Table of Contents

Fluent layout

The fluent layout API measures and paginates content automatically — no coordinates needed. Headers and footers repeat on every page, and {number}/{total} resolve to page numbers.

using NetPdf.Fluent;

Document.Create(doc => doc
    .Page(page => page
        .Size(PageSizes.A4)
        .Margin(50)
        .Header(h => h.Text("ACME Quarterly Report"))
        .Content(c => c
            .Padding(10)
            .Column(column =>
            {
                column.Spacing(8);
                column.Item().Text("Body text wraps and flows across pages automatically.");
                column.Item().Row(row =>
                {
                    row.ConstantItem(120).Text("Label");
                    row.RelativeItem().Text("Value that takes the remaining width");
                });
            }))
        .Footer(f => f.AlignCenter().PageNumber("Page {number} of {total}"))))
    .Save("report.pdf");

Containers

Containers compose with chainable calls: Padding, Width/Height (plus min/max variants), AlignCenter/AlignMiddle/…, AspectRatio, Extend, Shrink, Unconstrained, and Offset. Custom IElement implementations plug in via .Element(...).

Content flow

Flow is controlled per block:

  • ShowEntire keeps a block on one page
  • EnsureSpace(pt) requires a minimum height before starting
  • PageBreak() forces a new page
  • StopPaging truncates to the current page
  • ShowOnce / SkipOnce / ShowIf(bool) / Repeat(...) control repeated slots
  • DefaultTextStyle(style) cascades text styling to everything inside

Rich text and lists

Rich text mixes styles, hyperlinks, and paragraph settings inside one flowing block, and List/Inlined/Decoration cover common structures:

content.Column(column =>
{
    column.Item().Text(text =>
    {
        text.LineHeight(1.4);
        text.Span("NetPdf ").Bold();
        text.Span("builds rich paragraphs — ");
        text.Hyperlink("learn more", "https://example.com");
        text.Span(".");
    });
    column.Item().List(list =>
    {
        list.Ordered().Spacing(4);
        list.Item().Text("First point");
        list.Item().Text("Second point");
    });
});

Tables

Tables have fixed column widths, cell spans, and header/footer rows that repeat on every page; a spanned cell never splits across a page break:

content.Table(table =>
{
    table.ColumnsDefinition(columns =>
    {
        columns.ConstantColumn(120);
        columns.RelativeColumn();
    });
    table.Header(header =>
    {
        header.Cell().Text("Name");
        header.Cell().Text("Description");
    });
    table.Cell().Text("Item 1");
    table.Cell().Text("First item");
    table.Cell().Row(2).Column(1).RowSpan(2).Text("Spans two rows");
});

Visual styling and transforms

Visual styling and transforms chain onto any container: Background(color, cornerRadius), Border(...), Shadow(...) (blur is approximated — PDF has no native blur), Rotate(degrees), Scale(x, y), FlipHorizontal/FlipVertical/FlipOver, and ScaleToFit() which shrinks content until it fits its slot. Layers accept a zIndex to control stacking order.

Debugging layouts

Outline any element, or all page slots, then render to PNG to inspect:

Document.Create(doc => doc
    .Page(page => page
        .DebugOverlay()                       // outlines header/content/footer
        .Content(c => c.Debug("body").Text("…"))));
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