ASP.Net MVC 5 Render PDF in Browser from Byte[] C#

Question

I am working with Kendo MVC and I want to render an uploaded PDF into a Tabstrip.

When getting the PDF file to show in the tab, I am calling my controller and subsequent service, getting the file data as a byte array and returning data into its respective div using the following code.

public FileStreamResult GetRxPdf(int prescriptionId)
{
    var retVal = _service.GetRxPdf(prescriptionId);
    byte[] byteArray = retVal.FileData;
    MemoryStream pdfStream = new MemoryStream();
    pdfStream.Write(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);
    pdfStream.Position = 0;
    return new FileStreamResult(pdfStream, retVal.ContentType);
}

The rendered output is not the PDF, but is as follows

%PDF-1.7 %�� 1 0 obj <>/OutputIntents[<>] /Metadata 148 0 R/ViewerPreferences 149 0 R>> endobj 2 0 obj <> endobj 3 0 obj <>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 7 0 R 10 0 R 11 0 R 21 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/StructParents 0>> endobj 4 0 obj <> stream x��]Ys�F~W��ɔ5�\�I�֒��[9[�yH�@S�̲��7��=Ip��P�TE��3��1�>[,��&�e��7�ϖ��?�N/&��r~w��%~��lr5[|�mq��$%�W׊e!I8+jAIÊ��ׯ��㣳��ӗ��|w|��eA�H�D��uqy3��F��G/`�/�G��m��4r�g��m�*��/s^%�HQ�R�]䛋��]��h1S>�W��R^�0>��՘�Q1(�'l�zL��z>棇��pm0��=�±7�;�� ?��]��ů�>�� U�~�O?��a�^��>�A+�xD %�Ԍ�H� /��$MD�~�A2V6�Ѣ��Q....more file data here... 0000166807 00000 n trailer <] >> startxref 166853 %%EOF

When the data comes back via an ajax call it this is how it is passed to the div

 $("#divRxPdf").html(data);

I would be grateful if anyone could help me with this and show the PDF in the Div accordingly.

data type in the database is VarBinary(max), content type is stored as a string as 'application/pdf' — Simon Price
– Simon Price, Commented Oct 22, 2018 at 10:58
@MihaiAlexandru-Ionut the PDF is a scanned document, so making this HTML is not an option — Simon Price
– Simon Price, Commented Oct 22, 2018 at 10:59

karthickj25 · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-22 10:42:30Z

2

Update:

PDF needs to be embeded in the HTML with <embed> or <iframe> . You could also use library such as pdf.js to render pdf files with some controls.

The pdf.js readme has samples and how to: https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js

You can return the pdf as file by passing the binary using retun File() method

public ActionResult GetRxPdf(int prescriptionId)
 {
    var retVal = _service.GetRxPdf(prescriptionId);
    byte[] byteArray = retVal.FileData;      
   return File(byteArray , "application/pdf" , "Filename.pdf");
}

edited Oct 22, 2018 at 10:42

answered Oct 22, 2018 at 10:27

karthickj25

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7 Comments

Simon Price Over a year ago

That was one of the first things I tried and I got the same result, using ActionResult, FileResult, FileContentResult and FileStreamResult

Simon Price Over a year ago

ideally i dont want to use an iframe, because i want an element of control over the PDF where possible

karthickj25 Over a year ago

Have you tried pdf.js ?

Simon Price Over a year ago

the embed is the way to go in this instance... thanks for your help

user3590235 Over a year ago

@SimonPrice If your still looking, I was just working on this. Here's is an ASP MVC example I added.

|

Baskar John · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-22 10:32:09Z

0

You can use object tag to achieve it.

$obj = $('<object>'); 
$obj.attr("data","Url to PDF");
$obj.attr("type","application/pdf");

$("#pdfdiv_content").append($obj);

For more details refer this link

answered Oct 22, 2018 at 10:32

Baskar John

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2 Comments

Simon Price Over a year ago

im not converting html to pdf, the pdf is already uploaded and stored in the database, i have the data, and am passing back its content and its type

Simon Price Over a year ago

plus, that didnt work, it doesnt show me the file data anymore, just shows me nothing, inepcting the code, the file data is in the div, but nothing rendered

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