.NET component for webpage or HTML to PDF conversion

We have created a .NET component lets you use the full functionality of our API in C# or VB.net. It lets you add web page and HTML to PDF conversion functionality in Windows and web applications and it also has built in exception handling. It is fully object oriented and conforms to the Microsoft standards for .NET framework components.

Simply download the 32-bit DLL or the 64-bit DLL and add PDFmyURL.NET.dll to your project and import the PDFmyURLdotNET namespace to start using our API. Below is the full documentation of the wrapper and you can also read more about it in the readme.txt file.

Basic usage

Below are some basic examples that show how you would use our wrapper to convert a web page to PDF. Further down the page you'll find more examples.

C# - convert a URL to PDF

PDFmyURL pdf = new PDFmyURL("yourlicensekey");
pdf.ConvertURL("http://www.example.com", Application.StartupPath + @"\example.pdf");

VB.net - convert a URL to PDF

Dim pdf As New PDFmyURL("yourlicensekey")
pdf.ConvertURL("http://www.example.com", Application.StartupPath & "\example.pdf")

Of course you can convert any web page as well as raw HTML with the .NET component. And you can set many options to control the PDF layout and the conversion.

You will use the component in the following sequence:

1. Use properties to set options such as page size, margins, headers etc.
2. Use one of the two functions to convert from a URL or HTML
3. Handle the events to use the downloaded PDF or the exception that occurred

Properties for setting options

Below is a list of all properties that you can use to set options for the conversion, the page layout and dimensions, margins, headers and footers, watermarking and much more.

Functions for conversion from a URL or HTML

The .NET component lets you convert a URL to PDF or raw HTML to PDF with the functions listed below.

Function	Description	Parameters
ConvertURL	Converts a URL into PDF	url - URL of the web page to be converted fileName - Optional local filename where the PDF document will be saved async - Optional value indicating whether the PDF will be downloaded asynchronously
ConvertHTML	Converts a HTML string into PDF	html - String value with HTML to be converted fileName - Optional local filename where the PDF document will be saved async - Optional value indicating whether the PDF will be downloaded asynchronously

Events for using the conversion result

When the conversion is done you can handle the downloaded result or the exception with the following events below.

Event	Occurs when	Parameters
DownloadCompleted	The download has completed successfully	sender - Contains the object that raised this event e - DownloadCompletedEventArgs object containing event-specific arguments
WebException	The download is interrupted	sender - Contains the object that raised this event e - WebExceptionEventArgs object containing event-specific arguments

In addition, all properties listed above also contain their own individual PropertyChanged events. For example when the Margins property changes, the corresponding MarginsChanged event is raised.

Exception handling

If the download succeeds the DownloadCompleted event is raised and otherwise the WebException event is raised. This enables you to handle the exceptions properly.

In very rare cases you cases, such as invalid HTML or URL input, an exception error can still be raised. Therefore it makes sense to wrap your functions inside a try/catch statement to check the details of the error.

You can do so with the following try / catch code.

try
{
    pdf.ConvertURL("http://www.example.com", string.Empty);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Error: Unable to convert URL - " + ex.Message);
}

Further examples

Below are a few more examples of how you can use the .NET component to convert web pages to PDF. Please reach out to us if you'd like to see different examples or if you have other questions about web to pdf conversion in C# or VB.net.

C# - convert a URL to PDF asynchronously

This example shows how you can use the DownloadCompleted and WebException events as well as force the conversion to happen asynchronously.

private PDFmyURL pdf;

pdf = new PDFmyURL("yourlicensekey");
pdf.DownloadCompleted += pdf_DownloadCompleted;
pdf.WebException += pdf_WebException;
pdf.ConvertURL("http://www.example.com", Application.StartupPath + @"\example.pdf", true);

private void pdf_DownloadCompleted(object sender, DownloadCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Download completed successfully - Size: " + e.Data.Length.ToString() + " bytes");
}

private void pdf_WebException(object sender, WebExceptionEventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Download failed - " + e.StatusCode.ToString() + ": " + PDFmyURL.StatusCodeDescription(e.StatusCode));
}

VB.net - convert a URL to PDF asynchronously

Private pdf As PDFmyURL

pdf = New PDFmyURL("yourlicensekey")
AddHandler pdf.DownloadCompleted, AddressOf pdf_DownloadCompleted
AddHandler pdf.WebException, AddressOf pdf_WebException
pdf.ConvertURL("http://www.example.com", Application.StartupPath & "\example.pdf", True)

Private Sub pdf_DownloadCompleted(sender As Object, e As DownloadCompletedEventArgs)
    MessageBox.Show("Download completed successfully - Size: " & e.Data.Length.ToString() & " bytes")
End Sub

Private Sub pdf_WebException(sender As Object, e As WebExceptionEventArgs)
    MessageBox.Show("Download failed - " & e.StatusCode.ToString() & ": " & PDFmyURL.StatusCodeDescription(e.StatusCode))
End Sub