𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗖# 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽 📄

In my 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 – 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺, I wanted to generate an 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 for a 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 for the 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. I explored 𝗶𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽, a free library for generating PDFs in C#. Here’s how I implemented it! 🚀

🔹 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗗𝗙 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁

1️⃣ 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵

First, we fetch the 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗱-𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀 from the database for the current month.

var userId = "User123"; // Replace with the actual logged-in user ID
var currentMonth = DateTime.Now.Month;
var currentYear = DateTime.Now.Year;

var expenses = _context.Expenses
.Where(e => e.UserId == userId && e.Date.Month == currentMonth && e.Date.Year == currentYear)
.ToList();

2️⃣ 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗣𝗗𝗙 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽

Now, we create a 𝗣𝗗𝗙 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 and add expense details.

using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;
using System.IO;

public IActionResult GenerateExpenseReport()
{
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
Document document = new Document();
PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, ms);
document.Open();

    // Add title
    document.Add(new Paragraph("Expense Report - " + DateTime.Now.ToString("MMMM yyyy")));
    document.Add(new Paragraph("User ID: " + userId));
    document.Add(new Paragraph("\n"));

    // Add expenses in a table format
    PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(3);
    table.AddCell("Date");
    table.AddCell("Description");
    table.AddCell("Amount");

    foreach (var expense in expenses)
    {
        table.AddCell(expense.Date.ToShortDateString());
        table.AddCell(expense.Description);
        table.AddCell(expense.Amount.ToString("C"));
    }

    document.Add(table);
    document.Close();

    return File(ms.ToArray(), "application/pdf", "ExpenseReport.pdf");
}

}

3️⃣ 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗗𝗙

The 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗗𝗙 will contain the 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 and will be available for download.

🔹 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽?

✅ 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 (great for small projects).

✅ 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 – generate PDFs with just a few lines of code.

✅ 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 – you can format the report as needed.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸? 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲? 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀! 💬👇