C# QuestPDF

last modified July 5, 2023

In this article we show how to create PDF documents using the QuestPDF library.

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a versatile file format created by Adobe that gives people an easy, reliable way to present and exchange documents.

QuestPDF is an open-source .NET library for PDF generation. The library uses Skia to do the rendering. QuestPDF uses Fluent API.

C# QuestPDF simple example

The following example creates a simple PDF file.

Program.cs

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

var doc = Document.Create(container => container.Page(page =>
    {
        page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
        page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);
        page.DefaultTextStyle(x => x.FontSize(12));

        page.Content()
            .Column(x => x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph()));
    }));

doc.GeneratePdf("simple.pdf");

The PDF document contains one paragraph of text.

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

We import the QuestPDF types.

var doc = Document.Create(container => container.Page(page =>

The document is created with Document.Create. A new page is added with Page.

page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);
page.DefaultTextStyle(x => x.FontSize(12));

We set some basic properties of a page: the page size, margines, and default font size.

page.Content()
    .Column(x => x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph()));

The content is added with Content. It consists of one column of text. Into the column, we add one text item. The Placeholders.Paragraph creates a lorem impsum paragraph of text.

doc.GeneratePdf("simple.pdf");

The PDF is generated with GeneratePdf.

C# QuestPDF text

In the next example, we work with various text attributes.

Program.cs

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

var doc = Document.Create(container => container.Page(page =>
    {
        page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
        page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);

        page.Content()
            .Column(x =>
            {
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Sentence());
                x.Spacing(10);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Sentence()).FontSize(15);
                x.Spacing(10);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
                x.Spacing(10);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph()).FontFamily("Georgia");
                x.Spacing(10);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Sentence()).FontColor(Colors.Blue.Darken3);
                x.Spacing(10);
                x.Item().Text(txt =>
                {
                    txt.Span("C# ").Italic();
                    txt.Span("is a modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language.");
                });

            });
    }));

doc.GeneratePdf("text.pdf");

In the program, we utilize the Sentence, Paragraph, LoremIpsum helper methods to generate some filler text.

x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Sentence());
x.Spacing(10);
x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Sentence()).FontSize(15);

We add two sentences. A spacing is added between them with Spacing. The FontSize sets the size of the font for the sentence.

x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph()).FontFamily("Georgia");

For this paragraph, we choose the Georgia font.

x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Sentence()).FontColor(Colors.Blue.Darken3);

For this sentence, we choose a dark blue font color.

x.Item().Text(txt =>
{
    txt.Span("C# ").Italic();
    txt.Span("is a modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language.");
});

With Span, we can change the attributes of the text item. We set the italic style for the first text span.

C# QuestPDF header & footer

For the next document, we add a header and a footer.

Program.cs


using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

var doc = Document.Create(container => container.Page(page =>
    {
        page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
        page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);

        page.Header()
            .Text("My header")
            .SemiBold().FontSize(24).FontColor(Colors.Blue.Medium);

        page.Content()
            .PaddingVertical(1, Unit.Centimetre)
            .Column(x =>
            {

                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
                x.Spacing(20);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
            });

        page.Footer()
            .Text(x =>
            {
                x.Span("Page ");
                x.CurrentPageNumber();
            });
    }));

doc.GeneratePdf("headfoot.pdf");

The document has three parts: header, content, and footer.

page.Header()
    .Text("My header")
    .SemiBold().FontSize(24).FontColor(Colors.Blue.Medium);

A header is added with Header. We change the font weight with SemiBold, font size with FontSize and font colour with FontColor.

page.Content()
    .PaddingVertical(1, Unit.Centimetre)
    .Column(x =>
    {
        x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
        x.Spacing(20);
        x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
    });

The page content is added with Content. We add two paragraphs and a spacing between them.

page.Footer()
    .Text(x =>
    {
        x.Span("Page ");
        x.CurrentPageNumber();
    });

Finally, we add the footer with Footer. It contains the current page number.

C# QuestPDF lines

In the next example, we add some horizontal lines to the page.

Program.cs

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

var doc = Document.Create(container =>
{
    container.Page(page =>
    {
        page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
        page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);

        page.Content()
            .Column(x =>
            {
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
                x.Item().PaddingVertical(5).LineHorizontal(1);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
                x.Item().PaddingVertical(5).LineHorizontal(1).LineColor(Colors.LightBlue.Darken3);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
                x.Item().PaddingVertical(5).LineHorizontal(2);
                x.Item().Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
            });
    });
});

doc.GeneratePdf("lines.pdf");

In the program, we add three lines between the paragraphs.

x.Item().PaddingVertical(5).LineHorizontal(1);

We have a horizontal line of width 1 with some vertical padding.

x.Item().PaddingVertical(5).LineHorizontal(1).LineColor(Colors.LightBlue.Darken3);

We can change the colour of the line with LineColor.

x.Item().PaddingVertical(5).LineHorizontal(2);

Here we make the line thicker.

C# QuestPDF borders

In the next example, we add some borders.

Program.cs

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

Action<IDocumentContainer> container = (container) => container.Page(page =>
        {
            page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
            page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);

            page.Content()
                .Column(x =>
                {
                    x.Item().Border(1).Padding(5).Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
                    x.Item().Border(1).Padding(5).Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
                    x.Item().Border(1).Padding(5).Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());
                });
        });


var doc = Document.Create(container);
doc.GeneratePdf("borders.pdf");

We have three paragraphs of text. We place some borders around these paragraphs.

x.Item().Border(1).Padding(5).Text(Placeholders.Paragraph());

We add a border with Border and some padding with Padding.

C# QuestPDF table

The next example generate a table inside the PDF document.

Program.cs

using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;

var fonts = new[]
{
    Fonts.Calibri,
    Fonts.Georgia,
    Fonts.Arial,
    Fonts.TimesNewRoman,
    Fonts.Consolas,
    Fonts.Tahoma,
    Fonts.Verdana,
    Fonts.Trebuchet,
    Fonts.ComicSans
};

var doc = Document.Create(container => container.Page(page =>
    {
        page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
        page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);

        page.Content()
            .Column(x => x.Item().Table(table =>
                {
                    table.ColumnsDefinition(cols =>
                    {
                        cols.ConstantColumn(150);
                        cols.ConstantColumn(150);
                    });

                    table.ExtendLastCellsToTableBottom();

                    foreach (var font in fonts)
                    {
                        table.Cell().MinWidth(120).Border(1).Padding(5).Text(font).FontFamily(font);
                    }
                }));
    }));

doc.GeneratePdf("table.pdf");

The table has two columns and displayes text in various font families.

page.Content()
    .Column(x => x.Item().Table(table =>
        {

A table is added with Table.

table.ColumnsDefinition(cols =>
{
    cols.ConstantColumn(150);
    cols.ConstantColumn(150);
});

We define two table columns of fixed width.

table.ExtendLastCellsToTableBottom();

The last cell is enlarged to the bottom of the table if the cells are not even.

foreach (var font in fonts)
{
    table.Cell().MinWidth(120).Border(1).Padding(5).Text(font).FontFamily(font);
}

In the foreach loop, we add the items of the fonts array to the table. A new cell is added with cell. We set its minimum width, border, padding, content, and font family.

In this article, we have covered the QuestPDF library. We have shown how to generate simple PDF documents.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar and I am a passionate programmer with many years of programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. So far, I have written over 1400 articles and 8 e-books. I have over eight years of experience in teaching programming.

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C# QuestPDF

C# QuestPDF simple example

C# QuestPDF text

C# QuestPDF header & footer

C# QuestPDF lines

C# QuestPDF borders

C# QuestPDF table

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