Is it possible to create (set formatting, add text by form etc) a PDF document in VB.NET without using any third party libraries? This would be done in a website.
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Do you want this to be with libraries included with .NET or is free fine? How do you define what you are looking for?James Black– James Black2009-10-14 14:35:53 +00:00Commented Oct 14, 2009 at 14:35
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3If you really want to do with without using third-party libraries, be prepared for some serious reading up and coding to implement the PDF Specification (adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html)!CraigTP– CraigTP2009-10-14 14:45:50 +00:00Commented Oct 14, 2009 at 14:45
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2 Answers
I know you said w/o a third party control, but maybe free will work ... but I'll just throw this out there just in case in proves to be informational.
We have to do the same thing in our environment ... and we opted to just use Crystal Reports (which you have a license to with Visual Studio) and leverage the export to PDF functionality. Allows us to deliver pretty forms and lists to the customer.
I'm not a big fan of Crystal Reports, for a variety of reasons ... but it was easy to implement and at no additional cost to our end customer.
2 Comments
Meta-Knight
Microsoft Reporting Services also has a functionality to export to PDF.
MarkJ
Crystal Reports and Microsoft Reporting Services are not only free but also supported (a possible objection to other third-party components)
You can do this with iTextSharp, which is technically third-party (but it's free):
http://beta.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/Creating_PDF_documents_in.aspx
Here are some more options:
1 Comment
Guy Starbuck
I have used iTextSharp as well, it's not too difficult to use and is very full-featured for PDF generation