Creating a complex PDF

The Hello, World example showed simple steps to create a PDF document using C# and Aspose.PDF. In this article, we will take a look at creating a more complex document with C# and Aspose.PDF for .NET. As an example, we’ll take a document from a fictitious company that operates passenger ferry services. Our document will contain a image, two text fragments (header and paragraph), and a table. To build such a document, we will use DOM-base approach. You can read more in section Basics of DOM API.

If we create a document from scratch we need to follow certain steps:

1. Instantiate a Document object. In this step we will create an empty PDF document with some metadata but without pages.
2. Add a Page to the document object. So, now our document will have one page.
3. Add a Image to the Page.
4. Create a TextFragment for header. For the header we will use Arial font with font size 24pt and center alignment.
5. Add header to the page Paragraphs.
6. Create a TextFragment for description. For the description we will use Arial font with font size 24pt and center alignment.
7. Add (description) to the page Paragraphs.
8. Create a table, add table properties.
9. Add (table) to the page Paragraphs.
10. Save a document “Complex.pdf”.

The following code snippet also work with Aspose.PDF.Drawing library.

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void CreatingComplexPdf()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf();
    // Create PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document())
    {
        // Add page
        var page = document.Pages.Add();

        // Add image
        page.AddImage(dataDir + "logo.png", new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(20, 730, 120, 830));

        // Add Header
        var header = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("New ferry routes in Fall 2020");
        header.TextState.Font = Aspose.Pdf.Text.FontRepository.FindFont("Arial");
        header.TextState.FontSize = 24;
        header.HorizontalAlignment = Aspose.Pdf.HorizontalAlignment.Center;
        header.Position = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.Position(130, 720);
        page.Paragraphs.Add(header);

        // Add description
        var descriptionText = "Visitors must buy tickets online and tickets are limited to 5,000 per day. Ferry service is operating at half capacity and on a reduced schedule. Expect lineups.";
        var description = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment(descriptionText);
        description.TextState.Font = Aspose.Pdf.Text.FontRepository.FindFont("Times New Roman");
        description.TextState.FontSize = 14;
        description.HorizontalAlignment = Aspose.Pdf.HorizontalAlignment.Left;
        page.Paragraphs.Add(description);

        // Add table
        var table = new Aspose.Pdf.Table
        {
            ColumnWidths = "200",
            Border = new Aspose.Pdf.BorderInfo(Aspose.Pdf.BorderSide.Box, 1f, Aspose.Pdf.Color.DarkSlateGray),
            DefaultCellBorder = new Aspose.Pdf.BorderInfo(Aspose.Pdf.BorderSide.Box, 0.5f, Aspose.Pdf.Color.Black),
            DefaultCellPadding = new Aspose.Pdf.MarginInfo(4.5, 4.5, 4.5, 4.5),
            Margin =
            {
                Bottom = 10
            },
            DefaultCellTextState =
            {
                Font =  Aspose.Pdf.Text.FontRepository.FindFont("Helvetica")
            }
        };

        var headerRow = table.Rows.Add();
        headerRow.Cells.Add("Departs City");
        headerRow.Cells.Add("Departs Island");
        foreach (Aspose.Pdf.Cell headerRowCell in headerRow.Cells)
        {
            headerRowCell.BackgroundColor = Aspose.Pdf.Color.Gray;
            headerRowCell.DefaultCellTextState.ForegroundColor = Aspose.Pdf.Color.WhiteSmoke;
        }

        var time = new TimeSpan(6, 0, 0);
        var incTime = new TimeSpan(0, 30, 0);
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            var dataRow = table.Rows.Add();
            dataRow.Cells.Add(time.ToString(@"hh\:mm"));
            time = time.Add(incTime);
            dataRow.Cells.Add(time.ToString(@"hh\:mm"));
        }

        page.Paragraphs.Add(table);
        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "Complex_out.pdf");
    }
}