Create Markdown documents in ASP.NET Core Web API

14 Aug 20269 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 Web API.

Steps to create Markdown document programmatically

The below steps illustrate creating a simple Markdown document in ASP.NET Core Web API.

Step 1: Create a new C# ASP.NET Core Web API project.

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

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: Add a new empty API controller file named ValuesController.cs to the project.

Step 4: Include the following namespaces in the ValuesController.cs file.

C#

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Syncfusion.Office.Markdown;

Step 5: Add a new action method CreateDocument in ValuesController.cs and include the following code snippet to create a Markdown file and download it.

C#

[HttpGet]
[Route("api/Word")]
public IActionResult CreateDocument()
{
    try
    {
        var fileDownloadName = "Output.md";
        const string contentType = "text/markdown";
        var stream = GenerateMarkdownDocument();
        stream.Position = 0;
        return File(stream, contentType, fileDownloadName);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        // Log or handle the exception
        return BadRequest($"Error occurred while creating Markdown file: {ex.Message}");
    }
}

Step 6: Implement the GenerateMarkdownDocument method in ValuesController.cs.

C#

public static MemoryStream GenerateMarkdownDocument()
 {
     // 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);
    markdownDocument.Dispose();
    //Set the position as '0'.
    stream.Position = 0;
    return stream;
 }

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.

A complete working sample is available on GitHub.

Steps for accessing the Web API using HTTP requests

Step 1: Create a console application.

NOTE

Ensure your ASP.NET Core Web API is running on the specified port before running this client. The port number comes from the Web API’s launchSettings.json; adjust it to match your environment.

Step 2: Add the following code snippet in the Program.cs file to access the Web API using HTTP requests. This example uses C# top-level statements with await (supported in .NET 6 and later).

This method sends a GET request to the Web API endpoint to retrieve and save the generated Markdown document.

C#

// Create an HttpClient instance
 using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
 {
     try
     {
         // Send a GET request to a URL
         HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("https://localhost:7152/api/Values/api/Word");
         // Check if the response is successful
         if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
         {
             // Read the content as a string
             Stream responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync();
             FileStream fileStream = File.Create(Path.GetFullPath(@"Output/Output.md"));
             responseBody.CopyTo(fileStream);
             fileStream.Close();
         }
         else
         {
             Console.WriteLine("HTTP error status code: " + response.StatusCode);
         }
     }
     catch (HttpRequestException e)
     {
         Console.WriteLine("Request exception: " + e.Message);
     }
 }

Step 3: Build the project.

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

Step 4: Run the project.

Click the Start button (green arrow) or press F5 to run the app.

A complete working sample is available on GitHub.

Upon executing the program, the Markdown document will be generated as follows.

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

An online sample link to create a Markdown document in ASP.NET Core.