table width not set in iTextSharp when converting html to PDF - pdf-generation

Question

I am trying to convert an html to pdf but the problem i face is that the html table tags width is not getting set correctly..
This is my html
<table cellpadding='4' cellspacing='4' border='0' width='100%' style='width:100%'>
<tr style='background-color:#000000'>
<td colspan='2' align='center' valign='middle' width='100%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='6' color='#FFFFFF'>Retail Natural Gas Deal Sheet</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='2' width='100%'> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='90%' style='width:90%'>
<table cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' border='0' width='100%'>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='4'>
<b>Deal Number</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='4'>
<b>15RTLG7149</b>
</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='3' width='100%'> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Trade Date</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>February 09, 2015</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Price Date</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>February 09, 2015</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Authorize Date</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>February 09, 2015</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='3' width='100%'> </td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
<td width='10%' style='width:10%' valign='top'>
<table cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' border='0' width='100%'>
<tr>
<td colspan='2' align='center' width='100%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Volumes (MMMBtu)</b>
</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
this is the c# code i am using to generate the pdf
Document pdfDoc = new Document();
//Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4, 10f, 10f, 10f, 0f);
//HTMLWorker htmlparser = new HTMLWorker(pdfDoc);
using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, memoryStream);
pdfDoc.Open();
XMLWorkerHelper.GetInstance().ParseXHtml(writer, pdfDoc, new StringReader(HTML));
pdfDoc.Close();
byte[] bytes = memoryStream.ToArray();
memoryStream.Close();
return bytes;
}
but this is how its rendered in the pdf.. I am not able to find the right answers.. I need help.. Thanks in advance..
http://i.stack.imgur.com/8WyBh.jpg

Answer 1

I have copy pasted your HTML to a text editor (Notepad++; marked 1 in the screen shot below). I have opened this HTML in a browser (Chrome; marked 2 in the screen shot below). I have converted the HTML to PDF (using XML Worker; the PDF is marked 3 in the screen shot below).
When I compare what I see in the browser with what I see in the PDF, I have the impression that iText's XML Worker is doing a great job. There isn't that much difference between what I see in the browser and what I see in the PDF.
However, when I look at your HTML, I see inconsistencies. Have you tried viewing your HTML in a browser? It doesn't look the way you expected, does it? Seems like the problem isn't caused by iText, but it's caused by the way you create your HTML. Please tell us if the HTML looks the way you expect in a browser. If not, please explain what you expect. Right now, it is hard to understand the problem as what I see in the PDF corresponds really well with what I see in a browser.
Update:
In your question, you didn't add any borders (border='0') and it was hard to see what you mean. I've now added borders, so that the HTML looks like this:
You want the PDF to look like this:
This is very easy if you simplify your HTML like this:
<table cellpadding='4' cellspacing='4' border='1' width='100%' style='width:100%'>
<tr style='background-color:#000000'>
<td colspan='2' align='center' valign='middle'>
<font face='Calibri' size='6' color='#FFFFFF'>XXXX XXXXX XXXXX</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='2'> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='90%' style='width:90%'>
<table cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' border='1' width='100%'>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='4'>
<b>Deal Number</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='4'>
<b>XXXXXXXXXX</b>
</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='3' width='100%'> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Trade Date</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>February 09, 2015</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Price Date</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>February 09, 2015</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width='42%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Authorize Date</b>
</font>
</td>
<td width='1%'> </td>
<td width='57%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>February 09, 2015</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan='3' width='100%'> </td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
<td width='10%' style='width:10%' valign='top'>
<table cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' border='1' width='100%'>
<tr>
<td colspan='2' align='center' width='100%'>
<font face='Calibri' size='2'>
<b>Xxxxxxx (XXXXXXX)</b>
</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
What did I change? I removed the width='100%' in the <td> tags where colspan='2'. This information is ambiguous: you are saying that the two columns together should take 100% of the width. However:
You already defined this in the <table> tag where you also have width='100%', and
If a cell has colspan 2 and you say that this cell should take 100% of the width, there is no way to tell the width of each column. It doesn't make sense to put width='100%' there.
iTextSharp defines the width of the columns based on the first row where it can find information about the width. In this case, the first row width such information is a row with colspan 2 in a table with 2 columns. You define the width of these 2 columns combined as 100%, and iTextSharp interprets this as if you want to say that each column takes 50% (100% / 2) of the width.
If you remove this ambiguous information, iText will define the width of the columns based on the widths defined in the third row (which is what you expect).