PDF sheet design with ITextSharp or another ASP.NET MVC5 library

I already faced a similar situation. The solution I came up with was to create an image with the necessary formatting and then put it in the document like this:

Document doc = new Document(PageSize.LETTER);
doc.SetMargins(1f, 1f, 1f, 1f);

doc.Open();
Image logo = Image.GetInstance(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/cld/graphs/BG Vector.png"));
logo.ScalePercent(24f);
logo.SetAbsolutePosition(0f, 0f);
doc.Add(logo);
doc.Add(Chunk.NEWLINE);

...

doc.Close();

How does it work?

1. We define the object docas an iTextSharp document of size LETTER(letter) and set the margins to a period ( 1fbecause it is of type float).

2. Once we initialize the document ( doc.Open()) we create an image object (from the namespace iTextSharp.text.Image) and give it the image path.

3. Once we set the image to use, the line ScalePercentfollows this tutorial for inserting images and then we place the image in position 0,0with SetAbsolutePosition.

4. Once we have done the above, we simply place the image in the document ( doc.Add(logo)).

5. To continue editing freely, we put a "new line" ( Chunk.NEWLINE).

It is important to note that in my case I needed a full background , while in your case you only need a top and a bottom. In that case you can use two images instead of one and place the upper one on top (you will have to find which position x,yis convenient for you) and the lower one on the bottom (in 0,0) since that will lighten the weight of the final file.

Another thing: the image must be made at a resolution suitable for printing at 300 dpi( What is DPI? ) for the scale to 24work; this must be (to cover the whole page) 2550x3300pixels. In my case, I used an image suitable for printing at 600 dpihorizontally, so my resolution was 6600x5100pixels and my scale was not a 24but 12. To generate my image I used a software called Inkscape but you can make it however you want.

In order to deliver the PDF through a web server, I use the following code:

public FileResult GetPdf(string id, int año = 0, int mes = 0)
{
    // Primero declaramos el documento
    Document doc = new Document(PageSize.LETTER);
    doc.SetMargins(1f, 1f, 1f, 1f);

    string _dir = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/Ruta/para/guardar/");
    if (!Directory.Exists(_dir)) Directory.CreateDirectory(_dir);

    FileStream _stream = new FileStream(string.Format("{0}/Mi PDF {1} {2}-{3}.pdf", _dir, id, año.ToString(), mes.ToString()), FileMode.Create);
    PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, _stream);

    doc.Open();    
    /*
     * (Generación del PDF)
     */
    doc.Close();
    writer.Close();

    return File(string.Format("{0}/Mi PDF {1} {2}-{3}.pdf", _dir, id, año.ToString(), mes.ToString()), "application/pdf", string.Format("PDF descargado {0} {1}-{2}.pdf", id, año.ToString(), mes.ToString()));
}

How does it work? file download

1. We set the path to save the file to the server , since that is where the file will be generated. If the folder does not exist, we create it.

2. We declare a FileStreamthat will serve to transmit the file. As a parameter, it receives the full path of the file (the folder that we defined earlier + the name of the file that we are going to generate) and we declare the operation, which in this case will be to create the file ( FileMode.Create) and we instantiate the PDF creator.

3. We generate the PDF.

4. We declare the end of the document ( doc.Close()and writer.Close()).

5. As the return of the method (which is a FileResult) we give a File(from the namespace System.Web.Mvc) that takes as parameters the path of the file on the server, the type of file to be downloaded and optionally the name with which it should be downloaded.

In this way you can place a text accommodated in a certain region of the document and respecting the line breaks that are necessary:

BaseFont SourceSans = BaseFont.CreateFont(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/Content/fonts/SourceSansPro-Regular.otf"), BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
iTextSharp.text.Font _standardFont = new iTextSharp.text.Font(SourceSans, 8, iTextSharp.text.Font.NORMAL, BaseColor.BLACK);

#region Párrafo principal
Phrase _parrafo = new Phrase("Texto del párrafo, te recomiendo poner las variables con un string.Format.", _standardFont);
PdfContentByte _cb = writer.DirectContent;
ColumnText ct = new ColumnText(_cb);
ct.SetSimpleColumn(_parrafo, 312f, 530f, 762f, 580f, 25, Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
ct.Go();
#endregion

In this block I did the following:

1. Wanting to use an uncommon font (SourceSans) I downloaded it (from Font Squirrel , my personal recommendation) and located the file on my server.

2. In the first two lines I refer to the typography to be able to use it.

3. Following this tutorial , the paragraph you want is placed with the font you require (you can also see it in the official documentation ).

4. We declare a PdfContentByteand ColumnText(don't worry, it doesn't add to any table) (both from the namespace iTextSharp.text.pdf) and place that "column" containing the paragraph in the position x, y, x', y'we want. x, yis the coordinates of the lower left corner of the paragraph, while x', y'is the coordinates of the upper right corner . This is not how much space the text will take up, but how much space it can take up at most.

5. We end the collocation with the statement Go().

Taking all these concepts, your final code should look like this:

public FileResult GetPdf(string id, int año = 0, int mes = 0)
{
    Document doc = new Document(PageSize.LETTER);
    doc.SetMargins(1f, 1f, 1f, 1f);

    string _dir = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/Ruta/para/guardar/");
    if (!Directory.Exists(_dir)) Directory.CreateDirectory(_dir);

    FileStream _stream = new FileStream(string.Format("{0}/Mi PDF {1} {2}-{3}.pdf", _dir, id, año.ToString(), mes.ToString()), FileMode.Create);
    PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, _stream);

    BaseFont SourceSans = BaseFont.CreateFont(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/Content/fonts/SourceSansPro-Regular.otf"), BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
    iTextSharp.text.Font _standardFont = new iTextSharp.text.Font(SourceSans, 8, iTextSharp.text.Font.NORMAL, BaseColor.BLACK);

    doc.Open();
    // Imagen superior
    Image logo = Image.GetInstance(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/logo.png"));
    logo.ScalePercent(24f);
    logo.SetAbsolutePosition(20f, 700f);
    doc.Add(logo);
    doc.Add(Chunk.NEWLINE);

    // Imagen inferior
    Image pleca = Image.GetInstance(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/pleca.png"));
    pleca.ScalePercent(24f);
    pleca.SetAbsolutePosition(0f, 0f);
    doc.Add(pleca);
    doc.Add(Chunk.NEWLINE);

    // Párrafo
    Phrase _parrafo = new Phrase(string.Format("Por medio de la presente hacemos constar que el señor {0}...", NombrePersona.ToUpper()), _standardFont);
    PdfContentByte _cb = writer.DirectContent;
    ColumnText ct = new ColumnText(_cb);
    ct.SetSimpleColumn(_parrafo, 312f, 530f, 762f, 580f, 25, Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
    ct.Go();

    doc.Close();
    writer.Close();

    return File(string.Format("{0}/Mi PDF {1} {2}-{3}.pdf", _dir, id, año.ToString(), mes.ToString()), "application/pdf", string.Format("PDF descargado {0} {1}-{2}.pdf", id, año.ToString(), mes.ToString()));
}