Working with Headers and Footers

28 Dec 202210 minutes to read

Essential PDF supports to draw the header and footer in PDF document using PdfPageTemplateElement class. The header and footer can contain any types of element including dynamic fields.

Adding an automatic field in header and footer

Essential PDF supports to add page count, page numbers, date and time using dynamic fields such as PdfPageCountField, PdfPageNumberField etc.

The below code snippet explains how to draw the page numbers in footer using automatic fields.

C#

//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the PDF document
PdfPage pdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add();
//Create a header and draw the image.
RectangleF bounds = new RectangleF(0, 0, pdfDocument.Pages[0].GetClientSize().Width, 50);
PdfPageTemplateElement header = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
PdfImage image = new PdfBitmap(@"Logo.png");
//Draw the image in the header.
header.Graphics.DrawImage(image, new PointF(0, 0), new SizeF(100, 50));
//Add the header at the top.
pdfDocument.Template.Top = header;
//Create a Page template that can be used as footer.
PdfPageTemplateElement footer = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7);
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black);
//Create page number field.
PdfPageNumberField pageNumber = new PdfPageNumberField(font, brush);
//Create page count field.
PdfPageCountField count = new PdfPageCountField(font, brush);
//Add the fields in composite fields.
PdfCompositeField compositeField = new PdfCompositeField(font, brush, "Page {0} of {1}", pageNumber, count);
compositeField.Bounds = footer.Bounds;
//Draw the composite field in footer.
compositeField.Draw(footer.Graphics, new PointF(470, 40));
//Add the footer template at the bottom.
pdfDocument.Template.Bottom = footer;

//Save and close the document.
pdfDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
pdfDocument.Close(true);

VB.NET

'Create a new PDF document.
Dim pdfDocument As New PdfDocument()
'Add a page to the PDF document.
Dim pdfPage As PdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add()
'Create a header and draw the image.
Dim bounds As New RectangleF(0, 0, pdfDocument.Pages(0).GetClientSize().Width, 50)
Dim header As New PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds)
Dim image As PdfImage = New PdfBitmap("Logo.jpg")
'Draw the image in the Header.
header.Graphics.DrawImage(image, New PointF(0, 0), New SizeF(100, 50))
'Add the header at the top.
pdfDocument.Template.Top = header
'Create a page template that can be used as footer.
Dim footer As New PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds)
Dim font As PdfFont = New PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7)
Dim brush As PdfBrush = New PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black)
'Create page number field.
Dim pageNumber As New PdfPageNumberField(font, brush)
'Create page count field.
Dim count As New PdfPageCountField(font, brush)
'Add the fields in composite fields.
Dim compositeField As New PdfCompositeField(font, brush, "Page {0} of {1}", pageNumber, count)
compositeField.Bounds = footer.Bounds
'Draw the composite field in footer.
compositeField.Draw(footer.Graphics, New PointF(470, 40))
'Add the footer template at the bottom.
pdfDocument.Template.Bottom = footer

'Save and close the document.
pdfDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
pdfDocument.Close(True)

UWP

//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the PDF document
PdfPage pdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add();
//Create a header and draw the image.
RectangleF bounds = new RectangleF(0, 0, pdfDocument.Pages[0].GetClientSize().Width, 50);
PdfPageTemplateElement header = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
//Load the image as stream
Stream imageStream = typeof(MainPage).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("Sample.Assets.Data.Logo.png");
PdfImage image = new PdfBitmap(imageStream);
//Draw the image in the header.
header.Graphics.DrawImage(image, new PointF(0, 0), new SizeF(100, 50));
//Add the header at the top.
pdfDocument.Template.Top = header;
//Create a Page template that can be used as footer.
PdfPageTemplateElement footer = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7);
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 0, 0));
//Create page number field.
PdfPageNumberField pageNumber = new PdfPageNumberField(font, brush);
//Create page count field.
PdfPageCountField count = new PdfPageCountField(font, brush);
//Add the fields in composite fields.
PdfCompositeField compositeField = new PdfCompositeField(font, brush, "Page {0} of {1}", pageNumber, count);
compositeField.Bounds = footer.Bounds;
//Draw the composite field in footer.
compositeField.Draw(footer.Graphics, new PointF(470, 40));
//Add the footer template at the bottom.
pdfDocument.Template.Bottom = footer;

//Save the PDF document to stream
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
await pdfDocument.SaveAsync(ms);
//Close the document
pdfDocument.Close(true);
//Save the stream as PDF document file in local machine. Refer to PDF/UWP section for respected code samples
Save(ms, "Output.pdf");

ASP.NET Core

//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the PDF document
PdfPage pdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add();
//Create a header and draw the image.
RectangleF bounds = new RectangleF(0, 0, pdfDocument.Pages[0].GetClientSize().Width, 50);
PdfPageTemplateElement header = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
//Load the PDF document
FileStream imageStream = new FileStream("Logo.png", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
PdfImage image = new PdfBitmap(imageStream);
//Draw the image in the header.
header.Graphics.DrawImage(image, new PointF(0, 0), new SizeF(100, 50));
//Add the header at the top.
pdfDocument.Template.Top = header;
//Create a Page template that can be used as footer.
PdfPageTemplateElement footer = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7);
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black);
//Create page number field.
PdfPageNumberField pageNumber = new PdfPageNumberField(font, brush);
//Create page count field.
PdfPageCountField count = new PdfPageCountField(font, brush);
//Add the fields in composite fields.
PdfCompositeField compositeField = new PdfCompositeField(font, brush, "Page {0} of {1}", pageNumber, count);
compositeField.Bounds = footer.Bounds;
//Draw the composite field in footer.
compositeField.Draw(footer.Graphics, new PointF(470, 40));
//Add the footer template at the bottom.
pdfDocument.Template.Bottom = footer;

//Save the document into stream
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
pdfDocument.Save(stream);
stream.Position = 0;
//Closes the document
pdfDocument.Close(true);
//Defining the ContentType for pdf file
string contentType = "application/pdf";
//Define the file name
string fileName = "Output.pdf";
//Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and file name
return File(stream, contentType, fileName);

Xamarin

//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the PDF document
PdfPage pdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add();
//Create a header and draw the image.
RectangleF bounds = new RectangleF(0, 0, pdfDocument.Pages[0].GetClientSize().Width, 50);
PdfPageTemplateElement header = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
//Load the image file as stream
Stream imageStream = typeof(App).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("Sample.Assets.Logo.png");
PdfImage image = new PdfBitmap(imageStream);
//Draw the image in the header.
header.Graphics.DrawImage(image, new PointF(0, 0), new SizeF(100, 50));
//Add the header at the top.
pdfDocument.Template.Top = header;
//Create a Page template that can be used as footer.
PdfPageTemplateElement footer = new PdfPageTemplateElement(bounds);
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7);
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Syncfusion.Drawing.Color.Black);
//Create page number field.
PdfPageNumberField pageNumber = new PdfPageNumberField(font, brush);
//Create page count field.
PdfPageCountField count = new PdfPageCountField(font, brush);
//Add the fields in composite fields.
PdfCompositeField compositeField = new PdfCompositeField(font, brush, "Page {0} of {1}", pageNumber, count);
compositeField.Bounds = footer.Bounds;
//Draw the composite field in footer.
compositeField.Draw(footer.Graphics, new PointF(470, 40));
//Add the footer template at the bottom.
pdfDocument.Template.Bottom = footer;

//Save the PDF document to stream
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
pdfDocument.Save(stream);
//Closes the document
pdfDocument.Close(true);
//Save the stream into pdf file
//The operation in Save under Xamarin varies between Windows Phone, Android and iOS platforms. Please refer PDF/Xamarin section for respective code samples
if (Device.OS == TargetPlatform.WinPhone || Device.OS == TargetPlatform.Windows)
{
    Xamarin.Forms.DependencyService.Get<ISaveWindowsPhone>().Save("sample.pdf", "application/pdf", stream);
}
else
{
    Xamarin.Forms.DependencyService.Get<ISave>().Save("sample.pdf", "application/pdf", stream);
}

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.