Setting up the Environment

To get started, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

1. Visual Studio: Install the latest version of Visual Studio or any other compatible Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of your choice.

2. IronPDF Library: Obtain the IronPDF library from the Official IronPDF Website or via NuGet Package Manager.

   NuGet Package Manager

3. .NET Core Application: Make sure you have a basic understanding of ASP.NET Core Setup Instructions and have it installed on your development machine.

Once you have set up the environment, let's dive into the steps to display PDF files using IronPDF in an ASP.NET Core application.

Create PDF using an ASP.NET Core Web Page

To create a PDF from an ASP.NET Core Web Page from the server side, follow these steps:

Solution Explorer

using IronPdf;

using IronPdf;

public FileContentResult OnGet()
{
    // Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
    ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

    // Render the current Razor page to a PDF document
    PdfDocument pdf = renderer.RenderRazorToPdf(this);

    // Add HTTP header to display PDF in the browser
    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "inline");

    // Return the PDF file to the client
    return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf");
}

public FileContentResult OnGet()
{
    // Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
    ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

    // Render the current Razor page to a PDF document
    PdfDocument pdf = renderer.RenderRazorToPdf(this);

    // Add HTTP header to display PDF in the browser
    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "inline");

    // Return the PDF file to the client
    return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf");
}

return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf", "razorPageToPDF.pdf");

return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf", "razorPageToPDF.pdf");

Load and Display a PDF file in ASP.NET Core

Next, this section will explore different approaches to generate PDF files using IronPDF and display them in an ASP.NET Core application.

// Render a PDF from a URL
using var pdf = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer().RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/");

// Read the File as Byte Array
byte[] bytes = pdf.BinaryData;

// Convert File to Base64 string and send to Client
string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
return Content(base64);

// Render a PDF from a URL
using var pdf = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer().RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/");

// Read the File as Byte Array
byte[] bytes = pdf.BinaryData;

// Convert File to Base64 string and send to Client
string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
return Content(base64);

// Render a PDF from an HTML string
using var pdf = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer().RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>");

// Render a PDF from an HTML string
using var pdf = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer().RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>");

// Render a PDF from an HTML file
using var pdf = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer().RenderHtmlFileAsPdf("demo.html");

// Read the file as Byte Array
byte[] bytes = pdf.BinaryData;

// Convert File to Base64 string and send to Client
string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
return Content(base64);

// Render a PDF from an HTML file
using var pdf = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer().RenderHtmlFileAsPdf("demo.html");

// Read the file as Byte Array
byte[] bytes = pdf.BinaryData;

// Convert File to Base64 string and send to Client
string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
return Content(base64);

Converting ASP.NET Web Forms to a PDF File with IronPDF from the ASP.NET Web API

You can easily convert ASP.NET web forms to PDF format using just a single line of code instead of HTML. Place this code in the Page_Load method of the page's code-behind file to display it on the page.

using IronPdf;
using System;
using System.Web.UI;

using IronPdf;
using System;
using System.Web.UI;

namespace WebApplication7
{
    public partial class _Default : Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Convert the ASPX page to a PDF displayed in the browser
            AspxToPdf.RenderThisPageAsPdf(AspxToPdf.FileBehavior.InBrowser);
        }
    }
}

namespace WebApplication7
{
    public partial class _Default : Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Convert the ASPX page to a PDF displayed in the browser
            AspxToPdf.RenderThisPageAsPdf(AspxToPdf.FileBehavior.InBrowser);
        }
    }
}

Apply HTML Templates

For intranet and website developers, generating PDFs with templates is often a common requirement. IronPDF simplifies this process by allowing you to generate an HTML template and populate it with data.

Here's an example of how to generate multiple customized PDFs using HTML templates and IronPDF:

// Define an HTML template with placeholders
string HtmlTemplate = "<p>[[NAME]]</p>";
string[] Names = { "John", "James", "Jenny" };
foreach (var name in Names)
{
    // Replace placeholder in template with actual data
    string HtmlInstance = HtmlTemplate.Replace("[[NAME]]", name);

    // Render HTML to PDF
    using (var Pdf = Renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(HtmlInstance))
    {
        // Save the PDF with the name as filename
        Pdf.SaveAs(name + ".pdf");
    }
}

// Define an HTML template with placeholders
string HtmlTemplate = "<p>[[NAME]]</p>";
string[] Names = { "John", "James", "Jenny" };
foreach (var name in Names)
{
    // Replace placeholder in template with actual data
    string HtmlInstance = HtmlTemplate.Replace("[[NAME]]", name);

    // Render HTML to PDF
    using (var Pdf = Renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(HtmlInstance))
    {
        // Save the PDF with the name as filename
        Pdf.SaveAs(name + ".pdf");
    }
}

ASP MVC Routing Download the PDF Version Of This Page

If you're using ASP.NET MVC, you can easily direct users to a PDF file. Here's an example of how the source code should be written:

using IronPdf;
using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace WebApplication8.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public IActionResult Index()
        {
            // Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
            ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

            // Render the URL as a PDF
            using (var PDF = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf(new Uri("https://en.wikipedia.org")))
            {
                // Return the PDF file with a specified filename
                return File(PDF.BinaryData, "application/pdf", "Wiki.Pdf");
            }
        }
        // Other action methods...
    }
}

using IronPdf;
using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace WebApplication8.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public IActionResult Index()
        {
            // Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
            ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

            // Render the URL as a PDF
            using (var PDF = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf(new Uri("https://en.wikipedia.org")))
            {
                // Return the PDF file with a specified filename
                return File(PDF.BinaryData, "application/pdf", "Wiki.Pdf");
            }
        }
        // Other action methods...
    }
}

Add a Cover Page to a PDF Document

To add a cover page or back page to an existing PDF document, you can use IronPDF's merge functionality. Here's an example:

using (var PDF = Renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.nuget.org/packages/IronPdf/"))
{
    // Merge the cover page with the main PDF
    using (var Merged = PdfDocument.Merge(new PdfDocument("CoverPage.pdf"), PDF))
    {
        // Save the combined PDF
        Merged.SaveAs("Combined.Pdf");
    }
}

using (var PDF = Renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.nuget.org/packages/IronPdf/"))
{
    // Merge the cover page with the main PDF
    using (var Merged = PdfDocument.Merge(new PdfDocument("CoverPage.pdf"), PDF))
    {
        // Save the combined PDF
        Merged.SaveAs("Combined.Pdf");
    }
}

Add a Watermark to Your Document

You can also add a watermark to PDF documents using C# code. Here's an example:

using IronPdf;

// Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render the URL as a PDF
using (var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.nuget.org/packages/IronPdf"))
{
    // Add watermark text to all pages
    pdf.WatermarkAllPages("<h2 style='color:red'>SAMPLE</h2>", PdfDocument.WaterMarkLocation.MiddleCenter, 50, -45);

    // Save the watermarked PDF
    pdf.SaveAs(@"C:\PathToWatermarked.pdf");
}

using IronPdf;

// Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render the URL as a PDF
using (var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.nuget.org/packages/IronPdf"))
{
    // Add watermark text to all pages
    pdf.WatermarkAllPages("<h2 style='color:red'>SAMPLE</h2>", PdfDocument.WaterMarkLocation.MiddleCenter, 50, -45);

    // Save the watermarked PDF
    pdf.SaveAs(@"C:\PathToWatermarked.pdf");
}

Protect Your PDF with a Password

You can encrypt and protect a PDF document with a password using IronPDF. Here's an example:

using IronPdf;

// Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render HTML to PDF
using (var pdfDocument = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello World<h1>"))
{
    // Set a password to protect the PDF
    pdfDocument.Password = "strong!@#pass&^%word";

    // Save the secured PDF
    pdfDocument.SaveAs("secured.pdf");
}

using IronPdf;

// Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer
ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render HTML to PDF
using (var pdfDocument = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello World<h1>"))
{
    // Set a password to protect the PDF
    pdfDocument.Password = "strong!@#pass&^%word";

    // Save the secured PDF
    pdfDocument.SaveAs("secured.pdf");
}

In addition to the above functionalities, IronPDF offers other features such as extracting images and text with OCR from PDFs, rendering charts to PDF, adding barcodes to PDFs, enhancing document security with passwords and watermarking techniques for PDFs, even handling and customizing PDF forms, and more. By using IronPDF, you can simplify the process of creating PDFs and improve the overall presentation of your documents.

Conclusion

IronPDF is an exceptional tool designed specifically for .NET developers, offering a wide range of functionalities to effortlessly handle PDF manipulation within their .NET projects. With IronPDF, developers can enhance their workflow and streamline their work processes. This powerful tool provides numerous features that enable seamless PDF file formatting, page deletion, page addition, and much more. It empowers developers to efficiently manage and customize PDF documents according to their specific requirements.

IronPDF not only excels in functionality but also offers the added benefit of being free for development purposes. This means that developers can leverage its capabilities without incurring any costs during the development phase of their projects. By utilizing IronPDF, developers can enhance their productivity and achieve remarkable results in their PDF-related tasks, ultimately delivering high-quality and efficient solutions within their .NET projects.

There are many other useful libraries such as IronPDF for working with PDF documents, IronXL for working with Excel documents, and IronOCR for working with OCR. Currently, you can get all five libraries for the price of just two by purchasing the complete Iron Suite. Visit our Iron Software Licensing Information for more details.