Mastering PDFsharp: A Practical Guide to Creating PDFs with C#

PDFsharp is a .NET library for creating and processing PDF documents programmatically. This guide walks through the essentials: installation, creating documents, adding text and graphics, working with fonts and images, basic layout, saving, and common tips for reliable output. Examples use C# and target .NET 6+ (API is similar for earlier .NET Framework versions).

1. Setup and installation

Add the PDFsharp nuget package:
bash
```
dotnet add package PdfSharp
```
For advanced typography and better font handling use PdfSharpCore or the MigraDoc extension (PdfSharp + MigraDoc) depending on your project target.

2. Creating a simple PDF

Minimal example to create a one-page PDF with text:

csharp

using PdfSharp.Pdf;using PdfSharp.Drawing; var doc = new PdfDocument();doc.Info.Title = “Sample PDF”;var page = doc.AddPage();XGraphics gfx = XGraphics.FromPdfPage(page);XFont font = new XFont(“Verdana”, 20, XFontStyle.Bold);gfx.DrawString(“Hello PDFsharp!”, font, XBrushes.Black, new XPoint(40, 80));doc.Save(“sample.pdf”);

Notes: XGraphics is used for drawing; XFont names must be available on the host system.

3. Text layout and paragraphs

For simple text blocks, measure and wrap manually:

csharp

string text = “Long paragraph…”;XRect rect = new XRect(40, 100, page.Width - 80, page.Height - 140);XTextFormatter tf = new XTextFormatter(gfx);tf.Alignment = XParagraphAlignment.Left;tf.DrawString(text, new XFont(“Arial”, 12), XBrushes.Black, rect, XStringFormats.TopLeft);

For complex document layout with headers, footers, and flowable paragraphs, prefer MigraDoc (built on PDFsharp).

4. Drawing shapes, lines, and colors

Lines, rectangles, and fills:

csharp

gfx.DrawLine(XPens.Black, 40, 200, page.Width - 40, 200);gfx.DrawRectangle(XBrushes.LightGray, 40, 220, 200, 100);gfx.DrawEllipse(XPens.Blue, XBrushes.AliceBlue, 260, 220, 100, 60);

Use XPen to control stroke thickness and dash styles.

Mastering PDFsharp: A Practical Guide to Creating PDFs with C#