how to pass html as a string using wkhtmltopdf?

Question

how to pass html as a string instead of url in wkhtmltopdf using asp.net, c#?

Answer 1

STDIn and STDOut have been redirected in this example, so you shouldn't need files at all.

public static class Printer {     public const string HtmlToPdfExePath = "wkhtmltopdf.exe";      public static bool GeneratePdf(string commandLocation, StreamReader html, Stream pdf, Size pageSize)     {         Process p;         StreamWriter stdin;         ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();          psi.FileName = Path.Combine(commandLocation, HtmlToPdfExePath);         psi.WorkingDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(psi.FileName);          // run the conversion utility         psi.UseShellExecute = false;         psi.CreateNoWindow = true;         psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;         psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;         psi.RedirectStandardError = true;          // note: that we tell wkhtmltopdf to be quiet and not run scripts         psi.Arguments = "-q -n --disable-smart-shrinking " + (pageSize.IsEmpty? "" : "--page-width " + pageSize.Width +  "mm --page-height " + pageSize.Height + "mm") + " - -";          p = Process.Start(psi);          try {             stdin = p.StandardInput;             stdin.AutoFlush = true;             stdin.Write(html.ReadToEnd());             stdin.Dispose();              CopyStream(p.StandardOutput.BaseStream, pdf);             p.StandardOutput.Close();             pdf.Position = 0;              p.WaitForExit(10000);              return true;         } catch {             return false;          } finally {             p.Dispose();         }     }      public static void CopyStream(Stream input, Stream output)     {         byte[] buffer = new byte[32768];         int read;         while ((read = input.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0) {             output.Write(buffer, 0, read);         }     } } 

Answer 2

Redirecting STDIN is probably the easiest way to accomplish what you're trying to do.

One method of redirecting STDIN with wkhtmltopdf (in ASP.Net) is as follows:

    private void WritePDF(string HTML)     {         string inFileName,                 outFileName,                 tempPath;         Process p;         System.IO.StreamWriter stdin;         ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();          tempPath = Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "temp\\";         inFileName = Session.SessionID + ".htm";         outFileName = Session.SessionID + ".pdf";          // run the conversion utility         psi.UseShellExecute = false;         psi.FileName = "c:\\Program Files (x86)\\wkhtmltopdf\\wkhtmltopdf.exe";         psi.CreateNoWindow = true;         psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;         psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;         psi.RedirectStandardError = true;          // note that we tell wkhtmltopdf to be quiet and not run scripts         // NOTE: I couldn't figure out a way to get both stdin and stdout redirected so we have to write to a file and then clean up afterwards         psi.Arguments = "-q -n - " + tempPath + outFileName;          p = Process.Start(psi);          try         {             stdin = p.StandardInput;             stdin.AutoFlush = true;              stdin.Write(HTML);             stdin.Close();              if (p.WaitForExit(15000))             {                 // NOTE: the application hangs when we use WriteFile (due to the Delete below?); this works                 Response.BinaryWrite(System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(tempPath + outFileName));                 //Response.WriteFile(tempPath + outFileName);             }         }         finally         {             p.Close();             p.Dispose();         }          // delete the pdf         System.IO.File.Delete(tempPath + outFileName);     } 

Note that the code above assumes that there's a temp directory available in your application directory. Also, you must explicitly enable write access to that directory for the user account used when running the IIS process.