How to Run IronPDF for Java in an Azure Function

• For Choose a programming language -> select Java
• Follow the guide until your app is up and running.

Add the IronPDF dependency

• Add this to your pom with the latest <version>:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
        <artifactId>ironpdf</artifactId>
        <version>2022.xx.x</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
        <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-linux-x64</artifactId>
        <version>2022.xx.x</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
        <artifactId>ironpdf</artifactId>
        <version>2022.xx.x</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
        <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-linux-x64</artifactId>
        <version>2022.xx.x</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

• Note: ironpdf-engine-linux-x64 is required to run IronPDF in Docker.

Add a RenderPdf function

• Add a new function in Function.java
• This function will receive a URL and return a rendered PDF.

import com.microsoft.azure.functions.*;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.PdfDocument;
import java.util.Optional;

public class Function {

    /**
     * Azure function to render a URL as a PDF and return it.
     * Triggered by an HTTP request with a URL query string parameter.
     */
    @FunctionName("RenderPdf")
    public HttpResponseMessage renderPdf(
            @HttpTrigger(
                    name = "req",
                    methods = {HttpMethod.GET, HttpMethod.POST},
                    authLevel = AuthorizationLevel.ANONYMOUS)
            HttpRequestMessage<Optional<String>> request,
            final ExecutionContext context) {
        context.getLogger().info("Java HTTP trigger processed a request. (RenderPdf)");

        // Parse query parameter for the URL
        final String url = request.getQueryParameters().get("url");

        // Check if the URL parameter is provided
        if (url == null) {
            return request.createResponseBuilder(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST)
                    .body("Please pass a url on the query string")
                    .build();
        } else {
            try {
                context.getLogger().info("IronPDF is attempting to render the URL: " + url);

                // Render the given URL as a PDF
                PdfDocument pdfDocument = PdfDocument.renderUrlAsPdf(url);

                // Convert the PDF document to binary data
                byte[] content = pdfDocument.getBinaryData();

                // Return the PDF as an attachment in the response
                return request.createResponseBuilder(HttpStatus.OK)
                        .body(content)
                        .header("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=ironpdf_result.pdf")
                        .build();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                context.getLogger().severe("Failed to render PDF: " + e.getMessage());
                return request.createResponseBuilder(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
                        .body("An error occurred while rendering the PDF.")
                        .build();
            }
        }
    }
}

import com.microsoft.azure.functions.*;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.PdfDocument;
import java.util.Optional;

public class Function {

    /**
     * Azure function to render a URL as a PDF and return it.
     * Triggered by an HTTP request with a URL query string parameter.
     */
    @FunctionName("RenderPdf")
    public HttpResponseMessage renderPdf(
            @HttpTrigger(
                    name = "req",
                    methods = {HttpMethod.GET, HttpMethod.POST},
                    authLevel = AuthorizationLevel.ANONYMOUS)
            HttpRequestMessage<Optional<String>> request,
            final ExecutionContext context) {
        context.getLogger().info("Java HTTP trigger processed a request. (RenderPdf)");

        // Parse query parameter for the URL
        final String url = request.getQueryParameters().get("url");

        // Check if the URL parameter is provided
        if (url == null) {
            return request.createResponseBuilder(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST)
                    .body("Please pass a url on the query string")
                    .build();
        } else {
            try {
                context.getLogger().info("IronPDF is attempting to render the URL: " + url);

                // Render the given URL as a PDF
                PdfDocument pdfDocument = PdfDocument.renderUrlAsPdf(url);

                // Convert the PDF document to binary data
                byte[] content = pdfDocument.getBinaryData();

                // Return the PDF as an attachment in the response
                return request.createResponseBuilder(HttpStatus.OK)
                        .body(content)
                        .header("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=ironpdf_result.pdf")
                        .build();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                context.getLogger().severe("Failed to render PDF: " + e.getMessage());
                return request.createResponseBuilder(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
                        .body("An error occurred while rendering the PDF.")
                        .build();
            }
        }
    }
}

Update Dockerfile

• Add the IronPDF Linux required packages. From the example, the base Docker image is mcr.microsoft.com/azure-functions/java:4-java$JAVA_VERSION-build, which is based on Debian 11. So we need to add these packages to the Dockerfile.

RUN apt update \
&& apt install -y libgdiplus libxkbcommon-x11-0 libc6 libc6-dev libgtk2.0-0 libnss3 \
                 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libx11-xcb1 libxcb-dri3-0 libdrm-common libgbm1 \
                 libasound2 libxrender1 libfontconfig1 libxshmfence1
RUN apt-get install -y xvfb libva-dev libgdiplus

• For other Linux distros please see IronPDF Linux Installation Guide

Redeploy your function to Azure

1. Build & package: mvn clean package
2. Build Docker image: docker build --tag <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 .
3. Push Docker image: docker push <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0
4. Update Azure function:

   az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> \
                       --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --plan myPremiumPlan \
                       --deployment-container-image-name <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0

   az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> \
                       --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --plan myPremiumPlan \
                       --deployment-container-image-name <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0

   SHELL

• Trigger function at: https://<APP_NAME>.azurewebsites.net/api/RenderPdf?url=https://www.google.com
• Note: The first time the function is triggered, it may be slow or fail due to initialization, but after that, it should perform consistently.