Bridging CLI Simplicity & .NET : Using Curl DotNet with IronPDF

Imagine you need to download user data from a secure URL and generate a PDF report. The API requires a specific bash signature that is hard to replicate with HttpClient but easy with a curl command.

Step 1: Fetch Data with Curl-Dot-Net

// Define the curl command string with all necessary headers (here we use an example test website)
string curlCmd = "curl https://www.w3.org/TR/html4/ -H 'X-API-Key: secure_key'";

// Execute the request
var result = await Curl.ExecuteAsync(curlCmd);

// Extract the content (assumed to be HTML for this scenario)
string htmlContent = result.Body;

// Define the curl command string with all necessary headers (here we use an example test website)
string curlCmd = "curl https://www.w3.org/TR/html4/ -H 'X-API-Key: secure_key'";

// Execute the request
var result = await Curl.ExecuteAsync(curlCmd);

// Extract the content (assumed to be HTML for this scenario)
string htmlContent = result.Body;

Step 2: Generate PDF with IronPDF

IronPDF is a powerful library designed to render HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images into high-fidelity PDF documents. It provides full support for modern web standards and includes features like adding headers, footers, and setting specific rendering options.

using IronPdf;

// Instantiate the renderer
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Convert the fetched HTML data to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(htmlContent);

// Save the file to the output path
pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");

using IronPdf;

// Instantiate the renderer
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Convert the fetched HTML data to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(htmlContent);

// Save the file to the output path
pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");

Output

If your app consumes a JSON feed, you can fetch it using CurlDotNet's test capabilities and export it using IronXL.

Step 1: Fetch JSON Data with Curl-Dot-Net

We use the fluent builder for clean .NET code to fetch the JSON feed:

string testUrl = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users";

Console.WriteLine($"Executing HTTP request to fetch JSON from: {testUrl}");
// Replace the CurlDotNet fluent builder usage with the correct async method
var response = await Curl.GetAsync(testUrl); // Use Curl.GetAsync() for async HTTP GET

string jsonBody = response.Body;

string testUrl = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users";

Console.WriteLine($"Executing HTTP request to fetch JSON from: {testUrl}");
// Replace the CurlDotNet fluent builder usage with the correct async method
var response = await Curl.GetAsync(testUrl); // Use Curl.GetAsync() for async HTTP GET

string jsonBody = response.Body;

Step 2: Load and Export to Excel using IronXL

IronXL is a comprehensive .NET library designed to handle all aspects of reading, writing, and manipulating Excel file formats (.xlsx, .xls, .csv). Crucially, it does this without needing Microsoft Office installed on the server or client machine, making it ideal for cross-platform Linux and CI CD environments. Key features include full support for creating charts, applying formulas, and styling cells.

With the raw JSON data now in a string, IronXL can be used to parse it and build a spreadsheet.

var workbook = WorkBook.Create(ExcelFileFormat.XLSX);
 var sheet = workbook.CreateWorkSheet("User Data");

 // 1. Deserialize the JSON string to a list of UserRecord objects
 Console.WriteLine("Deserializing JSON data...");
 var salesRecords = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<UserRecord>>(jsonBody);

 // 2. Insert the data into the sheet using IronXL's SetCellValue method
 Console.WriteLine("Inserting data into Excel using IronXL...");

 // Write headers
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 0, "id");
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 1, "name");
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 2, "username");
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 3, "email");

 // Write data rows
 for (int i = 0; i < salesRecords.Count; i++)
 {
     var record = salesRecords[i];
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 0, record.id);
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 1, record.name);
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 2, record.username);
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 3, record.email);
 }

 // Save the Excel file
 string filePath = "UserReport.xlsx";
 workbook.SaveAs(filePath);

 Console.WriteLine($"\n Success! Excel report saved to: {Path.GetFullPath(filePath)}");

var workbook = WorkBook.Create(ExcelFileFormat.XLSX);
 var sheet = workbook.CreateWorkSheet("User Data");

 // 1. Deserialize the JSON string to a list of UserRecord objects
 Console.WriteLine("Deserializing JSON data...");
 var salesRecords = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<UserRecord>>(jsonBody);

 // 2. Insert the data into the sheet using IronXL's SetCellValue method
 Console.WriteLine("Inserting data into Excel using IronXL...");

 // Write headers
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 0, "id");
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 1, "name");
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 2, "username");
 sheet.SetCellValue(0, 3, "email");

 // Write data rows
 for (int i = 0; i < salesRecords.Count; i++)
 {
     var record = salesRecords[i];
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 0, record.id);
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 1, record.name);
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 2, record.username);
     sheet.SetCellValue(i + 1, 3, record.email);
 }

 // Save the Excel file
 string filePath = "UserReport.xlsx";
 workbook.SaveAs(filePath);

 Console.WriteLine($"\n Success! Excel report saved to: {Path.GetFullPath(filePath)}");

Output Excel File