How to generate PDF from HTML view after scripts and styles applied in ASP.NET MVC

Question

I want to generate HTML of my View to generate PDF document. It has styles and scripts applied when it opens in browser. I tried the following code but it only gives the html of view before scripts modifications. I need to get HTML of view after scripts modifications like text changed same as browser.

public string RenderRazorViewToString(string viewName, object model)
{
        ViewData.Model = model;
        using (var sw = new StringWriter())
        {
            var viewResult = ViewEngines.Engines.FindPartialView(ControllerContext,
                                                                     viewName);
            var viewContext = new ViewContext(ControllerContext, viewResult.View,
                                         ViewData, TempData, sw);
            viewResult.View.Render(viewContext, sw);
            viewResult.ViewEngine.ReleaseView(ControllerContext, viewResult.View);
            return sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
        }
}

Answer 1

I might as well post my comment as an answer...

Razor/ASP.Net will only generate source, not execute client-side scripts. You need to use something that emulates a web browser to turn the client-side script into a rendered PDF.

That means it needs to understand both script and styling (i.e. just like a browser).

There are several commercial products out there, but I have personally used Essential Objects PDF converter to generate views direct to PDF. It has a built-in Javascript engine, so looks just like it will in the browser.

Please note these products are very complex (as they include complete Browser rendering engines), so most will required paid licences (for commercial use at least).

Note: I am in no way associated with Essential Objects. This is purely opinion based on actual use of that product.

Answer 2

Best Tool i have found and used for generating PDF of javascript and styles rendered views or html pages is phantomJS.

Download the .exe file with the rasterize.js function found in root of exe of example folder and put inside solution.

Following code generate PDF File :

 public ActionResult DownloadHighChartHtml()
    {
        string serverPath = Server.MapPath("~/phantomjs/");
        string filename = DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyy_hhmmss") + ".pdf";
        string Url = "http://wwwabc.com";

        new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(x =>
        {
            ExecuteCommand(string.Format("cd {0} & E: & phantomjs rasterize.js {1} {2} \"A4\"", serverPath, Url, filename));
                               //E: is the drive for server.mappath
        })).Start();

        var filePath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/phantomjs/"), filename);

        var stream = new MemoryStream();
        byte[] bytes = DoWhile(filePath);

        Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
        Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=Image.pdf");
        Response.OutputStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
        Response.End();
        return RedirectToAction("HighChart");
    }



    private void ExecuteCommand(string Command)
    {
        try
        {
            ProcessStartInfo ProcessInfo;
            Process Process;

            ProcessInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/K " + Command);

            ProcessInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
            ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = false;

            Process = Process.Start(ProcessInfo);
        }
        catch { }
    }


    private byte[] DoWhile(string filePath)
    {
        byte[] bytes = new byte[0];
        bool fail = true;

        while (fail)
        {
            try
            {
                using (FileStream file = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
                {
                    bytes = new byte[file.Length];
                    file.Read(bytes, 0, (int)file.Length);
                }

                fail = false;
            }
            catch
            {
                Thread.Sleep(1000);
            }
        }

        System.IO.File.Delete(filePath);
        return bytes;
    }

Answer 3

If you want user to download the pdf of rendered page then the easiest solution to the problem is

window.print(); 

on client side it will prompt user to save pdf of current page. You can also customize the appearance of pdf by linking style

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="print.css" media="print">

print.css is applied to the html while printing.

Limitation

1. You can't store the file on server side.
2. User prompt to print the page than he had to save page manually.
3. Page must to be rendered in a tab.