How to Use IronPdfEngine

IronPdfEngine is a gRPC server designed to manage various IronPDF operations, including creating, writing, editing, and reading PDFs.

How to Use IronPdfEngine as a Remote Server

Install the Java library to utilize IronPdfEngine
Include the library in the pom.xml file
Utilize the setIronPdfEngineHost method to configure Host
Utilize the setIronPdfEnginePort method to configure Port
Use the IronPdfEngine to render HTML to PDF with an identical to Chrome renderer

{Link to Download IronPDF for Java on ironpdf.com}

IronPdf for Java and IronPdfEngine

IronPdf for Java requires IronPdfEngine to run. The Java code is just an API mask over IronPdfEngine gRPC. So when you call any method in IronPdf for Java, the magic will happen inside IronPdfEngine!

By default, IronPdf for Java will spawn IronPdfEngine as a subprocess and talk to it until your application shuts down.

Please note

Each version of IronPdf for Java requires a specific version of IronPdfEngine. Cross-version compatibility is not supported.

IronPdf for Java with Local IronPdfEngine

Option 1: Download IronPdfEngine at Runtime

By default, after you install IronPdf in your Java project, on the first run, IronPdf will detect your platform (e.g., Windows x64) and download the correct IronPdfEngine binaries from the internet.

<dependency>
   <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
   <artifactId>ironpdf</artifactId>
   <version>20xx.xx.xx</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
   <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
   <artifactId>ironpdf</artifactId>
   <version>20xx.xx.xx</version>
</dependency>

XML

Pros

Your application package will be small.
Can deploy on many platforms

Cons

Internet access is needed on the first runs
Slow startup time

Option 2 (recommended): Install IronPdfEngine as a Dependency

IronPdf Java allows you to add IronPdfEngine as a dependency. These IronPdfEngine dependencies bundle IronPdfEngine to a .zip file and will extract and use automatically.

You may choose to install one or multiple of these IronPdfEngine dependencies.

Please note

ironpdf and ironpdf-engine-xxx-xxx dependency version must be the same.

ironpdf-engine-xxx-xxx dependency version does not refer to the version of IronPdfEngine inside.

For Windows x64

 <dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-windows-x64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

 <dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-windows-x64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

XML

For Windows x86

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-windows-x86</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-windows-x86</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

XML

For Linux x64

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-linux-x64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-linux-x64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

XML

For macOS x64

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-macos-x64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-macos-x64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

XML

For macOS arm

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-macos-arm64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf-engine-macos-arm64</artifactId>
    <version>20xx.xx.xxxx</version>
</dependency>

XML

Please note

Each dependency is quite large, so it's not advisable to install them all.

Pros

Faster startup time.
Internet access is not needed after the dependency is installed.

Cons

Your application package will be large.
Need to specify the target platforms.

IronPdf for Java with Remote IronPdfEngine

To use remote IronPdfEngine, a specific version of IronPdfEngine is needed. For example, if IronPdf for Java version 2024.2.2 requires IronPdfEngine version 2024.2.2, do not use IronPdfEngine version 2024.2.1. Use the getIronPdfEngineVersion method to check for the version needed.

String ironPdfEngineVersion = Settings.getIronPdfEngineVersion();

String ironPdfEngineVersion = Settings.getIronPdfEngineVersion();

JAVA

How to Connect

Assume that IronPdfEngine is up and running remotely at 123.456.7.8:33350

Refer to Instructions on How to Pull and Run IronPdfEngine

You just need to tell IronPdf where IronPdfEngine is (please make sure that address is accessible, not blocked by the firewall). Add this code at the initial stage of your application (or just before calling any IronPdf method).

com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.Settings.setIronPdfEngineHost("123.456.7.8");
com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.Settings.setIronPdfEnginePort(33350);

com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.Settings.setIronPdfEngineHost("123.456.7.8");
com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.Settings.setIronPdfEnginePort(33350);

JAVA

Simple as that! After this, your application will be connected to the Remote IronPdfEngine!

For remote IronPdfEngine, installing IronPdfEngine as a dependency is not needed. You can skip the section titled "Option 2 (recommended) install IronPdfEngine as a dependency."

How to Use IronPdfEngine