ASP.Net MVC 5 Render PDF in Browser from Byte[] C#

Question

I am working with Kendo MVC and I want to render an uploaded PDF into a Tabstrip.

When getting the PDF file to show in the tab, I am calling my controller and subsequent service, getting the file data as a byte array and returning data into its respective div using the following code.

public FileStreamResult GetRxPdf(int prescriptionId)
{
    var retVal = _service.GetRxPdf(prescriptionId);
    byte[] byteArray = retVal.FileData;
    MemoryStream pdfStream = new MemoryStream();
    pdfStream.Write(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);
    pdfStream.Position = 0;
    return new FileStreamResult(pdfStream, retVal.ContentType);
}

The rendered output is not the PDF, but is as follows

%PDF-1.7 %�� 1 0 obj <>/OutputIntents[<>] /Metadata 148 0 R/ViewerPreferences 149 0 R>> endobj 2 0 obj <> endobj 3 0 obj <>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 7 0 R 10 0 R 11 0 R 21 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/StructParents 0>> endobj 4 0 obj <> stream x��]Ys�F~W��ɔ5�\�I�֒��[9[�yH�@S�̲��7��=Ip��P�TE��3��1�>[,��&�e��7�ϖ��?�N/&��r~w��%~��lr5[|�mq��$%�W׊e!I8+jAIÊ��ׯ��㣳��ӗ��|w|��eA�H�D��uqy3��F��G/`�/�G��m��4r�g��m�*��/s^%�HQ�R�]䛋��]��h1S>�W��R^�0>��՘�Q1(�'l�zL��z>棇��pm0��=�±7�;�� ?��]��ů�>�� U�~�O?��a�^��>�A+�xD %�Ԍ�H� /��$MD�~�A2V6�Ѣ��Q....more file data here... 0000166807 00000 n trailer <] >> startxref 166853 %%EOF

When the data comes back via an ajax call it this is how it is passed to the div

 $("#divRxPdf").html(data);

I would be grateful if anyone could help me with this and show the PDF in the Div accordingly.

data type in the database is VarBinary(max), content type is stored as a string as 'application/pdf' — Simon Price, Oct 22 '18 at 10:58
@MihaiAlexandru-Ionut the PDF is a scanned document, so making this HTML is not an option — Simon Price, Oct 22 '18 at 10:59

karthickj25 · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-22T10:42:30.947

2

Update:

PDF needs to be embeded in the HTML with <embed> or <iframe> . You could also use library such as pdf.js to render pdf files with some controls.

The pdf.js readme has samples and how to: https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js

You can return the pdf as file by passing the binary using retun File() method

public ActionResult GetRxPdf(int prescriptionId)
 {
    var retVal = _service.GetRxPdf(prescriptionId);
    byte[] byteArray = retVal.FileData;      
   return File(byteArray , "application/pdf" , "Filename.pdf");
}

edited Oct 22 '18 at 10:42

answered Oct 22 '18 at 10:27

karthickj25

1,207
9
16

That was one of the first things I tried and I got the same result, using ActionResult, FileResult, FileContentResult and FileStreamResult – Simon Price Oct 22 '18 at 10:30
ideally i dont want to use an iframe, because i want an element of control over the PDF where possible – Simon Price Oct 22 '18 at 10:31
Have you tried [pdf.js](http://usefulangle.com/post/20/pdfjs-tutorial-1-preview-pdf-during-upload-wih-next-prev-buttons) ? – karthickj25 Oct 22 '18 at 10:36
the embed is the way to go in this instance... thanks for your help – Simon Price Oct 22 '18 at 13:53
@SimonPrice If your still looking, I was just working on this. [Here's](https://stackoverflow.com/a/52783009/3590235) is an ASP MVC example I added. – user3590235 Oct 23 '18 at 18:19
@user3590235 Thanks brother, ive got a working solution using embed, this was the closest answer to what i needed but ill take a look – Simon Price Oct 23 '18 at 18:42
sure, you got it. – user3590235 Oct 23 '18 at 19:37

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 22 '18 at 10:32

0

You can use object tag to achieve it.

$obj = $('<object>'); 
$obj.attr("data","Url to PDF");
$obj.attr("type","application/pdf");

$("#pdfdiv_content").append($obj);

For more details refer this link

answered Oct 22 '18 at 10:32

Baskar John

726
5
9

im not converting html to pdf, the pdf is already uploaded and stored in the database, i have the data, and am passing back its content and its type – Simon Price Oct 22 '18 at 10:34
plus, that didnt work, it doesnt show me the file data anymore, just shows me nothing, inepcting the code, the file data is in the div, but nothing rendered – Simon Price Oct 22 '18 at 10:44

ASP.Net MVC 5 Render PDF in Browser from Byte[] C#

2 Answers2