iTextSharp returns a pdf that can not be opened

Question

I have followed the answer in this question and tried to output a pdf from an MVC view with iTextSharp to test the rendering fidelity.

I have the following code:

var ms = new MemoryStream();

var document = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10, 10, 10, 10);

var writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, ms);

document.Open();
var html = this.RenderView(GetViewName(), reportVM);
var css = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), "\\Content\\site.css"));

var msCss = new MemoryStream(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(css));

var msHtml = new MemoryStream(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(html));

XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, document, msHtml, msCss);

document.Close();

return File(ms, "application/pdf");

Unfortunately it returns a window in the browser with the message:

Failed to load PDF

What are the main causes of this behavior?

Note: I have produced a pdf from the same html with PdfSharp which is based on iTextSharp too, so I guess I am not using iTextSharp properly.

EDIT:

I have followed Bruno's suggestion in the comments, so I changed the return to :

 bytes = ms.ToArray();

 return File(new MemoryStream(bytes), "application/pdf");

And now the result is a 2 pages empty pdf, so it is better, but is it possible to make it more accurate, since the content of the pdf should have some text inside?

Have you tried opening the PDF in a text editor to see what it's contents are? — DavidG, Aug 11 '16 at 12:17
Why did you add this line: `writer.CloseStream = false;` The underlying `MemoryStream` is never closed! Also: the answer you refer to explicitly converts `ms` to an array: `ms.ToArray()`. — Bruno Lowagie, Aug 11 '16 at 12:18
@meJustAndrew You should really listen to Bruno here, he works at iText so kinda knows what he's talking about... — DavidG, Aug 11 '16 at 12:21
Thank you @BrunoLowagie , it works without the `writer.CloseStream = false;` so it was my mistake indeed. — meJustAndrew, Aug 11 '16 at 12:34
@DavidG , I found the fix, the pdf has been generated properly, thank you for your help! — meJustAndrew, Aug 11 '16 at 13:37

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

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After I saw the answer in this question and removed the width tags inside divs, and also ran an online XHtml validator to adjust everything else, I was able to generate a pdf relatively according to the coresponding HTML.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

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answered Aug 11 '16 at 13:31

meJustAndrew

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iTextSharp returns a pdf that can not be opened

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