Convert arabic "unicode" html or xml content to pdf using itextsharp

Question

I am trying to create reports in my ASP.NET MVC3 application after a lot of searching, I found a lot of ITextSharp blog ITextSharp to convert my Html/Razor to Pdf . I am trying to make out a razor to get PDf as follows

  public void Render(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer) { var doc = new Document(); // associate output with response stream var pdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, viewContext.HttpContext.Response.OutputStream); pdfWriter.CloseStream = false; viewContext.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"; viewContext.HttpContext.Response.ContentEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8; // generate view into string var sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder(); TextWriter tw = new System.IO.StringWriter(sb); _result.View.Render(viewContext, tw); var resultCache = sb.ToString(); //Path to our font string arialuniTff = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Fonts), "ARIALUNI.TTF"); //Register the font with iTextSharp iTextSharp.text.FontFactory.Register(arialuniTff); //Create a new stylesheet iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser.StyleSheet ST = new iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser.StyleSheet(); //Set the default body font to our registered font internal name ST.LoadTagStyle(HtmlTags.BODY, HtmlTags.FACE, "Arial Unicode MS"); //Set the default encoding to support Unicode characters ST.LoadTagStyle(HtmlTags.BODY, HtmlTags.ENCODING, BaseFont.IDENTITY_H); //Parse our HTML using the stylesheet created above List<IElement> list = HTMLWorker.ParseToList(new StringReader(resultCache), ST); doc.Open(); //Loop through each element, don't bother wrapping in P tags foreach (var element in list) { doc.Add(element); } doc.Close(); pdfWriter.Close(); } 

result of this code

which is wrong, the Arabic word should be "محمد". so I need to set the document direction from right to left

EDIT Thanks @Romulus

I made small changes to my code, I just replaced the added item on PdfPCell with a loop on my Html and set some attributes

  //Loop through each element, don't bother wrapping in P tags foreach (var element in list) { //Create a cell and add text to it //PdfPCell text = new PdfPCell(new Phrase(element.ToString(), f)); //Ensure that wrapping is on, otherwise Right to Left text will not display //text.NoWrap = false; //Add the cell to the table //table.AddCell(text); if (element is iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfPTable) { table = (iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfPTable)element; table.DefaultCell.NoWrap = false; table.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL; foreach (PdfPRow row in table.Rows) { foreach (PdfPCell cell in row.GetCells()) { cell.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL; cell.NoWrap = false; } } } } 

It works fine for me now. Thanks :)

Answer 1

You need to use container elements that support RunDirection, such as ColumnText or PdfPCell, and then set them to element.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL

 List<IElement> list = HTMLWorker.ParseToList(new StringReader(resultCache), ST); doc.Open(); //Use a table so that we can set the text direction PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(1); //Ensure that wrapping is on, otherwise Right to Left text will not display table.DefaultCell.NoWrap = false; table.RunDirection = PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL; //Loop through each element, don't bother wrapping in P tags foreach (var element in list) { //Create a cell and add text to it PdfPCell text = new PdfPCell(new Phrase(element, font)); //Ensure that wrapping is on, otherwise Right to Left text will not display text.NoWrap = false; //Add the cell to the table table.AddCell(text); } //Add the table to the document document.Add(table); doc.Close(); pdfWriter.Close(); 

See this sample for further reference.