How to draw Unicode characters in a PDF in Xamarin

Syncfusion Essential PDF is a Xamarin PDF library used to create, read, and edit PDF documents. Using this library, you can draw the Unicode characters in the PDF document in Xamarin.

Steps to draw Unicode character in PDF in Xamarin programmatically:

1. Create a new C# Xamarin.Forms application project.
2. Select a project template and required platforms to deploy the application. In this application, to share the portable assemblies across multiple platforms, the .NET Standard code sharing strategy has been selected. For more details about code sharing, refer here.

3. Install the Syncfusion.Xamarin.PDF NuGet package as a reference to your Portable/NetStandard project from NuGet.org.
4. Add new Forms XAML page in portable project if there is no XAML page is defined in the App class. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.

1. To add a new XAML page, right-click the project and select Add > New Item and add a Forms XAML page from the list. Name it as MainXamlPage.
2. In App class of portable project (App.cs), replace the existing constructor of App class with the following code snippet, which invokes the MainXamlPage.

   public App()
   {
       //The root page of your application
       MainPage = new MainXamlPage();
   }
   

5. In the MainXamlPage.xaml, add new button as follows.

   <ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
                xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
                x:Class="GettingStarted. MainXamlPage">
   <StackLayout VerticalOptions="Center">
    
   <Button Text="Generate PDF Document" Clicked="OnButtonClicked"  HorizontalOptions="Center" VerticalOptions="Center"/>
    
   </StackLayout>
   </ContentPage>
   

6. Include the following namespaces in the MainXamlPage.xaml.cs file.

   using Syncfusion.Pdf;
   using Syncfusion.Pdf.Graphics;
   using Syncfusion.Drawing;
   

7. Add a new folder and name it as Assets and include the supported font file into this folder, and set Build Action to Embedded resource.
8. Include the following code snippet in the click event of the button in MainXamlPage.xaml.cs to draw the Unicode text to the PDF file and save it in a stream.

   //Create a new PDF document
   PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
    
   //Add a new PDF page
   PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
    
   //Get the font file as stream
   Stream fontStream = typeof(MainPage).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("UnicodeText.Assets.arial.ttf");
    
   //Create a new PdfTrueTypeFont instance
   PdfTrueTypeFont font = new PdfTrueTypeFont(fontStream, 14);
    
   //Draw the Unicode text to PDF page
   page.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World! $ @ # €", font, PdfBrushes.Black, PointF.Empty);
    
   MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
    
   //Save the document
   document.Save(stream);
    
   //Close the document
   document.Close(true);
    
   stream.Position = 0;
    
   //Save the stream as a file in the device and invoke it for viewing
   Xamarin.Forms.DependencyService.Get<ISave>().SaveAndView("Output.pdf", "application/pdf", stream);
   

9. Download the helper files from this link and add them into the mentioned project. These helper files saves the stream as a physical file and open the file for viewing.

• Create a new XML file with the name of provider_path.xml under the Android project Resources folder and add the following code in it. Eg: Resources/xml/provider_path.xml

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
  <paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <external-path name="external_files" path="."/>
  </paths>
  

• Add the following code to the AndroidManifest.xml file located under Properties/AndroidManifest.xml.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" package="com.companyname.InsertImage">
   <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="19" android:targetSdkVersion="27" />
   <application android:label="InsertImage.Android">
      <provider android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider"
            android:authorities="${applicationId}.provider"
            android:exported="false"
            android:grantUriPermissions="true">
        <meta-data android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
                   android:resource="@xml/provider_paths" />
      </provider>
    </application>
  </manifest>
  

10. Compile and execute the application.

By executing the program, you will get the PDF document as follows.

Download the complete work sample from UnicodeText.zip