PDFsharp - moved to http://forum.pdfsharp.net/

roryok · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

I really wanted to use PDFSharp / Migradoc for a project I'm working on, but I've had to abandon it because it is just too limited.

I'll explain my situation. I want to create a PDF file which contains text, charts and tables which can vary in size.

unfortunately, PDFSharp
- does not allow tables
- requires me to draw a rectangle first before putting text in, meaning I have to know the size of the text on the page before I add it.

while migraDoc
- does not support PDFSharp's charting component.
- cannot modify PDF files
- cannot use a linked image.

So using PDF sharp I can add images, but adding text is too awkward and I can't add tables at all. I can add tables in migradoc, but this means I have to create the PDF in migradoc, leaving space for PDFSharp to add the charts. But this doesn't work as the charts can vary in size so I don't know how much space to leave.

I tried doing it entirely in MigraDoc, but I can't get PDFSharp to export images. Also, migradoc won't support an image generated by an ASP charting component unless its saved to disk.

Maybe I'm just a frustrated, incompetent programmer, but I just can't really see how migradoc and PDFSharp are useful without having greater compatibility, or without supporting the above features.

Thomas Hoevel · Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 387 Location: Cologne, Germany

MigraDoc creates PDF, RTF, and HTML. MigraDoc documents can persist in text files. This all works only if "linked images" are available as files.

You can e. g. use Excel to create charts (PDF) and include them in MigraDoc documents. That's what we are doing.
We use title pages and stationary from PDF files, too.
MigraDoc cannot modify PDF files, but it can use them to create new PDF files.
_________________
Regards
Thomas Hoevel
PDFsharp Team

roryok · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

but it doesn't work if those linked images are on another server

I can't get MigraDoc to accept either an image stream generated via ASP or a gif saved to the disk on another server.

MigraDoc will only accept local images it seems.

Likewise, PDFSharp gives me an error about illegal characters in the path if I try to add an image remotely or via a stream.

Thomas Hoevel · Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 387 Location: Cologne, Germany

Yep - pictures stored on another server will have to be downloaded before they can be embedded in a PDF file.
MigraDoc doesn't download them automatically - it's not designed for this; and I think it's good as it is.

The programmer is responsible for downloading these files - and so s/he has the chance to implement some caching to prevent multiple downloads of the same file.
_________________
Regards
Thomas Hoevel
PDFsharp Team