Empty content on the downloaded PDF using itextsharp in WebAPI 2 response - itext

Question

public IHttpActionResult DownloadPDF()
{
var stream = CreatePdf();
return ResponseMessage(new HttpResponseMessage
{
Content = new StreamContent(stream)
{
Headers =
{
ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/pdf"),
ContentDisposition = new ContentDispositionHeaderValue("attachment")
{
FileName = "myfile.pdf"
}
}
},
StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.OK
});
}
Here is the CreatePdf method:
private Stream CreatePdf()
{
using (var document = new Document(PageSize.A4, 50, 50, 25, 25))
{
var output = new MemoryStream();
var writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, output);
writer.CloseStream = false;
document.Open();
document.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World"));
document.Close();
output.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
return output;
}
}
I can able to download the PDF but the context is empty. Here I am using memory stream and I also tried with file stream its downloading in the respective folder but if I tried to open the downloaded file then also the content is empty. Can anyone help me what I'm missing here?

Answer 1

Here is an approach that usually works for me when using Web API
private byte[] CreatePdf() {
var buffer = new byte[0];
//stream to hold output data
var output = new MemoryStream();
//creation of a document-object
using (var document = new Document(PageSize.A4, 50, 50, 25, 25)) {
//create a writer that listens to the document
// and directs a PDF-stream to output stream
var writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, output);
//open the document
document.Open();
// Create a page in the document
document.NewPage();
// Get the top layer to write some text
var pdfContentBytes = writer.DirectContent;
pdfContentBytes.BeginText();
//add content to page
document.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World"));
//done writing text
pdfContentBytes.EndText();
// make sure any data in the buffer is written to the output stream
writer.Flush();
document.Close();
}
buffer = output.GetBuffer();
return buffer;
}
And then in the action
public IHttpActionResult DownloadPDF() {
var buffer = CreatePdf();
return ResponseMessage(new HttpResponseMessage {
Content = new StreamContent(new MemoryStream(buffer)) {
Headers = {
ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/pdf"),
ContentDisposition = new ContentDispositionHeaderValue("attachment") {
FileName = "myfile.pdf"
}
}
},
StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.OK
});
}