PDF Report Generator for C#

.NET library to build highly customized PDF reports using REST API

Seamlessly integrate generation of PDF documents based on templates and data sources into your C# software.

Automate PDF document generation in .NET, create print-ready PDF reports of any complexity with C# SDK. This Cloud-based solution is built around templates, data sources and a powerful LINQ-syntax, giving C# developers the flexibility to fit precise technical and business requirements.

Using this C# library, you can programmatically build highly customized PDF reports on any operating system. Richly formatted PDF documents like contracts, orders, invoices, shipment reports, sales proposals, inventories can be assembled on the fly as a part of your C# software.

Streamline PDF document generation using C#

The importance of Document Automation and Report Generation has grown immensely over the past decades. Almost every company has a need to generate documents and deliver them to partners or customers on time. Moreover, it is usually a decisive factor in financial success. Implementing such technologies can result in significant financial savings by reducing manual data entry, human error, proofreading and paperwork. For these reasons, document automation and reporting tools are an integral part of many modern software solutions that aim to provide advanced analytical features to users.

Generally speaking, PDF report generation is a process that combines text, data and graphics into a single entity and exports the result in a convenient visual form to PDF file format. For information on supported I/O formats, please visit our Documentation.

What is GroupDocs Assembly for .NET

GroupDocs Assembly for .NET is a Cloud-based solution for generating PDF documents using templates and data sources. The document template acts as a base-frame, which, in addition to the standard content (text, tables, charts, etc.), includes special placeholder fields for inserting values from the data source. Not only individual values can be inserted, but also entire arrays of data in the form of tables and graphs.

The template also contains programming constructs - PDF document generation rules - that control data selection and condition processing. Binding data to a document template uses LINQ-expression syntax, which allows developers to process data in a generic way, regardless of the type of data source used. In this way, our .NET Cloud SDK gives you flexibility in PDF content generation and a powerful set of methods for data processing.

This product also supports Mail Merge functionality in case you want to create and send batches of personalized letters in PDF format to customers. You just need to insert Mail Merge fields to the document template and pass it to the Cloud API together with a data source.

Regardless of the scale and type of PDF document automation you are going to implement, there are three steps to build a report in C#:

  • Create a Word document template with placeholder fields and document generation rules that will regulate structure and content variations
  • Create a data source in PDF or JSON format
  • Write a few lines of C# code to pass everything to the Document Building API and get the assembled result in PDF format back

Designing a document template and using PDF document generation rules

Designing templates is a difficult task. In addition to a clear understanding of the requirements for the final PDF document, analytical and programming skills are required. A good template design should reflect the customer's view on a particular issue. The most effective approach is to combine tabular data and graphics in the right balance, determined by business requirements.

As mentioned above, the template structure usually contains some fixed blocks of content (text, images, logos, etc.) mixed with special programming constructs that control PDF document assembly logic. These PDF document generation rules are defined with a special expression syntax, which enables developers to do the following:

  • embed external document content, images, charts, lists, tables, hyperlinks, bookmarks, etc.
  • work with data using formulas and sequential data operations
  • specify the presentation format for numeric, text, graphic, graphic, and date and time elements
  • insert blocks of content depending on conditional expressions
  • define special variables for 'expensive' calculations that are calculated only once
  • calculate formulas when assembling spreadsheet documents
  • assign email message body attributes and dynamically create attachments
  • create and insert barcodes
  • set background color for HTML documents

You can learn more about template syntax in our Developer Guide.

Requirements

GroupDocs Assembly for .NET does not require any external software or third-party tools to be installed. This is a Cloud-based solution for PDF, where all programming interactions are performed over the network using the REST API.

Security

All GroupDocs products are fully compliant with industry security standards: data transfer is carried out using the SSL protocol, which eliminates the possibility of information being intercepted by third parties. To connect to GroupDocs Cloud Services, you need to use personal access keys. Please refer to the Quick Start guide.

Generate PDF document in C#

The following code example shows how to generate PDF reports using C#.

Generate PDF document in C#
Input files
Upload a document template
Output format
Select the target format from the list
using GroupDocs.Assembly.Cloud.Sdk;

var config = new Configuration 
{ 
    AppSid = "####-####-####-####-####", 
    AppKey = "##################" 
};
var assemblyApi = new AssemblyApi(config);
var fileName = "Input1.pdf";
var dataFile = "Input2.pdf";

var uploadRequest = new UploadFileRequest(File.OpenRead(fileName), fileName);
assemblyApi.UploadFile(uploadRequest);

var assembleOptions = new AssembleOptions() 
{ 
    SaveFormat = "pdf", 
    ReportData = File.ReadAllText(dataFile),
    TemplateFileInfo = new TemplateFileInfo { FilePath = fileName } 
};
var assembleRequest = new AssembleDocumentRequest(assembleOptions);
var assembledDocument = assemblyApi.AssembleDocument(assembleRequest);
  
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How to generate PDF document using C#

  1. Install 'GroupDocs.Assembly Cloud SDK for .NET'.
  2. Add a library reference (import the library) to your .NET project.
  3. Create a template document, add programming constructs that control the insertion of data from the data source.
  4. Create a data source.
  5. Upload the document template to the GroupDocs Cloud Storage (you need to log in to your personal account).
  6. Generate a document by passing your template and data to the Cloud API.

How to install PDF Report Builder for .NET

Install 'GroupDocs.Assembly Cloud SDK for .NET' using NuGet package manager. Just run nuget install GroupDocs.Assembly-Cloud to automatically install and reference the corresponding assembly in your project. As an alternative, you can manually clone GroupDocs.Assembly Cloud SDK for .NET source code from GitHub and use it in your project. Please follow these Instructions to quickly get the necessary security credentials and access our REST API.

System Requirements

  • .NET Framework 2.0 or newer

Refer to the Repository Documentation to see more details.

Other supported document formats

You can generate reports in other file formats:

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