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Formatting the Grid export to PDF

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Grid

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answered on 15 Apr 2008, 12:53 PM

Hi Robert,

Here is a bit different technique how to achieve desired result:

    
            <%@ Page Language="VB" %> 
        
            <%@ Register TagPrefix="telerik" Namespace="Telerik.Web.UI" Assembly="Telerik.Web.UI" %> 
        
            <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> 
        
            <script runat="server"> 
        
                Private isPdfExport As Boolean = False 
        
                Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCommand(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As GridCommandEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ItemCommand 
        
                    If e.CommandName = RadGrid.ExportToPdfCommandName Then 
        
                        isPdfExport = True 
        
                        RadGrid1.Rebind() 
        
                    End If 
        
                End Sub 
        
                Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As GridItemEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ItemDataBound 
        
                    If isPdfExport AndAlso TypeOf e.Item Is GridDataItem Then 
        
                        Dim dataItem As GridDataItem = DirectCast(e.Item, GridDataItem) 
        
                        For Each cell As TableCell In dataItem.Cells 
        
                            Dim text As StringString = String.Format("<span style='font-weight:bold;font-family:arial;text-decoration:underline;color:red;'>{0}</span>", cell.Text) 
        
                            cell.Text = text 
        
                        Next 
        
                    End If 
        
                End Sub 
        
                Protected Sub RadGrid1_NeedDataSource(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As Telerik.Web.UI.GridNeedDataSourceEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.NeedDataSource 
        
                    RadGrid1.DataSource = New Object() {1, 2, 3} 
        
                End Sub 
        
            </script> 
        
            <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> 
        
            <head runat="server"> 
        
                <title>Untitled Page</title> 
        
            </head> 
        
            <body> 
        
                <form id="form1" runat="server"> 
        
                    <div> 
        
                        <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" /> 
        
                        <telerik:RadGrid ID="RadGrid1" Skin="" runat="server"> 
        
                            <ExportSettings ExportOnlyData="true" OpenInNewWindow="true" /> 
        
                            <MasterTableView Width="100%" CommandItemDisplay="Top"> 
        
                                <CommandItemTemplate> 
        
                                    <asp:LinkButton ID="LinkButton1" Text="Export" CommandName="ExportToPdf" runat="server" /> 
        
                                </CommandItemTemplate> 
        
                            </MasterTableView> 
        
                        </telerik:RadGrid> 
        
                    </div> 
        
                </form> 
        
            </body> 
        
            </html>

All the best,
Vlad
the Telerik team

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answered on 10 Jul 2008, 06:49 PM

Hello all,
I am exporting my Web Grid form a Web Page to a PDF format. I am not using the events from the Grid in order to intercept the export. I am clicking a button in order to export my grid to a PDF. Is there a way to format my grid before being exported? I have set several properties using the following code.
//setup PDF
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.AllowPrinting = true;
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.PaperSize = GridPaperSize.Letter;
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.PageWidth = 1500;
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.PageTitle = "Users";
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.AllowModify = true;
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.AllowCopy = true;
        this.RadGrid1.ExportSettings.Pdf.FontType = Telerik.Web.Apoc.Render.Pdf.FontType.Embed;

However, I can't use the other examples of the events ItemCommand and ItemDataBound to intercept the grid items. I need to setup the column widths so my PDF displays correctly. Currently, my data is overlapping the other columns next to it.

Thanks,
Wayne

answered on 08 Jan 2009, 01:49 AM

I have tried the above example (wrapping a styled span around the cell content), it only partly works.

It seems that your HTML to PDF conversion does not respect all possible styles, for example the text-transform:uppercase; and the attempt to change font. This is despite the HTML being rendered properly.

I also note that the table layout does not respect percentage column widths. Setting widths in pixels results in the expected differences in column widths, but using percentages (which on screen provides for nice resizing as the window changes size), means all columns come out the same size on the PDF.

Also I note that the HTML for a table with gridlines uses "border="1", but the lines are hardly 1 pixel wide when they get to the PDF - this makes the PDF rather ugly. There is absolutely no control over whether a boarder is palced around the PDF content (and it is an even thicker line than the grid lines).

Further for some reason there is a blank row of cells being added in the table header (under the column titles) - presumably some other "Item" from the grid is being rendered (filters, or whatever).

Having worked through the support pages on the subject of getting a nice PDF out of the export from the Grid, I note that there seems to be a policy that pretty reports are to be produced from the Telerik Reporting system. Now whist this is an excellent reporting system, it has a lot of limitations.

Specifically using a RadGrid to display what is essentially a report, the user can fiddle about - dropping unwanted columns, selecting filters sort orders and groupings, changing column widths (which incidentally seem to then switch to pixel based sizing) and column orders, and then generate a PDF which can be printed - except at teh moment, the PDF leaves a lot to be desired.

With some clever background code to collect the user's layout decisions and persist them to a data store, it is then possible to re-produce the same layout in the future for the user - you even give a worked example of how to do this with user profiles.

Of course this does not replace all reporting needs, but I would prefer to provide the users with a small set of reports which can be tailored to their particular preferenes by themselves. Often they won't even need to print the thing since the on screen grid is an excellent presentation tool, but it is nice to be able to get a decent hard copy (or something that can be emailed), when wanted.

Is there any chance that a more complete HTML-PDF rendering engine will be provided?

And on that subject, what about PDF export of grids with templated content?

answered on 10 Jan 2009, 11:56 AM

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for your feedback. Indeed, you do make some good points, as the pdf exporting functionality can be further improved. I will pass your comments/suggestions to our developers, for further consideration. Should they find a feasible way to implement them, these improvements will be available in one of the upcoming versions of the control.
For some of the styles which can be altered when exporting, please review the following article. It also contains a work-around for exporting template columns data.
I hope this information helps.

All the best,
Yavor
the Telerik team

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answered on 26 Jan 2009, 12:00 PM

asp-net-ajax.zip

Hello Duc,

Attached to this message, is a small application, which handles a similar task.
I hope it helps.

Greetings,
Yavor
the Telerik team

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answered on 27 Jan 2009, 09:59 AM

asp-net-ajax.zip

Hi Duc,

Attached to this message, is small application, which also alters the font names.
Please, note that there is an issue with the Arial setting (we are currently working on it), but most other types are picked up.
I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Yavor
the Telerik team

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answered on 27 Jan 2009, 11:06 AM

asp-net-ajax.zip

Hello Duc,

As a quick follow up on the previous post, attached to this message, is a modification of the code supplied earlier, to cater for the "arial" setting as well.
I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Yavor
the Telerik team

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