Bind and Export GridView data to PDF file in asp.net(C#, VB.Net)

Introduction: In previous articles i explained How to bind and Export GridView data to Ms Word file and How to bind and Export GridView data to Ms Excel file  and Bind and Export GridView data to CSV file in asp.net and Bind,Save,Edit,Update,Cancel,Delete,Paging example in GridView and Search in gridview and How to Bind,save,edit,update,delete records from DataList and How to pass parameter to stored procedure using SqlDataAdapter and check login in asp.net  and  How to read DataKeyName from GridView on SelectedindexChanging event of GridView .
In this article I am going to explain how easily you can bind GridView with sql server database data and Export that Gridview data to PDF (Portable Document Format) file using asp.net with C# and VB.Net.  First we will learn how to bind data from sql server table to Gridview data control and then how to export that Gridview data to PDF file. 

Click on image to enlarge

Implementation: Let’s understand by creating an asp.net web application

Click on image to enlarge

• Create a Database e.g. "MyDataBase" and a table under that DataBase in Sql Server and name it "EMPLOYEE" as shown in figure: 

Note: EMP_ID column is set to Primary key and Identity specification is set to yes with Identity increment and Identity seed equal to 1. Insert some data in this table that you  want to show in the Gridview.

• Now in web.config file add the connectionstring under <configuration> tag

<connectionStrings>

    <add name="conStr" connectionString="Data Source=LocalServer;Initial Catalog=MyDataBase;Integrated Security=True"/>

  </connectionStrings>

Note: Replace the Data Source and Initial Catalog as per your application.

• In the design page (.aspx) drag and place a GridView data control from visual studio toolbox to bind data and also place a Button control to Export the GridView data to PDF file.

Source Code:

<fieldset style="width:360px;">

            <legend>Bind and Export GridView data to PDF in asp.net</legend>

            <table>

                <tr>

                    <td>

                        <asp:GridView ID="grEmp" runat="server" AllowPaging="True" AutoGenerateColumns="False"

                   GridLines="None" Width="100%" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333">

                   

                    <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="#284775" />                   

                    <Columns>

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="EMP_NAME" HeaderText="Emp Name"  />

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="DEPT" HeaderText="Department"  />

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="SALARY" HeaderText="salary"  />

                        <asp:BoundField DataField="EMAIL_ID" HeaderText="Email Id" />

                    </Columns>                  

                    <EditRowStyle BackColor="#999999" />

                    <FooterStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />

                    <HeaderStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />

                    <PagerStyle BackColor="#284775" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />

                    <RowStyle BackColor="#F7F6F3" ForeColor="#333333" />

                    <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#E2DED6" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />

                    <SortedAscendingCellStyle BackColor="#E9E7E2" />

                    <SortedAscendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#506C8C" />

                    <SortedDescendingCellStyle BackColor="#FFFDF8" />

                    <SortedDescendingHeaderStyle BackColor="#6F8DAE" />

                </asp:GridView>

                    </td>               

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td>

<asp:Button ID="btnExportToPdf" runat="server" Text="Export To PDF File" OnClick="btnExportToPdf_Click" />

                    </td>

                </tr>

            </table>

        </fieldset>

• To export gridview data to pdf file you need to add the reference of itextsharp.dll in to you website. Below are the steps to download and add itextsharp.dll to your application.

Step 1: open the link itextpdf.com/download.php in the browser

Step 2: You will find a link "Download iTextSharp", the C# port of the library

Step 3: On clicking the link you will find the link to download the latest version. The current version i found right now is  is itextsharp-all-5.4.2.zip (5.0 MB)

Step 4: Extract the downloaded zipped folder itextsharp-all-5.4.2.zip.There are also some other zipped folders inside.You just extract the folder itextsharp-dll-core and you will find the required itextsharp.dll.

Step: 5: Copy the itextsharp.dll file and paste in the Bin folder of your root directory. If there is no Bin folder in the root directory then right clcik on your website name in the solution explorer -> Add -> Add ASP.NET Folder -> Bin. Now paste copied itextsharp.dll file in the Bin folder

C#.Net Code to Bind and Export GridView data to PDF file

First include the following namespaces

using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Net;

using System.Net.Mail;

using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

using iTextSharp.text;

using iTextSharp.text.pdf;

using iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser;

Then write the code as:

SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["conStr"].ConnectionString);

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        if (!Page.IsPostBack)

        {

            BindEmpGrid();

        }

    }

    public override void VerifyRenderingInServerForm(Control control)

    {

        //It solves the error "Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server."

    }

    protected void BindEmpGrid()

    {

        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select * from EMPLOYEE", con);

        DataTable dt = new DataTable();

        SqlDataAdapter adp = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);

        adp.Fill(dt);

        grEmp.DataSource = dt;

        grEmp.DataBind();

    }

  protected void btnExportToPdf_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        try

        {

            Response.ClearContent();

            Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";

            Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=MyPdfFile.pdf");

            Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);

            StringWriter strWrite = new StringWriter();

            HtmlTextWriter htmWrite = new HtmlTextWriter(strWrite);

            HtmlForm frm = new HtmlForm();

            grEmp.Parent.Controls.Add(frm);

            frm.Attributes["runat"] = "server";

            frm.Controls.Add(grEmp);

            frm.RenderControl(htmWrite);

            StringReader sr = new StringReader(strWrite.ToString());

            Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 8f, 8f, 8f, 2f);

            HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);

            PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream);

            pdfDoc.Open();

            htmlparser.Parse(sr);

            pdfDoc.Close();

            Response.Write(pdfDoc);

            Response.Flush();

            Response.End();

        }

        catch (Exception ex) { }

    }

VB.Net Code to Bind and Export GridView data to PDF file

First include the following namespaces

Imports System.Data

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Imports System.Configuration

Imports System.Net

Imports System.Net.Mail

Imports System.Web.UI.HtmlControls

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Text

Imports iTextSharp.text

Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf

Imports iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser

Then write the code as:

  Dim con As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("conStr").ConnectionString)

    Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        If Not Page.IsPostBack Then

            BindEmpGrid()

        End If

    End Sub

    Public Overrides Sub VerifyRenderingInServerForm(control As Control)

        'It solves the error "Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server."

    End Sub

    Protected Sub BindEmpGrid()

        Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("select * from EMPLOYEE", con)

        Dim dt As New DataTable()

        Dim adp As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)

        adp.Fill(dt)

        grEmp.DataSource = dt

        grEmp.DataBind()

    End Sub

Protected Sub btnExportToPdf_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

        Try

            Response.ClearContent()

            Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"

            Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=MyPdfFile.pdf")

            Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache)

            Dim strWrite As New StringWriter()

            Dim htmWrite As New HtmlTextWriter(strWrite)

            Dim frm As New HtmlForm()

            grEmp.Parent.Controls.Add(frm)

            frm.Attributes("runat") = "server"

            frm.Controls.Add(grEmp)

            frm.RenderControl(htmWrite)

            Dim sr As New StringReader(strWrite.ToString())

            Dim pdfDoc As New Document(PageSize.A4, 8.0F, 8.0F, 8.0F, 2.0F)

            Dim htmlparser As New HTMLWorker(pdfDoc)

            PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, Response.OutputStream)

            pdfDoc.Open()

            htmlparser.Parse(sr)

            pdfDoc.Close()

            Response.Write(pdfDoc)

            Response.Flush()

            Response.[End]()

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

Notice that I have added an overriding function VerifyRenderingInServerForm in the code behind. This is to resolve the error “Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server” that may occur while exporting GridView data to MS Excel file or MS Word file or PDF(Portable Document Format) or CSV (Comma separated value) file. 

Note: To view complete article on why this error occur and how to resolve that error, read my article “How to Solve Error Control 'GridView1' of type 'GridView' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server”

• After exporting gridview data to PDF file, will look as shown in figure:

Click on image to enlarge

Now over to you:

"If you like my work; you can appreciate by leaving your comments, hitting Facebook like button, following on Google+, Twitter, Linked in and Pinterest, stumbling my posts on stumble upon and subscribing for receiving free updates directly to your inbox . Stay tuned for more technical updates."

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share

Related Post