How to Efficiently Merge In-Memory PDFs on the Fly Using ITextSharp for Printing?

Merging In-Memory PDF Files On the Fly with ItextSharp for Printing

Problem Statement

How to concatenate multiple PDFs generated in runtime without prior knowledge of file names using ItextSharp for subsequent printing?

Solution

To merge PDFs on the fly using ItextSharp, two primary approaches exist:

Using PdfCopy (for Preserving Original Formatting)

using System.Collections.Generic;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Canvas.Parser;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfDocument;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfWriter;

byte[] mergedPdf = null;
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
    using (Document document = new Document())
    {
        using (PdfCopy copy = new PdfCopy(document, ms))
        {
            document.Open();

            for (int i = 0; i < pdf.Count; ++i)
            {
                PdfDocument reader = new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(pdf[i]));
                for (int page = 0; page < reader.GetNumberOfPages(); )
                {
                    copy.AddPage(copy.GetImportedPage(reader, ++page));
                }
            }
        }
    }

    mergedPdf = ms.ToArray();
}

Using PdfWriter (for Efficient Page Integration)

using System.Collections.Generic;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Canvas.Parser;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfDocument;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfWriter;

byte[] mergedPdf = null;
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
    using (PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(ms))
    {
        PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument(writer);
        PdfDocumentBuilder pdfBuilder = new PdfDocumentBuilder(document);

        for (int i = 0; i < pdf.Count; ++i)
        {
            PdfDocument reader = new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(pdf[i]));
            for (int page = 0; page < reader.GetNumberOfPages(); )
            {
                PdfCanvas canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfBuilder.GetPageAt(++page));
                PdfFormXObject importedPage = new PdfFormXObject(reader.GetPage(page));
                canvas.AddImportedPage(importedPage);
            }
        }
    }

    mergedPdf = ms.ToArray();
}

Class Summary

• PdfCopy: Preserves original formatting, but has limitations with redundant content and form handling.
• PdfCopyFields: Reduces form handling issues, but may consume significant memory.
• PdfSmartCopy: Analyzes content to minimize redundancies, but requires more resources.
• PdfWriter: Allows page integration without preserved interactivity.

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