Create PDF document in AWS Elastic Beanstalk

29 Jul 20266 minutes to read

The .NET PDF library is used to create, read, and edit PDF documents programmatically without the dependency of Adobe Acrobat. Using this library, you can open and save PDF documents in AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

Prerequisites

An active Amazon Web Services (AWS) account is required. If you don’t have one, please create an account before starting.
Download and install the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio from this link. You can install the toolkit from the Extensions > Manage Extensions option in Visual Studio.
Visual Studio 2022 with the ASP.NET and web development workload.
.NET 8.0 SDK or later.
An active Syncfusion license. If you do not have one, request a free 30-day trial at https://www.syncfusion.com/sales/communitylicense.

Steps to create a PDF document in AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Step 1: Create a new C# ASP.NET Core Web Application project using the ASP.NET Core Web App (Model-View-Controller) template so that a HomeController.cs and Views/Home/index.cshtml are available.
ASP.NET Core project

Step 2: In configuration windows, name your project and select Next.
Create a Project

Configuration

Step 3: Install the Syncfusion.Pdf.Net.Core NuGet package as a reference to your project from NuGet.org.
Install NuGet package

Step 4: Register the Syncfusion^® license key. A trial watermark is added to every page of the generated PDF until a valid key is registered. Include the license key in Program.cs before initializing any Syncfusion^® component:

C#
using Syncfusion.Licensing;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
// Register the Syncfusion license
Syncfusion.Licensing.SyncfusionLicenseProvider.RegisterLicense("YOUR LICENSE KEY");

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

Replace "YOUR LICENSE KEY" with the license key associated with your Syncfusion^® account. If you do not have a license key, you can request a free 30-day trial or apply for a Community License from the Syncfusion^® website. For more information about registering a license key in your application, refer to the Syncfusion^® Licensing Documentation.

Step 5: A default controller named HomeController.cs is created with the ASP.NET Core MVC project. Create a Data folder in the project root, copy the Input.pdf file into it, and set Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer for the file. Then include the following namespaces in the HomeController.cs file.

C#
using Syncfusion.Pdf;
using Syncfusion.Pdf.Graphics;
using Syncfusion.Pdf.Grid;
using Syncfusion.Pdf.Parsing;
using Syncfusion.Drawing;

Step 6: Add a new button in index.cshtml as follows

CSHTML
@{
Html.BeginForm("CreatePDF", "Home", FormMethod.Get);
{
    <div>
        <input type="submit" value="Create PDF" style="width:150px;height:27px" />
        <br />
        <div class="text-danger">
            @ViewBag.Message
        </div>
    </div>
}
Html.EndForm();
}

Step 7: Add a new action method named CreatePDF in HomeController.cs file and include the below code example to generate a PDF document in HomeController.cs.

C#
public IActionResult CreatePDF()
{
    //Open an existing PDF document.
    FileStream fileStream = new FileStream("Data/Input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
    PdfLoadedDocument document = new PdfLoadedDocument(fileStream);

    //Get the first page from a document.
    PdfLoadedPage page = document.Pages[0] as PdfLoadedPage;

    //Create PDF graphics for the page.
    PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;

    //Create a PdfGrid.
    PdfGrid pdfGrid = new PdfGrid();
    //Add values to the list.
    List<object> data = new List<object>();
    data.Add(new { Product_ID = "1001", Product_Name = "Bicycle", Price = "10,000" });
    data.Add(new { Product_ID = "1002", Product_Name = "Head Light", Price = "3,000" });
    data.Add(new { Product_ID = "1003", Product_Name = "Break wire", Price = "1,500" });

    //Assign data source.
    pdfGrid.DataSource = data;

    //Apply built-in table style.
    pdfGrid.ApplyBuiltinStyle(PdfGridBuiltinStyle.GridTable4Accent3);

    //Draw the grid to the page of PDF document.
    pdfGrid.Draw(graphics, new RectangleF(40, 400, page.Size.Width - 80, 0));
    //Create the memory stream.
    MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
    //Save the document to the memory stream.
    document.Save(stream);
    //Close the document
    document.Close(true); 
    //Return the PDF file as a download
    return File(stream.ToArray(), System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Pdf, "Output.pdf");
}

Step 8: Build the project to ensure there are no compile errors. Then right-click the project and click the Publish to AWS Elastic Beanstalk (Legacy) option to publish the application in the AWS Elastic Beanstalk environment. Note that this option uses the legacy AWS publish tooling, which may be deprecated in future Visual Studio versions.

Step 9: Add the AWS profile (access key, secret key, and region) in the Publish to AWS Elastic Beanstalk window. After creating the profile, choose Create a new application environment or Re-deploy to the existing environment. Then, click Next.

Step 10: Click Next from the Application Options window.

Step 11: Click Deploy from the Review window.

Step 12: Click the URL link to launch the application once the Environment is updated successfully and Environment status is healthy.
Launch Application Window