = Server.MapPath(@"~\PDFs\") + fileName;

            using (FileStream msReport = new FileStream(pdfPath, FileMode.Create))
            {
                //step 1
                using (Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 140f, 10f))
                {
                    try
                    {
                        // step 2
                        PdfWriter pdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, msReport);
                        pdfWriter.PageEvent = new Common.ITextEvents();

//open the stream
pdfDoc.Open();

                        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
                        {
                            Paragraph para = new Paragraph("Hello world. Checking Header Footer", new Font(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 22));

para.Alignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;

pdfDoc.Add(para);

pdfDoc.NewPage();
}

pdfDoc.Close();

                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        //handle exception
                    }

finally
{

                    }
                }
            }
        }

And create one class file named ITextEvents.cs and add following code:

public class ITextEvents : PdfPageEventHelper
{

// This is the contentbyte object of the writer
PdfContentByte cb;

// we will put the final number of pages in a template
PdfTemplate headerTemplate, footerTemplate;

// this is the BaseFont we are going to use for the header / footer
BaseFont bf = null;

// This keeps track of the creation time
DateTime PrintTime = DateTime.Now;

        #region Fields
        private string _header;
        #endregion

        #region Properties
        public string Header
        {
            get { return _header; }
            set { _header = value; }
        }
        #endregion

        public override void OnOpenDocument(PdfWriter writer, Document document)
        {
            try
            {
                PrintTime = DateTime.Now;
                bf = BaseFont.CreateFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.NOT_EMBEDDED);
                cb = writer.DirectContent;
                headerTemplate = cb.CreateTemplate(100, 100);
                footerTemplate = cb.CreateTemplate(50, 50);
            }
            catch (DocumentException de)
            {

            }
            catch (System.IO.IOException ioe)
            {

}
}

        public override void OnEndPage(iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfWriter writer, iTextSharp.text.Document document)
        {
            base.OnEndPage(writer, document);

iTextSharp.text.Font baseFontNormal = new iTextSharp.text.Font(iTextSharp.text.Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 12f, iTextSharp.text.Font.NORMAL, iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.BLACK);

iTextSharp.text.Font baseFontBig = new iTextSharp.text.Font(iTextSharp.text.Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 12f, iTextSharp.text.Font.BOLD, iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.BLACK);

Phrase p1Header = new Phrase("Sample Header Here", baseFontNormal);

//Create PdfTable object
PdfPTable pdfTab = new PdfPTable(3);

            //We will have to create separate cells to include image logo and 2 separate strings
            //Row 1
            PdfPCell pdfCell1 = new PdfPCell();
            PdfPCell pdfCell2 = new PdfPCell(p1Header);
            PdfPCell pdfCell3 = new PdfPCell();
            String text = "Page " + writer.PageNumber + " of ";

            //Add paging to header
            {
                cb.BeginText();
                cb.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
                cb.SetTextMatrix(document.PageSize.GetRight(200), document.PageSize.GetTop(45));
                cb.ShowText(text);
                cb.EndText();
                float len = bf.GetWidthPoint(text, 12);
                //Adds "12" in Page 1 of 12
                cb.AddTemplate(headerTemplate, document.PageSize.GetRight(200) + len, document.PageSize.GetTop(45));
            }
            //Add paging to footer
            {
                cb.BeginText();
                cb.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
                cb.SetTextMatrix(document.PageSize.GetRight(180), document.PageSize.GetBottom(30));
                cb.ShowText(text);
                cb.EndText();
                float len = bf.GetWidthPoint(text, 12);
                cb.AddTemplate(footerTemplate, document.PageSize.GetRight(180) + len, document.PageSize.GetBottom(30));
            }
            //Row 2
            PdfPCell pdfCell4 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Sub Header Description", baseFontNormal));
            //Row 3

            PdfPCell pdfCell5 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Date:" + PrintTime.ToShortDateString(), baseFontBig));
            PdfPCell pdfCell6 = new PdfPCell();
            PdfPCell pdfCell7 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("TIME:" + string.Format("{0:t}", DateTime.Now), baseFontBig));

            //set the alignment of all three cells and set border to 0
            pdfCell1.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell2.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell3.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell4.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell5.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell6.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell7.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;

            pdfCell2.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_BOTTOM;
            pdfCell3.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell4.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_TOP;
            pdfCell5.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell6.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell7.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;

pdfCell4.Colspan = 3;

            pdfCell1.Border = 0;
            pdfCell2.Border = 0;
            pdfCell3.Border = 0;
            pdfCell4.Border = 0;
            pdfCell5.Border = 0;
            pdfCell6.Border = 0;
            pdfCell7.Border = 0;

            //add all three cells into PdfTable
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell1);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell2);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell3);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell4);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell5);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell6);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell7);

            pdfTab.TotalWidth = document.PageSize.Width - 80f;
            pdfTab.WidthPercentage = 70;
            //pdfTab.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;

            //call WriteSelectedRows of PdfTable. This writes rows from PdfWriter in PdfTable
            //first param is start row. -1 indicates there is no end row and all the rows to be included to write
            //Third and fourth param is x and y position to start writing
            pdfTab.WriteSelectedRows(0, -1, 40, document.PageSize.Height - 30, writer.DirectContent);
            //set pdfContent value

            //Move the pointer and draw line to separate header section from rest of page
            cb.MoveTo(40, document.PageSize.Height - 100);
            cb.LineTo(document.PageSize.Width - 40, document.PageSize.Height - 100);
            cb.Stroke();

            //Move the pointer and draw line to separate footer section from rest of page
            cb.MoveTo(40, document.PageSize.GetBottom(50) );
            cb.LineTo(document.PageSize.Width - 40, document.PageSize.GetBottom(50));
            cb.Stroke();
        }

        public override void OnCloseDocument(PdfWriter writer, Document document)
        {
            base.OnCloseDocument(writer, document);

            headerTemplate.BeginText();
            headerTemplate.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
            headerTemplate.SetTextMatrix(0, 0);
            headerTemplate.ShowText((writer.PageNumber - 1).ToString());
            headerTemplate.EndText();

            footerTemplate.BeginText();
            footerTemplate.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
            footerTemplate.SetTextMatrix(0, 0);
            footerTemplate.ShowText((writer.PageNumber - 1).ToString());
            footerTemplate.EndText();
        }
    }

Hope this helps//

7 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Mohamed ElSharnouby5y ago
Hi Raja, this code will help you add a header with an image and add a footer with custom text and a page number on each page using PDFFlow library and C#:
var pathImage = Path.Combine(
    Environment.CurrentDirectory, "Images", "PDF.png");
var styleMain = StyleBuilder.New().SetFontSize(11);
reate a document:
DocumentBuilder.New()
.AddSection().ApplyStyle(styleMain)
    .SetSize(PaperSize.A5)
    .SetOrientation(PageOrientation.Portrait)
.AddHeaderToBothPages(30)
    .AddParagraph()
        .SetFont(Fonts.Courier(11))
        .SetAlignment(HorizontalAlignment.Center)
        .AddInlineImage(pathImage, 24, 24)
        .SetMarginRight(5).SetMarginTop(5).ToParagraph()
        .AddText("GS PDF Library")
.ToSection()
    .AddParagraphToSection("This document is an example of a PDF document:" +
           "A5 paper size, portrait orientation, a header with an image, " +
           "a footer with a line and a page number, an empty page at the end.")
    .InsertPageBreak()
.AddFooterToBothPages(20)
    .AddLineToRepeatingArea()
    .AddParagraph("A footer with custom text, ")
        .AddPageNumberToParagraph("page #")
        .SetAlignment(HorizontalAlignment.Center)
uild a file:
.ToDocument().Build("Result.pdf");

The result will be like this:
you can also find more real examples on their website
hope this will help you.
+1
susmitha Kodavati7y ago
Hi Shourya Verdhan

I have generated the pdf using itext sharp by using the htmlparser now, I want to add header and footer to my pdf. I tried the example given by you but, I am able to the header only in one page but not for all the pages. Could please help me on this. how can I know how many pages are coming while the dynamic pdf generation
+1
Shourya Verdhan10y ago
HI Raja,

Try This

var header = iTextSharp.text.Image.GetInstance(Server.MapPath("~/images/letter-head-top.jpg"));
header.SetAbsolutePosition(0, 730); // X and Y Accroding to need
var footer = iTextSharp.text.Image.GetInstance(Server.MapPath("~/images/letter-head-bottom.jpg"));
footer.SetAbsolutePosition(0, 0); // X and Y Accroding to need
string filepath = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/PDF-Files/") + "Quote.pdf";
FileStream file = new FileStream(filepath, FileMode.Create, System.IO.FileAccess.Write);
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
HtmlTextWriter hw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);
hw.AddStyleAttribute(HtmlTextWriterStyle.Color, "10");
mycanvas.RenderControl(hw); //Table Render to PDF
StringReader sr = new StringReader(sw.ToString());
iTextSharp.text.Document pdfDoc = new iTextSharp.text.Document(iTextSharp.text.PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 100f, 0f);
HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, file);
pdfDoc.Open();
pdfDoc.Add(header); //Adding Header
pdfDoc.Add(footer); //Adding Foter

htmlparser.Parse(sr);
pdfDoc.Close();
file.Close();
+1
Rahul Prasad12y ago
Here is simple solution on this issue, try sample code here

Add header in PDF in C#, VB.NET
Add PDF footer in C#, VB.NET

Regards
+1
Vignesh Kumar12y ago
Hi,
This works. You have to specify for each event like what is hapenning when opening a document, what happens on end page and what happens when page is closed. Probably you may have to create new page event class.
Hope you got it.
+1
Raja A12y ago
Vignesh,
Thanks for your reply.. Your code is very length.. I have my code.. here i can convert to pdf.. But i need to add header and footer on my code...

My code is ...

BaseFont bf = BaseFont.CreateFont(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir") + @"\fonts\Arial.ttf", BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, true);

divexcel.Visible = true;
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.ContentEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8;
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename={0}_Final_Entry.pdf");
Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
HtmlTextWriter hw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);
divexcel.RenderControl(hw);
StringReader sr = new StringReader(sw.ToString());
Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 80f, 80f, -2f, 35f);

HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);
PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream);
pdfDoc.Open();
htmlparser.Parse(sr);
pdfDoc.Close();
Response.Write(pdfDoc);
Response.End();

Here i need to add header and footer
+1
Vignesh Kumar12y ago
Hi,

Use page events and below is the sample code

private void CreatePDF()
        {
            string fileName = string.Empty;
            DateTime fileCreationDatetime = DateTime.Now;
            fileName = string.Format("{0}.pdf", fileCreationDatetime.ToString(@"yyyyMMdd") + "_" + fileCreationDatetime.ToString(@"HHmmss"));
            string pdfPath = Server.MapPath(@"~\PDFs\") +   fileName;
            using (FileStream msReport = new FileStream(pdfPath, FileMode.Create))
            {
                //step 1
                using (Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 140f, 10f))
                {
                    try
                    {
                        // step 2
                        PdfWriter pdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, msReport);
                        pdfWriter.PageEvent = new Common.ITextEvents();
                        //open the stream
                        pdfDoc.Open();
                        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
                        {
                            Paragraph para = new Paragraph("Hello world. Checking Header Footer", new Font(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 22));
                            para.Alignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
                            pdfDoc.Add(para);
                            pdfDoc.NewPage();
                        }
                        pdfDoc.Close();
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        //handle exception
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                    }
                }
            }
        }
And create one class file named ITextEvents.cs and add following code:
public class ITextEvents : PdfPageEventHelper
    {
        // This is the contentbyte object of the writer
        PdfContentByte cb;
        // we will put the final number of pages in a template
        PdfTemplate headerTemplate, footerTemplate;
        // this is the BaseFont we are going to use for the header / footer
        BaseFont bf = null;
        // This keeps track of the creation time
        DateTime PrintTime = DateTime.Now;

        #region Fields
        private string _header;
        #endregion
        #region Properties
        public string Header
        {
            get { return _header; }
            set { _header = value; }
        }
        #endregion

        public override void OnOpenDocument(PdfWriter writer, Document document)
        {
            try
            {
                PrintTime = DateTime.Now;
                bf = BaseFont.CreateFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.NOT_EMBEDDED);
                cb = writer.DirectContent;
                headerTemplate = cb.CreateTemplate(100, 100);
                footerTemplate = cb.CreateTemplate(50, 50);
            }
            catch (DocumentException de)
            {
            }
            catch (System.IO.IOException ioe)
            {
            }
        }
        public override void OnEndPage(iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfWriter writer, iTextSharp.text.Document document)
        {
            base.OnEndPage(writer, document);
            iTextSharp.text.Font baseFontNormal = new iTextSharp.text.Font(iTextSharp.text.Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 12f, iTextSharp.text.Font.NORMAL, iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.BLACK);
            iTextSharp.text.Font baseFontBig = new iTextSharp.text.Font(iTextSharp.text.Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 12f, iTextSharp.text.Font.BOLD, iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.BLACK);
            Phrase p1Header = new Phrase("Sample Header Here", baseFontNormal);
            //Create PdfTable object
            PdfPTable pdfTab = new PdfPTable(3);
            //We will have to create separate cells to include image logo and 2 separate strings
            //Row 1
            PdfPCell pdfCell1 = new PdfPCell();
            PdfPCell pdfCell2 = new PdfPCell(p1Header);
            PdfPCell pdfCell3 = new PdfPCell();
            String text = "Page " + writer.PageNumber + " of ";

            //Add paging to header
            {
                cb.BeginText();
                cb.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
                cb.SetTextMatrix(document.PageSize.GetRight(200), document.PageSize.GetTop(45));
                cb.ShowText(text);
                cb.EndText();
                float len = bf.GetWidthPoint(text, 12);
                //Adds "12" in Page 1 of 12
                cb.AddTemplate(headerTemplate, document.PageSize.GetRight(200) + len, document.PageSize.GetTop(45));
            }
            //Add paging to footer
            {
                cb.BeginText();
                cb.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
                cb.SetTextMatrix(document.PageSize.GetRight(180), document.PageSize.GetBottom(30));
                cb.ShowText(text);
                cb.EndText();
                float len = bf.GetWidthPoint(text, 12);
                cb.AddTemplate(footerTemplate, document.PageSize.GetRight(180) + len, document.PageSize.GetBottom(30));
            }
            //Row 2
            PdfPCell pdfCell4 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Sub Header Description", baseFontNormal));
            //Row 3
            PdfPCell pdfCell5 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Date:" + PrintTime.ToShortDateString(), baseFontBig));
            PdfPCell pdfCell6 = new PdfPCell();
            PdfPCell pdfCell7 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("TIME:" + string.Format("{0:t}", DateTime.Now), baseFontBig));
            //set the alignment of all three cells and set border to 0
            pdfCell1.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell2.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell3.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell4.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell5.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell6.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell7.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;
            pdfCell2.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_BOTTOM;
            pdfCell3.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell4.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_TOP;
            pdfCell5.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell6.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell7.VerticalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE;
            pdfCell4.Colspan = 3;
            pdfCell1.Border = 0;
            pdfCell2.Border = 0;
            pdfCell3.Border = 0;
            pdfCell4.Border = 0;
            pdfCell5.Border = 0;
            pdfCell6.Border = 0;
            pdfCell7.Border = 0;

            //add all three cells into PdfTable
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell1);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell2);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell3);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell4);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell5);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell6);
            pdfTab.AddCell(pdfCell7);
            pdfTab.TotalWidth = document.PageSize.Width - 80f;
            pdfTab.WidthPercentage = 70;
            //pdfTab.HorizontalAlignment = Element.ALIGN_CENTER;

            //call WriteSelectedRows of PdfTable. This writes rows from PdfWriter in PdfTable
            //first param is start row. -1 indicates there is no end row and all the rows to be included to write
            //Third and fourth param is x and y position to start writing
            pdfTab.WriteSelectedRows(0, -1, 40, document.PageSize.Height - 30, writer.DirectContent);
            //set pdfContent value
            //Move the pointer and draw line to separate header section from rest of page
            cb.MoveTo(40, document.PageSize.Height - 100);
            cb.LineTo(document.PageSize.Width - 40, document.PageSize.Height - 100);
            cb.Stroke();
            //Move the pointer and draw line to separate footer section from rest of page
            cb.MoveTo(40, document.PageSize.GetBottom(50) );
            cb.LineTo(document.PageSize.Width - 40, document.PageSize.GetBottom(50));
            cb.Stroke();
        }
        public override void OnCloseDocument(PdfWriter writer, Document document)
        {
            base.OnCloseDocument(writer, document);
            headerTemplate.BeginText();
            headerTemplate.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
            headerTemplate.SetTextMatrix(0, 0);
            headerTemplate.ShowText((writer.PageNumber - 1).ToString());
            headerTemplate.EndText();
            footerTemplate.BeginText();
            footerTemplate.SetFontAndSize(bf, 12);
            footerTemplate.SetTextMatrix(0, 0);
            footerTemplate.ShowText((writer.PageNumber - 1).ToString());
            footerTemplate.EndText();
        }
    }
Hope this helps//
+1