How to: Generate a Document Layout from Scratch

• Apr 23, 2019
• 3 minutes to read

Important

You require a license to the DevExpress Office File API or DevExpress Universal Subscription to use these examples in production code. Refer to the DevExpress Subscription page for pricing information.

This example shows how to programmatically create a document with graphics using the PDF Document Creation API.

To generate a document using the Document Creation API:

• Create an empty document with no pages by calling one of the PdfDocumentProcessor.CreateEmptyDocument overload methods (e.g., using a file path).
• Create PDF graphics represented by an instance of the PdfGraphics class, calling the PdfDocumentProcessor.CreateGraphics method. To access PdfGraphics, you need to reference the DevExpress.Pdf.Drawing assembly.
• Draw the graphic content (e.g., an image, a string, lines, polygons) by calling the corresponding Draw method.
• Render a page with created graphics by calling the PdfDocumentProcessor.RenderNewPage method.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/how-to-generate-a-document-layout-from-scratch-t244516

Program.vb

Imports DevExpress.Pdf
Imports System
Imports System.Drawing

Namespace DocumentCreationAPI
    Friend Class Program

        Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)

            Using processor As New PdfDocumentProcessor()

                ' Create an empty document.
                processor.CreateEmptyDocument("..\..\Result.pdf")

                ' Create and draw PDF graphics.
                Using graph As PdfGraphics = processor.CreateGraphics()
                    DrawGraphics(graph)

                    ' Render a page with graphics.
                    processor.RenderNewPage(PdfPaperSize.Letter, graph)
                End Using
            End Using
        End Sub

        Private Shared Sub DrawGraphics(ByVal graph As PdfGraphics)

            ' Draw text lines on the page. 
            Dim black As SolidBrush = CType(Brushes.Black, SolidBrush)
            Using font1 As New Font("Times New Roman", 32, FontStyle.Bold)
                graph.DrawString("PDF Document Processor", font1, black, 180, 150)
            End Using
            Using font2 As New Font("Arial", 20)
                graph.DrawString("Display, Print and Export PDF Documents", font2, black, 168, 230)
            End Using
            Using font3 As New Font("Arial", 10)
                graph.DrawString("The PDF Document Processor is a non-visual component " & "that provides the application programming interface of the PDF Viewer.", font3, black, 16, 300)
            End Using
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Program.cs

using DevExpress.Pdf;
using System;
using System.Drawing;

namespace DocumentCreationAPI {
    class Program {

        static void Main(string[] args) {

            using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor()) {

                // Create an empty document.
                processor.CreateEmptyDocument("..\\..\\Result.pdf");

                // Create and draw PDF graphics.
                using (PdfGraphics graph = processor.CreateGraphics()) {
                    DrawGraphics(graph);

                    // Render a page with graphics.
                    processor.RenderNewPage(PdfPaperSize.Letter, graph);
                }
            }
        }

        static void DrawGraphics(PdfGraphics graph) {

            // Draw text lines on the page. 
            SolidBrush black = (SolidBrush)Brushes.Black;
            using (Font font1 = new Font("Times New Roman", 32, FontStyle.Bold)) {
                graph.DrawString("PDF Document Processor", font1, black, 180, 150);
            }
            using (Font font2 = new Font("Arial", 20)) {
                graph.DrawString("Display, Print and Export PDF Documents", font2, black, 168, 230);
            }
            using (Font font3 = new Font("Arial", 10)) {
                graph.DrawString("The PDF Document Processor is a non-visual component " +
                                  "that provides the application programming interface of the PDF Viewer.", font3, black, 16, 300);
            }
        }
    }
}