Create Markdown documents in ASP.NET Core

18 Aug 20266 minutes to read

Syncfusion^® Essential^® Markdown is a .NET Markdown library used to create, read, and edit Markdown documents programmatically without external dependencies. Using this library, you can create a Markdown document in ASP.NET Core.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 (version 17.8 or later, required for .NET 8 support).
• Install .NET 8 SDK or later.

Steps to create Markdown document programmatically:

Step 1: Create a new ASP.NET Core Web application (Model-View-Controller) project. Select latest as the target framework and name the project (for example, MarkdownDemo).

Step 2: Install the Syncfusion.Markdown NuGet package as a reference to your project from NuGet.org. Install the latest release of the package.

NOTE

Starting with v34.x.x, if you reference Syncfusion^® assemblies from the trial setup or from the NuGet feed, you must add a reference to the Syncfusion.Licensing assembly and include a valid license key in your application.

Install the Syncfusion.Licensing NuGet package and register the license key during application startup.

Syncfusion.Licensing.SyncfusionLicenseProvider.RegisterLicense("YOUR_LICENSE_KEY");

For more information about generating and registering a license key, refer to the Syncfusion^® licensing documentation.

Step 3: Include the following namespaces in the HomeController.cs file.

C#

using Syncfusion.Office.Markdown;
using System.IO;

Step 4: A default action method named Index will be present in HomeController.cs. Right click on Index method and select Go To View where you will be directed to its associated view page Index.cshtml. If the default MVC HomeController and Index view were not scaffolded (for example, when using an empty MVC template), add a controller named HomeController with an Index action and a corresponding Index.cshtml view under Views/Home.

Step 5: Add a new button in the Index.cshtml as shown below.

C#

@{Html.BeginForm("CreateDocument", "Home", FormMethod.Get);
{
<div>
    <input type="submit" value="Create Document" style="width:150px;height:27px" />
</div>
}
Html.EndForm();
}

Step 6: Add a new action method CreateDocument in HomeController.cs and include the below code snippet to create Markdown document and download it.

C#

// Creates a new instance of MarkdownDocument.
MarkdownDocument markdownDocument = new MarkdownDocument();
// Adds a heading to the Markdown document.
MdParagraph mdHeadingParagraph = markdownDocument.AddParagraph();
// Applies the Heading 1 style to the paragraph.
mdHeadingParagraph.ApplyParagraphStyle("Heading 1");
MdTextRange mdHeadingTextRange = mdHeadingParagraph.AddTextRange();
mdHeadingTextRange.Text = "Adventure Works Cycles";
// Adds a paragraph to the Markdown document.
MdParagraph mdParagraph = markdownDocument.AddParagraph();
MdTextRange mdTextRange = mdParagraph.AddTextRange();
mdTextRange.Text = "Adventure Works Cycles, the fictitious company on which the AdventureWorks sample databases are based, is a large, multinational manufacturing company. The company manufactures and sells metal and composite bicycles to North American, European and Asian commercial markets. While its base operation is in Bothell, Washington with 290 employees, several regional sales teams are located throughout their market base.";
// Adds the first list item.
MdParagraph item1 = markdownDocument.AddParagraph();
item1.ListFormat = new MdListFormat();
item1.ListFormat.IsNumbered = false;
item1.ListFormat.ListLevel = 0;
item1.ListFormat.ListValue = "- ";
item1.AddTextRange().Text = "First item";
// Adds the second list item.
MdParagraph item2 = markdownDocument.AddParagraph();
item2.ListFormat = new MdListFormat();
item2.ListFormat.IsNumbered = false;
item2.ListFormat.ListLevel = 0;
item2.ListFormat.ListValue = "- ";
item2.AddTextRange().Text = "Second item";
// Adds the third list item.
MdParagraph item3 = markdownDocument.AddParagraph();
item3.ListFormat = new MdListFormat();
item3.ListFormat.IsNumbered = false;
item3.ListFormat.ListLevel = 0;
item3.ListFormat.ListValue = "- ";
item3.AddTextRange().Text = "Third item";
// Adds a table to the Markdown document.
MdTable table = markdownDocument.AddTable();
table.ColumnAlignments.Add(MdColumnAlignment.Left);
table.ColumnAlignments.Add(MdColumnAlignment.Left);
// Adds the header row.
MdTableRow headerRow = table.AddTableRow();
MdTableCell header1 = headerRow.AddTableCell();
header1.Items.Add(new MdTextRange { Text = "Profile picture" });
MdTableCell header2 = headerRow.AddTableCell();
header2.Items.Add(new MdTextRange { Text = "Description" });

// Adds a data row.
MdTableRow dataRow = table.AddTableRow();
MdTableCell cell1 = dataRow.AddTableCell();
MdPicture picture = new MdPicture();
picture.Url = "Data\\photo.jpg";
picture.AltText = "Profile picture";
cell1.Items.Add(picture);
MdTableCell cell2 = dataRow.AddTableCell();
cell2.Items.Add(new MdTextRange { Text = "AdventureWorks Cycles, the fictitious company on which the AdventureWorks sample databases are based, is a large, multinational manufacturing company." });
// Saves the Markdown document to MemoryStream
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
markdownDocument.Save(stream);
stream.Position = 0;
// Disposes the document.
markdownDocument.Dispose();
// Downloads the Markdown document in the browser.
return File(stream, "text/markdown", "Sample.md");

Step 7: Build the project.

Click on Build → Build Solution or press Ctrl+Shift+B to build the project.

Step 8: Run the project.

Click the Start button (green arrow) or press F5 to run the app. Open the browser, click the Create Document button on the Index page, and the Sample.md file will download.

A complete working sample is available on GitHub.

NOTE

The code sample references an image file (photo.jpg). Download this asset from the GitHub sample Data folder and place it in the application’s wwwroot/Data folder so the MdPicture.Url value ("Data/photo.jpg") resolves correctly at runtime.

By executing the program, you will get the Markdown document as follows.

NOTE

Looking for the full .NET Markdown Library overview, features, pricing, and documentation? Visit the .NET Markdown library page.