How to return PDF using iText

Question

I am trying to return a PDF with simple text, but getting the following error when downloading the document: Failed to load PDF document. Any ideas on how to resolve this is appreciated.

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(); PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(ms); PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument(writer); Document document = new Document(pdfDocument); document.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World")); //document.Close(); //writer.Close(); ms.Position = 0; string pdfName = $"IP-Report-{DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmssfff")}.pdf"; return File(ms, "application/pdf", pdfName);

Are you using .Net Framework or .Net Core? You shouldn't have both the .net tag and the .net-core tag. — user47589
– user47589, Commented Feb 18, 2020 at 19:25

score 6 · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-18 19:35:46Z

You have to close the writer without closing the underlying stream, which will flush its internal buffer. As is, the document isn't being written to the memory stream in its entirety. Everything but ms should be in a using, too.

You can verify this is occuring by checking the length of ms in your code vs. the code below.

When the using (PdfWriter writer =...) closes, it will close the writer, which causes it to flush its pending writes to the underlying stream ms.

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(); using (PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(ms)) using (PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument(writer)) using (Document document = new Document(pdfDocument)) { /* * Depending on iTextSharp version, you might instead use: * writer.SetCloseStream(false); */ writer.CloseStream = false; document.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World")); } ms.Position = 0; string pdfName = $"IP-Report-{DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmssfff")}.pdf"; return File(ms, "application/pdf", pdfName);

Thank you! I appreciate the details. I just need to update this line from writer.CloseStream = false; to writer.SetCloseStream(false);
@TerryDoll I'll integrate that into my answer for future readers.

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