Working with PDF Templates
11 Jan 202423 minutes to read
A PDF template is a drawing surface, where contents can be added. All the elements that can be added to a PdfPage is supported in PdfTemplate as well. The template in turn can be drawn over the page or can be positioned at any part of the page.
Creating a new PDF template
The PdfTemplate class can be used to create a new PDF template. You can add contents to the template using Graphics property of the PdfTemplate object.
The below code snippet illustrates how to add contents to the PdfTemplate and render into the new PDF page.
//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the PDF document.
PdfPage pdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add();
//Create a PDF Template.
PdfTemplate template = new PdfTemplate(100, 50);
//Draw a rectangle on the template graphics.
template.Graphics.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.BurlyWood, new Syncfusion.Drawing.RectangleF(0, 0, 100, 50));
//Set the standard font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14);
//Set the brush.
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black);
//Draw a string using the graphics of the template.
template.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", font, brush, 5, 5);
//Draw the template on the page graphics of the document.
pdfPage.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty);
//Save the document into stream.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
pdfDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the document.
pdfDocument.Close(true);//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the PDF document.
PdfPage pdfPage = pdfDocument.Pages.Add();
//Create a PDF Template.
PdfTemplate template = new PdfTemplate(100, 50);
//Draw a rectangle on the template graphics.
template.Graphics.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.BurlyWood, new System.Drawing.RectangleF(0, 0, 100, 50));
//Set the standard font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14);
//Set the brush.
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black);
//Draw a string using the graphics of the template.
template.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", font, brush, 5, 5);
//Draw the template on the page graphics of the document.
pdfPage.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty);
//Save the document.
pdfDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
pdfDocument.Close(true);'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 PDF Template.
Dim template As New PdfTemplate(100, 50)
'Draw a rectangle on the template graphics.
template.Graphics.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.BurlyWood, New System.Drawing.RectangleF(0, 0, 100, 50))
'Set the standard font.
Dim font As PdfFont = New PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14)
'Set the brush.
Dim brush As PdfBrush = New PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black)
'Draw a string using the graphics of the template.
template.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", font, brush, 5, 5)
'Draw the template on the page graphics of the document.
pdfPage.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty)
'Save the document.
pdfDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
pdfDocument.Close(True)You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.
The below code snippet illustrates how to render the PdfTemplate on an existing PDF document.
//Load the PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);
//Load the page into Pdf document.
PdfLoadedPage LoadedPage = loadedDocument.Pages[0] as PdfLoadedPage;
//Create a PDF Template.
PdfTemplate template = new PdfTemplate(100, 50);
//Draw a rectangle on the template graphics.
template.Graphics.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.BurlyWood, new Syncfusion.Drawing.RectangleF(0, 0, 100, 50));
//Set the standard font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14);
//Set the brush.
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Syncfusion.Drawing.Color.Black);
//Draw a string on the graphics of the template.
template.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", font, brush, 5, 5);
//Draw the template on the page graphics of the document.
LoadedPage.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, Syncfusion.Drawing.PointF.Empty);
//Save the document into stream.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
loadedDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(fileName);
//Load the page into Pdf document.
PdfLoadedPage LoadedPage = loadedDocument.Pages[0] as PdfLoadedPage;
//Create a PDF Template.
PdfTemplate template = new PdfTemplate(100, 50);
//Draw a rectangle on the template graphics.
template.Graphics.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.BurlyWood, new System.Drawing.RectangleF(0, 0, 100, 50));
//Set the standard font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14);
//Set the brush.
PdfBrush brush = new PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black);
//Draw a string on the graphics of the template.
template.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", font, brush, 5, 5);
//Draw the template on the page graphics of the document.
LoadedPage.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty);
//Save the modified document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);'Load the existing PDF document.
Dim loadedDocument As New PdfLoadedDocument(fileName)
'Load the page into Pdf document.
Dim LoadedPage As PdfLoadedPage = TryCast(loadedDocument.Pages(0), PdfLoadedPage)
'Create a PDF Template.
Dim template As New PdfTemplate(100, 50)
'Draw a rectangle on the template graphics.
template.Graphics.DrawRectangle(PdfBrushes.BurlyWood, New System.Drawing.RectangleF(0, 0, 100, 50))
'Set the standard font.
Dim font As PdfFont = New PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 14)
'Set the brush.
Dim brush As PdfBrush = New PdfSolidBrush(Color.Black)
'Draw a string on the graphics of the template.
template.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", font, brush, 5, 5)
'Draw the template on the page graphics of the document.
LoadedPage.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty)
'Save the modified document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(True)You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.
Creating templates from existing PDF document
Essential PDF supports to create the templates using CreateTemplate method from an existing PDF document page and draw it in on a new PDF document.
The below code illustrates how to create the template from an existing page and draw it in new PDF document.
//Load the PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);
//Load the page.
PdfLoadedPage loadedPage = loadedDocument.Pages[0] as PdfLoadedPage;
//Create the template from the page.
PdfTemplate template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate();
//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Add the page.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
//Create the graphics.
PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;
//Draw the template.
graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, Syncfusion.Drawing.PointF.Empty, new Syncfusion.Drawing.SizeF(page.Size.Width / 2, page.Size.Height));
//Save the document into stream.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
document.Save(stream);
//Close the document.
document.Close(true);
loadedDocument.Close(true);//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(fileName);
//Load the page.
PdfLoadedPage loadedPage = loadedDocument.Pages[0] as PdfLoadedPage;
//Create the template from the page.
PdfTemplate template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate();
//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Add the page.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
//Create the graphics.
PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;
//Draw the template.
graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty,new SizeF(page.Size.Width/2,page.Size.Height));
//Save the new document.
document.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
document.Close(true);'Load the existing PDF document
Dim loadedDocument As New PdfLoadedDocument(fileName)
'Load the page
Dim loadedPage As PdfLoadedPage = TryCast(loadedDocument.Pages(0), PdfLoadedPage)
'Create the template from the page
Dim template As PdfTemplate = loadedPage.CreateTemplate()
'Create a new PDF document
Dim document As New PdfDocument()
'Add the page
Dim page As PdfPage = document.Pages.Add()
'Create the graphics
Dim graphics As PdfGraphics = page.Graphics
'Draw the template
graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, PointF.Empty, New SizeF(page.Size.Width \ 2, page.Size.Height))
'Save the new document
document.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document
loadedDocument.Close(True)
document.Close(True)You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.
Working with PdfPageTemplateElement
PdfPageTemplateElement is template element that can be added to any part of the PDF page such as header, footer etc.
The below code illustrates how to add the page template elements in a PDF document.
//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.
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 Syncfusion.Drawing.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);
//Set the standard font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7);
//Set the brush.
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 Syncfusion.Drawing.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);
//Close the document.
pdfDocument.Close(true);//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.
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);
//Set the standard font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7);
//Set the brush.
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);'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)
'Load the image.
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)
'Set the standard font.
Dim font As PdfFont = New PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 7)
'Set the brush.
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)You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.
Creating Document Overlays
Multiple templates can be drawn over a PDF page, to create a document-overlay using PdfTemplate class. The below code illustrates how to overlay the documents.
//Load the PDF document.
FileStream docStream1 = new FileStream(fileName1, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument1 = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream1);
//Load the PDF document.
FileStream docStream2 = new FileStream(fileName2, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument2 = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream2);
//Create the new document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the document.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
//Create a template from the first document.
PdfPageBase loadedPage = loadedDocument1.Pages[0];
PdfTemplate template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate();
//Draw the loaded template into new document.
page.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, new PointF(0, 0), new SizeF(500, 700));
//Create a template from the second document.
loadedPage = loadedDocument2.Pages[0];
template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate();
//Draw the loaded template into new document.
page.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, new PointF(10, 10), new SizeF(400, 500));
//Save the document into stream.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
document.Save(stream);
//Set the position as '0'.
stream.Position = 0;
//Closes the documents.
document.Close(true);
loadedDocument1.Close(true);
loadedDocument2.Close(true);//Load the existing documents.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument1 = new PdfLoadedDocument(fileName1);
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument2 = new PdfLoadedDocument(fileName2);
//Create the new document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the document.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
//Create a template from the first document.
PdfPageBase loadedPage = loadedDocument1.Pages[0];
PdfTemplate template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate();
//Draw the loaded template into new document.
page.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, new PointF(0, 0), new SizeF(500, 700));
// Create a template from the second document.
loadedPage = loadedDocument2.Pages[0];
template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate();
//Draw the loaded template into new document.
page.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, new PointF(10, 10), new SizeF(400, 500));
//Save the new document.
document.Save("Output.pdf");
//Closes the documents.
loadedDocument1.Close(true);
loadedDocument2.Close(true);
document.Close(true);'Load the existing documents.
Dim loadedDocument1 As New PdfLoadedDocument(fileName1)
Dim loadedDocument2 As New PdfLoadedDocument(fileName2)
'Create the new document.
Dim document As New PdfDocument()
'Add a page to the document.
Dim page As PdfPage = document.Pages.Add()
'Create a template from the first document.
Dim loadedPage As PdfPageBase = loadedDocument1.Pages(0)
Dim template As PdfTemplate = loadedPage.CreateTemplate()
'Draw the loaded template into new document.
page.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, New PointF(0, 0), New SizeF(500, 700))
'Create a template from the first document.
loadedPage = loadedDocument2.Pages(0)
template = loadedPage.CreateTemplate()
'Draw the loaded template into new document.
page.Graphics.DrawPdfTemplate(template, New PointF(10, 10), New SizeF(400, 500))
'Save the new document.
document.Save("Output.pdf")
'Closes the documents.
loadedDocument1.Close(True)
loadedDocument2.Close(True)
document.Close(True)You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.
Adding a PdfPageTemplate in the PDF document
The following code sample shows how to add a PdfPageTemplate from an existing PDF document.
//Loads an existing PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream("Input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);
//Get the first page of the document.
PdfPageBase page = loadedDocument.Pages[0];
//Create a page template.
PdfPageTemplate pageTemplate = new PdfPageTemplate(page);
//Sets the PdfPageTemplate name.
pageTemplate.Name = "pageTemplate";
//Sets the PdfPageTemplate is visible.
pageTemplate.IsVisible = true;
//Adds the page template.
loadedDocument.PdfPageTemplates.Add(pageTemplate);
//Creating the stream object.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
//Save the document into stream.
loadedDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);//Loads an existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf");
//Get the first page of the document.
PdfPageBase page = loadedDocument.Pages[0];
//Create a page template.
PdfPageTemplate pageTemplate = new PdfPageTemplate(page);
//Sets the PdfPageTemplate name.
pageTemplate.Name = "pageTemplate";
//Sets the PdfPageTemplate is visible.
pageTemplate.IsVisible = true;
//Adds the page template.
loadedDocument.PdfPageTemplates.Add(pageTemplate);
//Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("output.pdf");
//Close the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);'Loads an existing PDF document.
Dim loadedDocument As PdfLoadedDocument = New PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf")
'Get the first page of the documsent.
Dim page As PdfPageBase = loadedDocument.Pages(0)
'Create a page template.
Dim pageTemplate As PdfPageTemplate = New PdfPageTemplate(page)
'Sets the PdfPageTemplate name.
pageTemplate.Name = "pageTemplate"
'Sets the PdfPageTemplate is visible.
pageTemplate.IsVisible = True
'Adds the page template.
loadedDocument.PdfPageTemplates.Add(pageTemplate)
'Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("output.pdf")
'Close the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Close(True)You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.