QuestPDF powered by custom Skia build

[MarcinZiabek]

Introduction

QuestPDF serves as an advanced layout engine leveraging the SkiaSharp library to facilitate the generation of final PDF documents. However, the dependency on SkiaSharp does come with certain inherited constraints.

Limitations with SkiaSharp

SkiaSharp is an exceptional library, a foundation for many libraries and projects, including those developed by Microsoft. Huge shout out to the SkiaSharp team!

Nonetheless, from the perspective of QuestPDF, SkiaSharp does present three fundamental limitations:

1. The project lags significantly behind the Skia project (as of now, SkiaSharp is on m88 from Feb 2021, while the latest Skia version is m115). Between those versions, numerous improvements to PDF rendering have been made by Skia developers.

2. SkiaSharp does not fully expose all the features of Skia, understandably due to the trade-off between features and library size.

3. Additional nuget packages are necessary when running on various platforms.

Just to make sure you know, these attributes are not shortcomings of SkiaSharp per se, especially considering its size and usage. They are merely constraints from QuestPDF's standpoint.

Advantages of a custom Skia Build

Creating a custom Skia build brings several advantages. It's important to note that Skia offers a variety of optional modules. We can disable the unneeded ones to minimize the final binary size, for instance, related to GPU-accelerated rendering.

The optional but useful modules are as follows:

1. ICU - provides advanced Unicode features like multi-directional text.

2. SkParagraph - supports advanced text features, including TextStyle, Unicode, line breaking, support for advanced languages, and text justification. It also is more stable and of higher quality than current QuestPDF text rendering capabilities.

3. SVG - built-in SVG support.

4. sfntly - font subsetting to minimize output PDF file size regardless of the font used.

5. PDF Tags - adds accessibility features to the generated PDF file.

Achieving a comparable level of functionality as the features mentioned above is undeniably challenging. Text rendering, in particular, has proven to be one of the most complex aspects of QuestPDF. Using additional Skia capabilities could significantly enhance the quality and feature set of QuestPDF.

Available approaches

Interacting with a C++ library from managed code is not straightforward. Typically, the native library is enhanced with additional C wrappers, which are then invoked from the managed code (e.g., C#). To maintain the object-oriented experience, extra class proxies are created to call these wrappers. This technique is what SkiaSharp aims to do. Sounds complex, doesn't it?

There are several approaches to tackle this task:

1. SWIG - it is an industry-standard library that can generate all the necessary code based on a custom configuration. I have successfully used SWIG with a simple C++ project, although its compatibility with Skia still needs to be tested.

2. CppSharp - this well-known library generates appropriate structures and bindings based on the compiler output. I have yet to gain experience with it.

3. SkiaSharp-based approach involves building a custom implementation by following the SkiaSharp convention. Important: it is not needed to wrap the entire Skia API, but rather a minimal set of functionalities.

Why not just extend SkiaSharp?

QuestPDF employs only a tiny fraction of the SkiaSharp API. The library does not expose Skia objects in its public API (with the Canvas element being the only exception). Therefore, it is an entirely different task to expose a few Skia interfaces and functions just for QuestPDF usage, in contrast to implementing an actual SkiaSharp feature with all available options and capabilities.

Moreover, we cannot expect the Skia team to include additional packages in the official build exclusively for QuestPDF. There are currently several unavailable modules, including SkPicture, SkSVG (support for parsing this format), sfntly, etc.

However, as we become more adept at building native-to-managed code wrappers, we may consider assisting the Skia team in adding certain requested features, including support for PDF tags.

How to preserve the Canvas element?

Switching to a custom Skia build implies that the QuestPDF library will no longer recognize SkiaSharp objects. This could be seen as a substantial breaking change, particularly without any alternatives.

That being said, there are two potential solutions:

1. Utilize the SkPicture object - it can serialize all Skia drawing commands in a binary format. This approach is already utilized by the Previewer application to render the document pixel-perfectly. Assuming Skia is backward compatible (this remains untested), creating a simple NuGet package may be feasible that serializes SkiaSharp commands into SkPicture, passing the binary data to QuestPDF, where they are deserialized and drawn.

2. Utilize SVG - similarly to SkPicture, SkiaSharp can generate SVG files. This format is promising, especially given its high compatibility between Skia versions, and it could be the optimal solution.

Afterword

In the upcoming weeks, I'll update you on the progress regularly and hopefully gather valuable feedback.

[MarcinZiabek]

It's been a rewarding three months since we initiated the GitHub discussion on creating a custom Skia build specifically for QuestPDF usage. I'm excited to share the progress with you.

Building the Skia library, a substantial part of the Chromium project, has been quite an adventure. It's a complex process, and customizing the build for specific features/modules to keep the native library file size down was challenging. But, I've managed to build Skia locally, use it in testing as a vcpkg package, and get it built through GitHub Actions. I am still working on building for different OS (Windows, Linux, MacOS) and CPU architectures (x86, ARM), but I'm confident we'll get there.

In terms of .NET runtime integration, I chose a direct approach: manually creating and maintaining a C language interface (CLI). This method, while more labor-intensive than SkiaSharp's automated code generation, is better suited for QuestPDF's limited use of Skia features, offering greater flexibility. I'm pleased to report that the majority of the API has been successfully ported.

One of the primary advantages of a custom Skia build, as discussed in the original post, is the built-in font subsetting engine. This feature significantly reduces the size of embedded font assets, thereby decreasing overall PDF file sizes. I can confirm that this functionality is performing as expected, addressing one of QuestPDF's key problems.

The initial iteration of the custom Skia build will likely incorporate the SkParagraph module, which promises to enhance QuestPDF's text-handling capabilities. Despite the equal complexity of SkParagraph and SkText + Harfbuzz, opting for the more mature technology seems like a wise decision.

Additional features, which are possible thanks to the custom Skia build, such as PDF tags and native SVG support, will be investigated and introduced in subsequent releases. These are not critical at the moment, and delaying their implementation allows us to focus on more immediate priorities. Given the learning curve associated with this effort, I anticipate that integrating these features in the future will be more straightforward.

I want to emphasize that this effort has the highest priority. I'm targeting an alpha release in January, with a production version will follow shortly thereafter.

Thank you for your continued trust and patience. We're on track for some exciting advancements in QuestPDF!

[barnettben]

...native SVG support will be investigated and introduced in subsequent releases...

Does that mean there will be a period of breakage between the current SkiaSharp-QuestPDF and a future Skia-QuestPDF when it comes to embedding SVGs?

I have been experimenting with embedding ScottPlot charts via Canvas and it works very well. Now I have found this discussion, I will try embedding via SVG image instead, but it would be good to know if this is likely to break (even if temporarily).

[MarcinZiabek]

Over the last week, I have made several experiments to test ways of integrating the new version of the QuestPDF-specific Skia build with SkiaSharp. To keep this brief, I won't provide all the details.

Due to certain incompatibilities between Skia CanvasKit (available on vcpkg) and SkiaSharp, it is not possible to rely on the binary serialization mechanism available in Skia, nor can we use pointers to integrate both worlds at the C++ boundary.

However, Skia has an excellent extension module for parsing and drawing SVG. It can also produce SVG from all commands executed on the canvas (although it does not support all features, it is used by ScottPlot).

Therefore, I plan to introduce full built-in SVG support with the first release - essentially providing more capabilities out of the box. Following that, I intend to base SkiaSharp integration on SVG or pre-rendered images.

[barnettben]

Thank you for explaining, that's really good to know.

[samceustermanscoteng]

Hi,

Great work!
Really looking forward to this feature!!!

I recently started using this library for generating our pdf reports. Since I have to support +- 26 languages (including arabic/chinese/thai/...) manual subsetting is not possible. I had a throw at automatic subsetting (it works) but I'm not too happy with performance...
Also some weird bug that in some languages (like Thai) SkiaSharp could not word break resulting in an IndexOutOfRangeException from SkiaSharp.

How's progress going? :-)

[leandrobattochio]

I just can't wait for text justification. 😄

Awesome work

[199621616]

非常棒，祝你顺利，早日成功。期待早一天可用上它。

[danirzv]

Is there any update? how soon it could be available?

[MarcinZiabek]

I have posted an expected release roadmap in my latest comment in this discussion. We are getting close! :)

[MarcinZiabek]

After a month of hard work, I am excited to present the latest developments related to this effort. This update brings a mix of promising advancements and a few challenges. Let’s dive in.

Firstly, the process of building Skia is a nightmare. We often overlook the convenience provided by technologies like NuGet and npm platforms. A significant factor contributing to this difficulty is the vast scope and complexity of Skia. After some partially successful attempts at building Skia on GitHub Actions, I opted for VCPKG packages, a creation of Microsoft that offers a more streamlined approach akin to NuGet. This shift has been essential for making substantial progress.

I have developed a project similar to a simplified version of the SkiaSharp library - combining native C wrapping functions and corresponding C# layer encapsulating all p/invoke calls. Following my previous update, I chose to integrate the SkParagraph module, thereby incorporating all its text-related enhancements into the upcoming release. I am pleased to report that the following features seem to work as expected: font subsetting, text shaping, bi-directional text, font fallback, custom font registration, text justification, and more. This work is being carried out in a dedicated C# repository to streamline the workflow and testing process.

The forthcoming phase involves integrating this code into the QuestPDF project and replacing all SkiaSharp invocations. Adapting the new text-related APIs will require additional work, but the benefits justify the effort.

In terms of distribution, the native code occupies approximately 40 MB per platform. I aim to support windows-x64, linux-x64, macos-x64, and macos-arm64, which equates to around 65 MB after ZIP compression. Notably, the ICU library (required for text-related functionalities based on Unicode standards) accounts for about 75% of this size. Would you favor multiple smaller packages tailored to specific runtimes or a single larger package for a more streamlined experience?

A significant problem has been found related to the windows-x64/shared-library VCPKG build, which currently does not support the ICU library. This limitation impacts advanced text features like bi-directionality and sophisticated line breaks. Such limitation is unacceptable given the importance of Windows in C# development and deployments. I plan to revisit building Skia myself, potentially utilizing alternative dependencies like the newly released ICU4X, which is a comprehensive rewrite of the ICU library. Although early alpha releases might rely on the VCPKG package, full compatibility with the latest ICU version is the goal.

Rest assured, I am dedicating every day to this project. The code is progressively reaching a production-ready state, and I anticipate making it publicly available soon.

Thank you for your continued support!

[nixxcz]

Hi, thank you for the update!
Regarding your question - If I could choose, I'd prefer multiple smaller, runtime-specific packages over a single large package.

[MarcinZiabek]

I agree that a smaller Nuget package is excellent, especially when discussing sizes of dozens of MB.

However, in contrast to having one do-it-all package, making it more granular guarantees that the first library execution will end up with a native-dependency-is-not-available exception, forcing the developer to install additional packages depending on the runtime and potentially lowering the experience. A similar issue is when development and deployment environments use different operating systems.

[user-named-void]

Hi MarcinZiabek,

If i read it correctly you only want to support 64bit operating systems with the new version, which is understandable.
But we are running QuestPDF on machines that are, unfortunately, 32bit Windows because of an older application that does not support x64. We use QuestPDF to extend some of the capabilities of the older system like generating better looking documents which would be an issue of that would only run on x64.

Are you still planning to support 32bit in any way?

[MarcinZiabek]

Are you still planning to support 32bit in any way?

If the x86 build will not present any challenges and will be similar in file size to the x64 platform, I am happy to maintain this architecture. It is a similar story as with dotnet standard 2.1 :)

[MarcinZiabek]

Recent activities

I am excited to share with you the enormous progress I have made over the last two weeks.

The primary priority was integrating the new QuestPDF-specific Skia wrapper with the library. This effort is not only about replacing existing APIs but also involves completely redesigning the text rendering solution. The code complexity has been greatly reduced while new features have been introduced. This is awesome! I consider this effort as completed. This effort is developed in this branch.

Additionally, this week, I have been investigating the building process of the native dependency. VCPKG does not support the ICU library when building a shared library on Windows. Consequently, the SkParagraph module is unavailable on such a platform, making the VCPKG approach useless. However, I have successfully built the Skia library on MacOS with all the necessary features and flags. Then, I added the compiled static library to the QuestPDF native layer. As a result, I successfully went through the entire process on MacOS. I have also adjusted the build flags so Skia builds successfully on all platforms (Windows, MacOS, Linux) on GitHub Actions.

Current objective

The following primary goal is to adjust the configuration for all platforms and test whether the compiled native dependency works as expected. This is an ongoing process, and I am optimistic about its progress so far! Building Skia manually has also allowed me to minimize the native library size from 40MB to around 16MB per platform, where 8MB corresponds to ICU. I still need to confirm if the smaller-size artifacts are indeed fully featured.

Completed tasks

I understand this effort has been active for many months, and it may be unclear where exactly things are. So, let me present a short list that hopefully shows that we are very close.

Things already completed:

• Investigation of whether a custom Skia build may help move the library forward, mainly by utilizing the built-in font subsetting engine and the SkParagraph module.
• Investigation of how to build a native wrapper that exposes Skia APIs through a C interface callable from managed code. I mainly compared CppSharp, SWIG, and custom implementations, as well as investigated approaches of other libraries (Skia for Python, Skia for Rust, SkiaSharp, Skiko).
• Learning the Skia codebase, including code structure, core features, and modules. Also learning the build process, including feature flags and their relationships.
• Writing a custom native layer for Skia with features designed explicitly for QuestPDF usage, with a related C# managed wrapper and a test suite (code will be published soon).
• Learning GitHub Actions and how this technology may help automate the build process, especially for environments I don’t have easy access to.
• Replacing SkiaSharp with the new C# wrapper. This also includes finding a replacement API for the Canvas element, redesigning text-related implementations, introducing new features, and performance optimizations.

Next tasks

• Finish scripts for building Skia and related native layers for all operating systems and target platforms. Test if all features are working as expected (already in progress).
• Investigation of how to provide necessary native dependencies: through one larger nuget file that supports all platforms, or via multiple smaller nugets.
• Release the new version of the library (alpha/beta/rc/production).
• Redesign the communication layer for the QuestPDF Previewer application. QuestPDF will likely be using the latest and greatest versions of Skia, while SkiaSharp and Avalonia may lag behind. This creates a real risk of incompatibility with the Skia binary serialization format - using SkPictures is no longer viable. I must design a process where QuestPDF code generates images on demand for the Previewer's usage.
• Update the documentation to cover some minor changes and additional API options.

Release roadmap

• Alpha (early February) - I hope to release this version sometime next week. I aim to provide at least feature parity with the existing production version. Of course, as mentioned in my previous post, this version will also include many significant enhancements.
• Beta (late February) - This version will cover simple performance optimizations, code quality improvements, and minor missing features. I also hope to reintroduce the Previewer support.
• Release Candidate (early March) - This version will contain only necessary bug fixes found by the community.
• Production (March) - Making the new version the new official default.

As mentioned before, this effort is enormous. I dare say that the most challenging part is already completed. We are slowly starting tasks where the expertise is much higher and the associated risk is limited. It is difficult to predict the exact release date. I would like to release the production version sometime in March. That said, I consider the Beta release as already stable and feature-complete.

Thank you for your patience and support.

[rima1098]

@MarcinZiabek
Hi, i tried to test a few things on the branch you mentioned and I recognized that you changed the .netstandard2.0 target to .netstandard2.1 making it incompatible to .Net Framework Versions (e.g. 4.7.2). We still have to rely on .Net Framework versions and therefore would require netstandard2.0 compatibility. Will the release be available for .netstandard2.0 again or are there some constraints which do not allow you to target .netstandard2.0?

[MarcinZiabek]

There are only two things that I may need from netstandard2.1:

1. [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPUTF8Str)] to handleUTF8 encoding. Using just UnmanagedType.LPTStr does not properly convert text. I haven't investigated it much, but may with some changes in the native code, it will be possible.
2. Span to perform efficient string->color conversion. I want to replace how colors are stored, changing from text to uints, but to maintain backwards compatibility, the conversion logic needs to be there. So, I would need to implement the conversion methods twice, with and without spans. Also, I would like to explore if Spans can improve library performance. So having access to this feature could be nice.

[samceustermanscoteng]

Hi,

Great work!

If possible, it would be great to also support netstandard2.0.
The project where I use QuestPDF runs on .Net Framework 4.8

[MarcinZiabek]

@rima1098 @samceustermanscoteng I have introduced support for netstandard 2.0 code-wise in the following commit: 97e0c54 Now, I need to figure out how to provide necessary native libraries (as the approach is different between old .NET Framework and dotnet core).

I'm happy to make progress in this regard 😄

[MedinaAJ]

Good day @MarcinZiabek. First of all, congratulations on the development of QuestPDF; it is a very useful and powerful tool.

I have been following the thread about text justification and have come up to this update. Would you be so kind as to explain when you see it feasible to integrate text justification?

[MarcinZiabek]

🎊 It has finally happened! The 2024.3.0-alpha release is now available! 🎊

Please feel free to test the new version and share your feedback. I already consider it pretty stable, but it shouldn't be used in a production environment.

I want to thank the SkiaSharp project, its maintainers and contributors, for creating a fantastic graphics library. It was an exceptional foundation for QuestPDF for over 3 years.

Tasks Completed Over the Last Two Weeks:

• Changed the QuestPDF Previewer backend. The application no longer utilizes the SkPicture class, which serializes drawing commands, but now employs pooling and on-demand image rendering instead. This change may introduce certain performance limitations on Avalonia, as it cannot utilize GPU-based textures. However, as QuestPDF transitions towards Flutter, the performance of this new approach is expected to be significantly improved.
• Built the native layer for all target operating systems: Windows, Linux, and MacOS. This task was challenging due to the necessity for different Skia configurations and additional packages for each OS.
• Created the initial version of GitHub Actions to build native dependencies.
• Published the alpha release.

Next Tasks:

• Investigate the best method for providing native dependencies, considering the trade-offs between a single larger package and multiple smaller packages.
• Introduce .NET Standard 2.0 compatibility to support legacy .NET Framework projects.
• Make QuestPDF native code publicly available.
• Address and fix bugs.

[MarcinZiabek]

The current approach should not require any additional packages.

1. Please share some details about your execution environment. (operating system, .NET runtime version, etc.)
2. Please also search for the icudtl.dat file in your bin folder (likely in the runtimes subfolder).
3. Is QuestPDF installed to your primary/main project?

[Rorschach331]

xxx.Text("")
when an element has text with empty string,throw Unhandled exception. System.InvalidOperationException: Sequence contains no elements,i think the problem is caused by font subsetting.

[MarcinZiabek]

@Rorschach331 This commit will fix your issue: be000f2

[Rorschach331]

if (IsNullOrEmpty(text)) that's fine ,thanks.

[MarcinZiabek]

Actually, I added IsNullOrEmpty(text) just in case. A very similar problem was also happening for not-empty texts, which most of this commit focuses on.

[xmoi]

how to truncate text in table cell to prevent it from growing vertically?. I always run into out of boundary errors.
maxheight is set.

[MarcinZiabek]

The API for truncating the text with an ellipsis is not available yet. It will look similar to this:

.Text(text =>
{
    text.LineClamp(4);
    text.Span("Long text...");
});

[blogcraft]

ClampLines() is Amazing! :D

[rafelcnet]

Hello, It works great on windows and OSX, but when I deployed in a Docker container, can not load shared library 'QuestPdfSkia', I tried to copy manually, putting the file in my solution folder and then in the Docker file using "COPY ./QuestPdfSkia.so /usr/lib", but still can not load the shared library. This is the container error:

2024-02-20 13:22:51 Unhandled exception. System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'QuestPDF.Settings' threw an exception.
2024-02-20 13:22:51 ---> System.Exception: The QuestPDF library has encountered an issue while loading one of its dependencies.
2024-02-20 13:22:51 ---> System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load shared library 'QuestPdfSkia' or one of its dependencies. In order to help diagnose loading problems, consider setting the LD_DEBUG environment variable: libQuestPdfSkia: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
2024-02-20 13:22:51 at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.API.check_compatibility_by_calculating_sum(Int32 a, Int32 b)
2024-02-20 13:22:51 at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.CheckIfExceptionIsThrownWhenLoadingNativeDependencies()
2024-02-20 13:22:51 --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
2024-02-20 13:22:51 at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.Test()
2024-02-20 13:22:51 at QuestPDF.Helpers.NativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.Test()
2024-02-20 13:22:51 at QuestPDF.Settings..cctor()
2024-02-20 13:22:51 --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

[pangjianxin]

same problem.how to resolve this?using the 2024.3.0-beta,in .net8 docker,the host is centos stream 9.

[andreix86-64]

The current version of Lts ubuntu uses GLIBC_2.30, and this is why you get this error. Skia requires GLIBC_2.32.

Here is the fix that I have found.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade libstdc++6

However, it did not allow me to generate documents containing text. Here, you can find more details about the problem I encountered after installing the dependency:
#622 (reply in thread)

Perhaps you can find the solution.

[sps-campbellwray]

Hi @MarcinZiabek

The 2024.3.0-alpha release does not contain linux-arm64 binaries. Are you, by any chance, running docker in such an environment (e.g., running Linux on Apple M1)?

I just tested the 2024.3.0-beta on AWS' Graviton processors (arm64) and (obviously) got the following exception:

Your runtime is currently not supported by QuestPDF. Currently supported runtimes are: win-x64, linux-x64, osx-x64, osx-arm64.

I'm curious as to why you decided not to include the linux-arm64 binaries, Is there anything that can be done to fix this, or any way to contribute to getting it working?

[luigisaggese]

There is any news on this issue? I'm running on .net 8 and alpine and having same issue of @rafelcnet @jasekiw

[MarcinZiabek]

@luigisaggese The current status of this effort can be found in this thread: #622 (reply in thread) I expect the first version to be available early in May 😄

[leandrobattochio]

I'm using .NET 8.0 trying to make this work. Running in Windows 11. I can't install the pre-release version of QuestPdf.Preview because it complains about not being supported by .NET 8.0. :( I modified the code to generate and save to file but then I got this exception:

`QuestPDF.Drawing.Exceptions.DocumentDrawingException: Could not find an appropriate font fallback for the following glyphs:
$U-000D '
'
U-000A '
'

Possible solutions:

1. Install fonts that contain missing glyphs in your runtime environment.
2. Configure the fallback TextStyle using the 'TextStyle.FontFamilyFallback' method.
3. Register additional application specific fonts using the 'FontManager.RegisterFont' method.`

I disabled it. Still got missing icudtl.dat file. I had to remove some .Text(""); that I have only to draw blank cells in a table. Removing it didn't seem to change the layout, still works fine. Some things I noticed is that Canvas is missing, so my dots for the summary and other stuff is missing. I think thats in development still, right?

I will keep testing it and reporting if I find anything broken for me. Thanks!!

[MarcinZiabek]

You are likely experiencing a similar issue as @Rorschach331
I will release a new version of QuestPDF-alpha sometime today/tomorrow that should fix this problem.

[leandrobattochio]

If I remember correctly, if needed an empty cell in a table just for layout reasons, table.Cell(); wouldn't actually render it. I had to use .Text("");. In this new version, removing the empty text didn't break the layout. Is there anything different from this new version to the old one regarding this matter?

[rima1098]

@MarcinZiabek are you planning to make the QuestPDF native code public already for the next alpha release? I'd like to have a look at introducing OpenType FontFeatures.

[user-named-void]

FontManager.RegisterFontWithCustomName(Lettertypes.Standaard, File.OpenRead($"{AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory}\\Assets\\Fonts\\SourceSansPro-Regular.otf"));

Throws exception

The type initializer for 'QuestPDF.Drawing.FontManager' threw an exception.
   at QuestPDF.Drawing.FontManager.RegisterFontWithCustomName(String fontName, Stream stream)

with inner exception

Unable to load DLL 'QuestPdfSkia' or one of its dependencies: Kan opgegeven module niet vinden. (0x8007007E)
   at QuestPDF.Skia.Text.SkTypefaceProvider.API.typeface_font_provider_create()
   at QuestPDF.Skia.Text.SkTypefaceProvider..ctor()
   at QuestPDF.Drawing.FontManager..cctor()

Getting this error when the application tries to register the custom otf fonts, just upgraded from nuget. Did not change anything else.
Running on windows 11, .NET6 targeting x86.

[samceustermanscoteng]

Hi @MarcinZiabek,

Will x86 be supported in this release?
What can I do to help with that?

[MarcinZiabek]

x86 is not supported in 2024.3.0-beta. I am very open to supporting this architecture.

It would require adjusting the Windows build to target x86 instead of x64, and then measuring the performance difference. I have made an unsuccessful attempt so far, fighting with the linking process.

Any help would be highly appreciated. The code of QuestPDF Native assets is here: https://github.com/QuestPDF/QuestPDF.Native

[shawyoun]

@todd-banister I had the same issue, but when running net 4.8 against x64 on 2024.3.0-rc2. Were you able to resolve it?

[MarcinZiabek]

@shawyoun Is QuestPDF nuget used in your primary/startup project? Is it installed in this primary/startup project?

[shawyoun]

Yes, to both questions. After some more investigation, I think I now have an idea of what is happening.

After building the projects, my "bin/Debug/net6.0/runtimes/win-x64/native" folder contains QuestPdfSkia.dll. However, in the "bin/Debug/net48/runtimes/win-x64/native" folder, it is missing, and I don't see it anywhere else under bin/Debug/net48 either.

I simply copied over QuestPdfSkia.dll from my net6.0 folder to bin/Debug/net48/, and the exception went away! It seems that the nuget didn't lay down the dll file where it needed to go.

Perhaps my environment is complicating things. I should say that I am referencing QuestPDF in my own net standard 2.0 library (which is in one VS project), and then calling that library in a second VS project running net4.8. It seems that the dll isn't transferring over to the second project, so the error is thrown. I've seen NuGet's buildTransitive property help with this before, but I'm not sure how applicable it would be here.

[user-named-void]

@user-named-void Thank you for helping me test the new version. Would you please try targeting x64 and try again? So far, the 2024-3.0-alpha release has only x64 assemblies, not x86. Let's see if it fixes the issue.

On x64 the application starts without the error, but generating a pdf gives me the following error.

SkIcuLoader: datafile missing: C:\Repos\App\src\App\bin\Debug\net6.0-windows\icudtl.dat.
2024-02-23 08:48:58.6705|Error|Job 3586f375-4156-4039-804b-55f8b1930c82 error Sequence contains no elements
    at System.Linq.ThrowHelper.ThrowNoElementsException()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.Max[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source, Func`2 selector)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Text.TextBlock.CalculateParagraphMetrics(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Text.TextBlock.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Padding.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Table.Table.<>c__DisplayClass52_0.<PlanLayout>g__GetRenderingCommands|1()
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Table.Table.PlanLayout(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Table.Table.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Decoration.PlanLayout(Size availableSpace)+MoveNext()
   at System.Collections.Generic.List`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 collection)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Decoration.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Padding.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.PlanLayout(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.PlanLayout(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Extend.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Extend.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Decoration.PlanLayout(Size availableSpace)+MoveNext()
   at System.Collections.Generic.List`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 collection)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Decoration.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Padding.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Constrained.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Elements.Layers.Measure(Size availableSpace)
   at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderPass[TCanvas](PageContext pageContext, TCanvas canvas, ContainerElement content)
   at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderSingleDocument[TCanvas](TCanvas canvas, IDocument document, DocumentSettings settings)
   at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.GeneratePdf(SkWriteStream stream, IDocument document)
   at QuestPDF.Fluent.GenerateExtensions.GeneratePdf(IDocument document)

I did find the icudtl.dat in the runtimes/win-x64/native folder

[MarcinZiabek]

This issue should be resolved on the x64 platform in the 2024.3.0-beta release. Would you please try?

The x86 is not yet supported. Any help is very welcome :)

[user-named-void]

Hi @MarcinZiabek, the issue is resolved with the beta version.
I do have some Text issues with the new version, line breaks and word wrapping does not seem to work correctly.

container
            .Column(column =>
            {

                column.Item()
                    .PaddingVertical(2, Unit.Millimetre)
                    .Text(text =>
                    {
                        text.Line("hello world \n does not work");

                        text.Span(" First - ").FontColor("FF0000");
                        text.Line("Second").FontFamily(Lettertypes.Bold);

                        text.Line($"a line");
                        text.Line($"a second line");
                        text.Span("and another line that should not have a linebreak");
                    });

                column.Item().Text("hello again world \n does work");

                //word wrapping
                column.Item()
                    .Width(100, Unit.Millimetre)
                    .Border(0.5f, Unit.Millimetre)
                    .Text("Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi velit massa, dignissim vitae libero eu, semper efficitur leo. Nullam feugiat diam in ornare elementum. Sed magna libero, imperdiet nec iaculis convallis, suscipit quis ex. Fusce ut molestie purus. Nulla tincidunt eros dignissim ullamcorper lacinia. Suspendisse fermentum mauris ut sem pharetra, ac pharetra justo laoreet. In consequat ex nulla, dapibus placerat tellus laoreet euismod");
            });

old version :

new version:

[rootmeister64]

Hello,

I am encountering a dependency issue while running QuestPDF on a Linux environment. The specific error is as follows:

Exception has occurred: CLR/System.TypeInitializationException
An unhandled exception of type 'System.TypeInitializationException' occurred in QuestPDF.dll: 'The type initializer for 'QuestPDF.Settings' threw an exception.'
 Inner exceptions found, see $exception in variables window for more details.
 Innermost exception 	 System.DllNotFoundException : Unable to load shared library 'QuestPdfSkia' or one of its dependencies. In order to help diagnose loading problems, consider setting the LD_DEBUG environment variable: libQuestPdfSkia: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
   at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.API.check_compatibility_by_calculating_sum(Int32 a, Int32 b)
   at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.CheckIfExceptionIsThrownWhenLoadingNativeDependencies()

I’m using Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS (64-bit) and .net6.

Any help resolving this dependency issue would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and help.

[MarcinZiabek]

This issue should be resolved in the 2024.3.0-beta release. Would you please try?

[andreix86-64]

Hi. I could not get QuestPdf Beta to run on .NET 6. Then I tried to use .NET 8 and I got the following error: error:"ConsoleApp2/ConsoleApp2/bin/Debug/net8.0/ConsoleApp2: symbol lookup error: ConsoleApp2/ConsoleApp2/bin/Debug/net8.0/runtimes/linux-x64/native/libQuestPdfSkia.so: undefined symbol: _Z24SkFontMgr_New_FontConfigP9_FcConfig"

It is also important to note that this library seems to have a dependency on GLIBCXX_3.4.32 which is not included by default on Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS.
Therefore I had to use the following commands to get the library to load (i.e. to install GLIBCXX_3.4.32):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade libstdc++6

Unfortunately as mentioned above I get the "undefined symbol: _Z24SkFontMgr_New_FontConfigP9_FcConfig"" error.

[andreix86-64]

I get this error whenever I try to insert text into the PDF document. This can be replicated by creating any document which contains text.

[MarcinZiabek]

🎊 The 2024.3.0-beta is now live! 🎊

Beta release

After two weeks of hard work, I have finished the next milestone. Please take a look at the release notes:

• Updated the codebase to Skia m122 and resolved all backward-incompatible changes,
• Added support for the .NET Standard 2.0,
• Improved P/Invoke and marshaling compatibility with the legacy .NET Framework,
• Fixed a bug in the Text element that could cause an exception under certain conditions,
• Updated the Lato font to the latest version (2.015),
• Improved the loading method for native dependencies,
• Added the Text.ClampLines functionality,
• Added support for adjusting the thickness and style of text decorations (overline, strikeout, underline),
• Added support for word spacing,
• Reduced the risk of race conditions in Avalonia in the QuestPDF Previewer,
• Enhanced exception message when the QuestPDF Previewer fails to load due to missing required dotnet 8 runtime,
• Improved native memory management and fixed memory leaks,
• Include licenses of the third-party dependencies in the NuGet package,
• Performed code cleanup and made minor adjustments.

Public native code

I have also open-sourced the native layer code. It consists of the following elements:

• C++ unmanaged code,
• CMake build instructions,
• GitHub Actions pipeline for supported platforms,
• C# wrapper based on P/Invoke,
• simplified test environment to check the stability of the wrapper without the entire QuestPDF library.

The code can be found here: https://github.com/QuestPDF/QuestPDF.Native

Integrating with SkiaSharp

I have also prepared two extension methods to show how QuestPDF can be integrated with SkiaSharp-based code and libraries.

The first approach is to render content as image:

public static void SkiaSharpRasterized(this IContainer container, Action<SKCanvas, Size> drawOnCanvas)
{
    container.Image(payload =>
    {
        using var bitmap = new SKBitmap(payload.ImageSize.Width, payload.ImageSize.Height);

        using (var canvas = new SKCanvas(bitmap))
        {
            var scalingFactor = payload.Dpi / (float)DocumentSettings.DefaultRasterDpi;
            canvas.Scale(scalingFactor);
            drawOnCanvas(canvas, payload.AvailableSpace);
        }
        
        return bitmap.Encode(SKEncodedImageFormat.Png, 100).ToArray();
    });
}

And the second is to use the built-in SVG support. Generally speaking, Skia is excellent at parsing and displaying SVG but much worse at producing SVG (misses more advanced features). However, it should be enough for integrating less visually complex content like charts.

public static void SkiaSharpCanvas(this IContainer container, Action<SKCanvas, Size> drawOnCanvas)
{
    container.Svg(size =>
    {
        using var stream = new MemoryStream();

        using (var canvas = SKSvgCanvas.Create(new SKRect(0, 0, size.Width, size.Height), stream))
            drawOnCanvas(canvas, size);
    
        var svgData = stream.ToArray();
        return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(svgData);
    });
}

How can you help

I consider the beta release to be the last version with new features. From now on, I would like to focus on quality and library stability. I am especially interested in the following things:

• testing new and existing features,
• library stress testing, especially detecting memory leaks,
• testing the algorithm that loads native dependencies. I have found significant inconsistencies in dotnet behavior; the default dotnet code approach worked fine for one project and completely did not work for a nearly identical clone without any apparent reasons. I implemented a couple of enhancements that should improve the success ratio,
• sharing feedback regarding the supported platforms and help in expanding the list, especially:
  • building native code as Windows x86 binary (to support both x64 and x32),
  • building a single binary that works on both MacOS Intel and Apple M1 (to reduce nuget file size),
  • investigation of how ICU data can be excluded from the binary file (this happens out of the box on Windows but may be challenging on other platforms, depending on the Skia build system),
  • identifying other essential platforms that are not covered at this moment,
  • enhancing test environment.

Once again, thank you so much for your patience and help! We are getting close!

[andriisytnyk]

Hello! If I understand correctly, the new version of QuestPDF planned to add the ability to justify text. Please tell me whether this has already been implemented in this beta version and if so, how can it be used? Thanks for the work you've done!

[andriisytnyk]

I found this function. When used, tabs (or spaces) at the beginning of a paragraph are removed from the text. Is this correct behavior?

[christiaanderidder]

However, it still does not resolve the compatibility issue on more specific Linux distributions like Alpine (commonly used as a lightweight image on Docker) that resigns from providing glibc and uses musl instead. SkiaSharp already builds musl-specific libraries so it is likely possible. However, I haven't found any musl-related build on the Skia repository, meaning that any runtime error is on QuestPDF to resolve, which may be challenging to support.

After some very positive experiences working with QuestPDF myself, I am currently also considering switching our product over to QuestPDF for document generation. And while the reduced file sizes are a big win in this new version, the lack of musl/alpine support would be a showstopper as we run on top of the Microsoft provided .NET alpine docker base image.

@MarcinZiabek I'd happily offer a hand figuring out if, and how, musl/alpine support can be added. I've sent you an email.

[MarcinZiabek]

Makes sense, I have indeed seen a lot of GitHub issues around SkiaSharp and loading the native dependencies. Then again, I think this can be made quite clear in the exception message.

I am unsure exactly what causes the native library loading issue for SkiaSharp. I have never experienced it. However, when working on the latest version of QuestPDF, I experienced a couple of bugs related to the built-in dotnet mechanism that relies on the runtimes folder. The problem occurred in one out of two identical projects.

Despite the challenges, I am confident we can solve the native library loading issue.

I plan to finish a few more minor features related to how content is drawn by default for the May release. In the meantime, I would like to focus on helping you with the Alpine support work, likely combined with the WASM support. I foresee releasing alpha/beta versions in May and a stable release in June. What do you think?

[christiaanderidder]

I did the initial tests on a .NET runtime container on alpine and all seemed to work for QuestPDF 2024.3.0-rc1. However, when switching to 2024.3.0 all text disappeared.

For now it think it would be best to first standardize the build environment to exclude any differences there. The alpine build is in a state where I can produce it using the GitHub runners. However, I noticed that you are using large runners (The regular runners don't have AVX support, so I assumed that's why). My fork is under my personal account so I can't use the large runners. Would it be possible to create a branch on the QuestPDF org repo which we can sync with mine to produce the artifacts and test them? This is the alpine based pipeline: https://github.com/christiaanderidder/QuestPDF.Native/blob/musl-build/.github/workflows/build_questpdf_skia_musl.yml

This way we have a binary that is built in a predictable way, which would make it much easier to test.

I definitely think May is achievable if we don't run into any bugs along the way.

[MarcinZiabek]

However, I noticed that you are using large runners (The regular runners don't have AVX support, so I assumed that's why)

The reason is quite simple actually 😄 The smaller runners do not have enough space disk, which causes the Skia build to fail. Sometimes, in the cost of a smaller runner, you get the larger one, but it is inconsistent. I didn't have much experience in GitHub Actions, so I decided to pay extra for larger runners and build consistency. And once I pay, I upgraded all runners as the cost per build is nearly identical, so using larger runners allows me to iterate more quickly.

Would it be possible to create a branch on the QuestPDF org repo which we can sync with mine to produce the artifacts and test them?

As far as I understand, action definitions are always pushed to the main branch. I have tried working on a separate branch without success.

That being said, I decided to follow your findings, investigation and repository. I have started integrating the Musl build into the QuestPDF.Native repository. I am just performing one change at a time, failing frequently. It's a lame strategy, but it allows me to learn 😄

Once again, thank you so much for the collaboration!

[christiaanderidder]

My bad, I did not realise you had already integrated the musl build into the QuestPDF.Native repository. This is great news! If you run into any issues along the way feel free to let me know.

As far as I understand, action definitions are always pushed to the main branch. I have tried working on a separate branch without success.

It's possible to build from a branch, but it somehow only appears if the yaml file has a branch push trigger for that branch. That's how I did it for my copy of QuestPDF.Native.

Either way, this won't be necessary anymore seeing that you have integrated my findings already :).

Once again, thank you so much for the collaboration!

My pleasure 👍

[MarcinZiabek]

We have small success 😄 Green build: https://github.com/QuestPDF/QuestPDF.Native/actions/runs/8789201611

I successfully built a musl-flavored Linux asset (thanks to your immense help!). Then, the C# code attempts to detect if the environment uses Musl (using the ldd command, here: QuestPDF/QuestPDF.Native@08e89d5, and yes: ldd outputs to standard error for some reason) and loads the appropriate linux-musl-x64 asset.

[pagefault]

@MarcinZiabek
here are some more details for the buffer overflow or whatever it is that we're seeing:

We're implementing IDocument and our implementation of GetMetadata() looks like this:

Then I simply run my program to create one pdf. Then a few seconds later I start my program again. I do this a few times to generate a few pdf files. When I look at the document properties of the pdf files, I see this:

So there is not a single pdf which has the correct metadata set. Instead we get IL code? You're probably reading from wrong memory locations.

By the way, changing the number of rows in a table changes the likelihood of the bug inside the metadata it seems. Very strange.

[MarcinZiabek]

Thank you for investigating this issue and sharing your findings 😄

I confirm that this problem does exist on the beta1 release. I can even reproduce it locally (yet I have never seen IL content). I believe, however, that it was fixed in the rc0 release. Would you please clear your bin/obj folders, restore packages and try again?

Additionally, in the rc1 release, I have fixed the DocumentMetadata.CreationDate and DocumentMetadata.ModificationDate properties not being populated correctly in the generated document.

[harvinders]

@MarcinZiabek I am unable to do Canvas operations now with the rc build. The code as suggested in #83 (comment) no longer works. Any suggestions? Also, someday the docs also would needs to update (https://www.questpdf.com/api-reference/canvas.html)

[MarcinZiabek]

I have prepared a set of extension methods that allow seamless integration of SkiaSharp code with QuestPDF. Please take a look here: #622 (comment)

[MarcinZiabek]

🎊 The 2024.3.0-rc1 is now live! 🎊

Release notes

• Greatly reduced memory usage by reusing SkParagraphBuilder instances,
• Fixed memory leaks in the native code,
• Fixed: the DocumentMetadata.CreationDate and DocumentMetadata.ModificationDate properties are not properly populated in the generated PDF,
• Fixed: when changing the TextStyle.FontFamilies property, the cache does not work correctly, leading to higher memory usage.

Memory usage

While this release significantly improves memory handling, some low-hanging fruits remain. In the next major release, I would like to explore the following optimizations:

• partially capturing page content, reducing the necessity of calculating the same layout twice (as the library uses a two-phase algorithm),
• reducing the lifetime of layout elements and lowering the peak memory usage.

[andreix86-64]

I get the following exception when using 2024.3.0-rc1 on Ubuntu with dotnet 8:
Unhandled exception. System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'System.String[]' to type 'System.Nullable1[QuestPDF.Infrastructure.FontFamiliesValue]'. at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.MutateStyle(TextStyle origin, TextStyleProperty targetProperty, Object newValue, Boolean overrideValue) at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.<>c__DisplayClass12_0.<ApplyStyleProperties>b__0(TextStyle mutableStyle, TextStyleProperty nextProperty) at System.Linq.Enumerable.Aggregate[TSource,TAccumulate](IEnumerable1 source, TAccumulate seed, Func3 func) at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.ApplyStyleProperties(Int32 styleId, Int32 parentId, Boolean overrideStyle) at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.<>c.<ApplyInheritedStyle>b__9_0(ValueTuple2 key) at System.Collections.Concurrent.ConcurrentDictionary2.GetOrAdd(TKey key, Func2 valueFactory) at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.ApplyInheritedStyle(TextStyle style, TextStyle parent) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ApplyInheritedAndGlobalTexStyle(Element content, TextStyle documentDefaultTextStyle) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.ConfigureContent(IDocument document, DocumentSettings settings, Boolean useOriginalImages) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderSingleDocument[TCanvas](TCanvas canvas, IDocument document, DocumentSettings settings) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderDocument[TCanvas](TCanvas canvas, IDocument document, DocumentSettings settings) at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.GeneratePdf(SkWriteStream stream, IDocument document) at QuestPDF.Fluent.GenerateExtensions.GeneratePdf(IDocument document) at QuestPDF.Fluent.GenerateExtensions.GeneratePdf(IDocument document, String filePath)

Code to replicate the error: https://www.questpdf.com/quick-start.html#implementation

2024.3.0-rc did not have this problem.

[199621616]

2024.3.rc正常, 2024.3.rc1 在dotnet8 Windows x64上使用遇到同样的异常：
Unable to cast object of type 'System.String[]' to type 'System.Nullable`1[QuestPDF.Infrastructure.FontFamiliesValue]'.

[harvinders]

I am also starting to get the issue with rc1.

<title>Document</title>

	Name	Value	Type
◢	$exception	{"Unable to cast object of type 'System.String[]' to type 'System.Nullable`1[QuestPDF.Infrastructure.FontFamiliesValue]'."}	System.InvalidCastException
	▶ Data	{System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal}	System.Collections.IDictionary {System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal}
	HResult	-2147467262	int
	HasBeenThrown	true	bool
	HelpLink	null	string
	▶ InnerException	null	System.Exception
	Message	"Unable to cast object of type 'System.String[]' to type 'System.Nullable`1[QuestPDF.Infrastructure.FontFamiliesValue]'."	string
	SerializationStackTraceString	" at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.MutateStyle(TextStyle origin, TextStyleProperty targetProperty, Object newValue, Boolean overrideValue)"	string
	SerializationWatsonBuckets	null	object
	Source	"QuestPDF"	string
	StackTrace	" at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleManager.MutateStyle(TextStyle origin, TextStyleProperty targetProperty, Object newValue, Boolean overrideValue) in D:\a\QuestPDF\QuestPDF\Source\QuestPDF\Infrastructure\TextStyleManager.cs:line 96"	string
	▶ TargetSite	{QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyle MutateStyle(QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyle, QuestPDF.Infrastructure.TextStyleProperty, System.Object, Boolean)}	System.Reflection.MethodBase {System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo}
	_HResult	-2147467262	int
	▶ _data	{System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal}	System.Collections.IDictionary {System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal}
	_dynamicMethods	null	object[]
	_exceptionMethod	null	System.Reflection.MethodBase
	_helpURL	null	string
	▶ _innerException	null	System.Exception
	_ipForWatsonBuckets	0x00007fff3942a1bd	System.UIntPtr
	_message	"Unable to cast object of type 'System.String[]' to type 'System.Nullable`1[QuestPDF.Infrastructure.FontFamiliesValue]'."	string
	_remoteStackTraceString	null	string
	_source	null	string
	▶ _stackTrace	{sbyte[48]}	byte[] {sbyte[]}
	_stackTraceString	null	string
	_watsonBuckets	null	byte[]
	_xcode	-532462766	int
	_xptrs	0x0000000000000000	System.IntPtr

[andreix86-64]

@MarcinZiabek, I can also confirm that I get the same error on Windows 11 (and not only on Linux) using .NET 8. This happens whenever I add text to the PDF. This is a critical bug.

[MarcinZiabek]

Oooops, my bad! Thank you for your fast response. I have release the rc2 version that fixes this issue 😄

[MarcinZiabek]

If no further problems arise, I am planning to release the 2024.3.0-rc2 version as a new stable version somewhere later this week 🎊

[199621616]

@MarcinZiabek 2024.3.0.rc2，已近乎完美，感谢你卓越的工作。使用中遇到一个小小的问题，我在Asp.Net Core 8使用了一种特殊的字体汉仪中楷简，调试中使用中正常，但是发布、安装后，这个字体不用使用，Pdf中变成了默认的宋体。汉仪中楷简在部署环境中注册了、在Asp.Net Core8运行环境目录中有这个字体的文件hykt.ttf，使用FontManager.RegisterFont(File.OpenRead("hykt.ttf")); 方法注册也不起作用。我如何才能使用这种字体？
调试与发布环境都是Windows 10 x64

[shawyoun]

I'm having an issue while running in net 4.8 on Windows 10 on 2024.3.0.rc2. When this line executes:

QuestPDF.Settings.License = LicenseType.Community;

it throws this exception:

System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer threw an exception. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'QuestPDF.Settings' threw an exception. ---> System.Exception: The QuestPDF library has encountered an issue while loading one of its dependencies. ---> System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load DLL 'QuestPdfSkia': The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)

Stack Trace: 
API.check_compatibility_by_calculating_sum(Int32 a, Int32 b)
SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.CheckIfExceptionIsThrownWhenLoadingNativeDependencies()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.Test()
Settings.cctor()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
Settings.set_License(Nullable`1 value)

Is net 4.8 not supported, or could I just be doing something incorrectly? For what it's worth, I don't have this problem when running net 6.0. Thank you!

[MarcinZiabek]

.NET 4.8 is supported only on x64 platforms. Would you please ensure that your solution/projects target x64 instead of AnyCPU?

[shawyoun]

Yes, I even checked that RuntimeInformation.ProcessArchitecture returned x64 and Environment.Is64BitProcess was true before the error happens.

[MarcinZiabek]

I have checked a couple of scenarios with .NET 4.8, and all work correctly. Would you please try to remove the bin and obj folders? It is quite common that they contain old and incorrect file versions, which happens quite rarely with newer versions of dotnet.

[samceustermanscoteng]

Hi @MarcinZiabek,
Started testing again with version 2024.3.0.rc2, all works great! Thanks for all the effort/work!!!

1 question, noticed in my automated tests that there are some changes in padding (only upgraded questPdf version)
right: expected / verified
left: actual / received

Personally, I like the new report more
But my automated tests does not ;-)

Any changes done here?

[sps-campbellwray]

@samceustermanscoteng what package are you using for your PDF tests? It looks very helpful.

[samceustermanscoteng]

Verify.Nunit with a difftool (any difftool should work, but I use Beyond Compare

In my Test code, I initialize a file converter (QuestPDF.IDocument to images) when setting up my tests

    internal static void Initialize()
    {
        if (Initialized) throw new Exception("Already Initialized");

        Initialized = true;

        InnerVerifier.ThrowIfVerifyHasBeenRun();

        VerifierSettings.RegisterFileConverter<IDocument>(
            (document, _) =>
            {
                var images = document.GenerateImages();

                var targets = new List<Target>();
                targets.AddRange(images.Select(i => new Target("jpg", new MemoryStream(i))));

                return new ConversionResult(
                    info: null,
                    targets);
            });
    }

In the actual tests you just need to return Verifier.Verify

    [Test]
    [TestCaseSource(nameof(TestReportSources))]
    public Task TestReports(TestReportSource testListSource)
    {
        // Create your IDocument

        if (document == null)
            return Task.CompletedTask;

        return Verifier.Verify(document, VerifySettings);
    }

[MarcinZiabek]

Any changes done here?

Indeed, the text rendering engine has been dramatically redesigned. Now, it is based on the same technology that Flutter uses, and should better follow all standards and recommendations. Unfortunately, this also means that some small problems have been fixed through breaking changes.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

[samceustermanscoteng]

No problem, verified & updated my automated test suite

[1st-marshal]

Hi @MarcinZiabek, I updated my code to version 2024.3.0-rc2. All seems to work ok except the text embedded in my SVG charts doesn't display. The charts were created with OxyPlot and exported to an SVG string. They displayed fine in prior versions of QuestPDF. The Page level default text style is setup to use "Arial" as is OxyPlot. What am I missing? Is the .Svg extension no longer the correct method to use for displaying SVGs? You mentioned two new extension methods for using SkiaSharp code in this comment but I cannot find them in the code base.

public void Compose(IContainer container)
{
    var svg = Exporter.ExportSVG(CreateChart(), 800, 190);

    container
        .Column(column =>
        {
            column
                .Item()
                .Svg(svg);

            if (_showLegend)
            {
                var legendItems = new List<(string Name, string Color)>
                {
                    ( "Item1", _dataSource.Model.Color.ToHex())
                };
                legendItems.AddRange(_dataSource
                    .Indices
                    .Select((ind, i) => ($"Item{i + 2}", ind.Color.ToHex())));

                column
                    .Item()
                    .AlignCenter()
                    .PaddingTop(5)
                    .PaddingBottom(5)
                    .Component(new HorizontalLegendComponent(legendItems));
            }
        });
}

[MarcinZiabek]

What approach are you using to embed the SVG file?

1. Is it using the native SVG support introduced in the 2024.3.0 release.
2. Or the Svg.Skia library that uses a helper extension method from the documentation https://www.questpdf.com/api-reference/image.html#svg-support?

[1st-marshal]

I am using the Svg.Skia library with the helper extension method (approach 2).

[1st-marshal]

I also tried to create and draw the svg manually on a SKSvgCanvas using the code below but it generated an exception: QuestPDF.Drawing.Exceptions.InitializationException: QuestPDF cannot instantiate native object:

container
    .Column(column =>
    {
        column
            .Item()
            .Width(800)
            .Height(240)
            .Svg(size =>
            {
                var svgText = Exporter.ExportSVG(CreateChart(), size.Width, size.Height);
                var bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(svgText);
                using var svgStream = new MemoryStream(bytes);
                using var skSvg = new SKSvg();
                skSvg.Load(svgStream);
                using var stream = new MemoryStream();
                using var skSvgCanvas = SKSvgCanvas.Create(new SKRect(0, 0, size.Width, size.Height), stream);
                skSvgCanvas.DrawPicture(skSvg.Picture);
                return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(stream.ToArray());
            });

        if (_showLegend)
        {
            var legendItems = new List<(string Name, string Color)>
            {
                (_dataSource.Model.Fund.Name, _dataSource.Model.Color.ToHex())
            };
            legendItems.AddRange(_dataSource
                .Indices
                .Select((ind, i) => (ind.Fund.Name, ind.Color.ToHex())));

            column
                .Item()
                .AlignCenter()
                .PaddingTop(5)
                .PaddingBottom(5)
                .Component(new HorizontalLegendComponent(legendItems));
        }
    });

QuestPDF.Drawing.Exceptions.DocumentDrawingException: An exception occured during document drawing.
---> QuestPDF.Drawing.Exceptions.InitializationException: QuestPDF cannot instantiate native object.
at QuestPDF.Skia.SkiaAPI.EnsureNotNull(IntPtr instance)
at QuestPDF.Skia.SkSvgImage..ctor(String svgString)
at QuestPDF.Elements.DynamicSvgImage.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Decoration.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Padding.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Constrained.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Layers.<>c__DisplayClass6_0.b__1(Layer x)
at System.Collections.Generic.List1.ForEach(Action1 action)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Layers.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Background.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.Proxy.CacheProxy.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Elements.Column.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Infrastructure.ContainerElement.Draw(Size availableSpace)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderPass[TCanvas](PageContext pageContext, TCanvas canvas, ContainerElement content)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderPass[TCanvas](PageContext pageContext, TCanvas canvas, ContainerElement content)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderSingleDocument[TCanvas](TCanvas canvas, IDocument document, DocumentSettings settings)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.RenderDocument[TCanvas](TCanvas canvas, IDocument document, DocumentSettings settings)
at QuestPDF.Drawing.DocumentGenerator.GeneratePdf(SkWriteStream stream, IDocument document)
at QuestPDF.Fluent.GenerateExtensions.GeneratePdf(IDocument document)
at QuestPDF.Fluent.GenerateExtensions.GeneratePdf(IDocument document, String filePath)

[MarcinZiabek]

It is not required to use the Svg.Skia library anymore, as QuestPDF 2024.3.0 supports SVG natively now. You are most likely using an extension method from the documentation that integrates that library with QuestPDF. You can safely remove it now. 😄

That being said, it is still possible to use SkiaSharp with QuestPDF, by copying the following extension methods to your codebase: #622 (comment)

[xmoi]

Using 2024.3.0-rc2

SVG with gradient color not rendered properly, or am I missing something?

. . .
<radialGradient id=""radial-gradient"" cx=""34.5"" cy=""32.37"" fx=""34.5"" fy=""32.37"" r=""30.72"" gradientUnits=""userSpaceOnUse"">
<stop offset="".37"" stop-color=""#cc8635""/>
<stop offset=""1"" stop-color=""#ff5b3f""/>

. . .
Svg code are exported from adobe illustrator.

[MarcinZiabek]

How do you inject the svg image into the document?

// define
var starSVG = """
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 50 50">
    <defs>
        <radialGradient id="gradient" cx="50%" cy="50%" r="50%" fx="50%" fy="50%">
            <stop offset="0%" style="stop-color:rgb(255,255,0);stop-opacity:1" />
            <stop offset="100%" style="stop-color:rgb(255,0,0);stop-opacity:1" />
        </radialGradient>
    </defs>
    <polygon points="25,1 32,18 50,18 36,29 40,46 25,36 10,46 14,29 1,18 18,18" fill="url(#gradient)"/>
</svg>
""";

// use somewhere in the fluent API chain
.Padding(20)
.AspectRatio(1)
.Svg(starSVG)

results with:

[xmoi]

still

[MarcinZiabek]

It is not required to use the Svg.Skia library anymore, as QuestPDF 2024.3.0 supports SVG natively now. You are most likely using an extension method from the documentation that integrates that library with QuestPDF. You can safely remove it now. 😄

That being said, it is still possible to use SkiaSharp with QuestPDF, by copying the following extension methods to your codebase: #622 (comment)

[199621616]

@MarcinZiabek Asp.Net Core 8 在 2024.3.0-rc2 上使用 svg，抛出异常：QuestPDF cannot instantiate native object.
操作系统：Windowx x64

[MarcinZiabek]

This problem is likely fixed in the official 2024.3.0 release.

[guser24]

Hi @MarcinZiabek,

When I try to add an empty text to a column, it gets ignored. I am able to do so in 2023 but not in the latest one. sample code below,
pls help.

page.Content()
.PaddingVertical(1, Unit.Centimetre)
.Column(x =>
{
x.Spacing(20);

    x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
    x.Item().Text("");
    x.Item().Image(Placeholders.Image(200, 100));
});

[douglott]

Is this new version supported on Azure Functions? I just tried upgrading and get the error:

Unable to load DLL 'QuestPdfSkia' or one of its dependencies

I am on the professional licensed version.

[MarcinZiabek]

Would you please share more information regarding the operating system your Azure Function uses? The only significant difference is that QuestPDF supports Windowx x64, and you need to change the build configuration from "Any CPU" or "x86" to "x64".

Also, please provide the exact exception message. In certain scenarios it contains additional information that may help resolve the issue.

Regardless to say, Azure Functions are supported. If any problems happen, I am dedicated to resolve them. I am very sorry for this inconvinience. Thank you for understanding and sharing this issue 😄

[douglott]

Thanks Marcin. As you suspected, the issue is with the Any CPU config. Error message is below. However, when I update the platform target to x64 and re-publish to Azure, the service fails completely. This azure endpoint is being called from Salesforce so I will need to write a c# test harness to check what is happening now. Likely the endpoint is returning status code 400 because my try...catch is not being hit. For what it is worth, I am using JetBrains rider to publish the function from MacOS/M processor. (Thanks to JetBrains for introducing me to QuestPDF!). Also, Azure functions are being hosted in a Windows environment. Currently working version is running on QuestPDF version 2022.12.4.

Your runtime is currently not supported by QuestPDF. Currently supported runtimes are: win-x64, linux-x64, linux-arm64, linux-musl-x64, osx-x64, osx-arm64.

Please consider setting the 'Platform target' property to 'x64' in your project settings.
---> System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load DLL 'QuestPdfSkia' or one of its dependencies: 

[MarcinZiabek]

Please let me know what you find. Do you think this can be a solution: https://stackoverflow.com/a/41984165?

If this problem happens to more developers, I will investigate reintroducing the x86 support. It is rather sad, as x64 was introduced when I was a child, and now we are during the arm64 shift era.

[douglott]

@MarcinZiabek - I was able to successfully update our Azure functions to use the latest QuestPdf build. I can leave the compile of the app to AnyCPU. The key was finding the config settings in Azure functions to change the app to 64-bit. The default is 32-bit. Thanks for your assitance!

[HightowerCZ]

Hi, do I understand this correctly that x86 won't be supported anymore?

[MarcinZiabek]

Currently, the x86 platform is not supported, as x32 seems to be a legacy architecture, especially since we are during the arm64 shift. If there is a high enough demand, I will reevaluate the decision. Would you please share a little bit more about your use-case?

[luis-fss]

One up for x86 support: #874

[guser24]

Hi,

When can we expect a release for the memory consumption issue?

I am on licensed version.

Thank you!

[MarcinZiabek]

Would you please update QuestPDF to the latest version and check if the memory consumption issue persists? Several enhancements have already been implemented.

What characteristics have a typical document in your system? How many pages? How many text fields (not length of text, just number of instances)?

I have one more improvement waiting that I hope to release in May / June, with likely alpha versions this week.

[guser24]

Hi @MarcinZiabek,

Thanks for replying.

The pdf document displays a table data. No images displayed except for a single logo in jpg or png format. Table can have columns upto 16 and no. of pages depends on the data and it can range from 1 - 6000 pages. Not all pdf are large ones. very few of them. As a test case, while generating 1500 pages pdf, it consumes 6 GB of memory. Also if I try to generate multiple pdf (say 1000 - 2000 pdf) in one run, it keep consuming the memory and doesn't release it after each pdf creation. For now I call new instance for each pdf creation in that way i am able to create multiple pdf without using up all the memory. Still, the memory usage for one pdf creation (1500 page pdf) is more when compared to the 2023 version I used earlier. The pdf file size generated using 2023 was way big so opted for the latest one. I am currently using 2024.3.0 version. I am yet to test with the latest version. I will give that a try and let you know the results.

Though there are some hiccups, this library is super easy to work with and creates pdf in a jiff. Really appreciate all your effort for that!

[MarcinZiabek]

Indeed, previous 2024.3 releases had memory leak problems. It should be already fixed.

Could you please test the latest version? If you observe any unexpected behaviours, please let me know.

[DPswxz]

Where can I get QuestPdfSkia.dll?

[MarcinZiabek]

All native shared libraries are included with the nuget package. What platform are you using?

[felipetofoli]

Hello!

Is this new version supported on "AWS Lambda functions"?

I updated the QuestPDF package to version 2024.3.6 and started receiving the following exception:

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
---> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'QuestPDF.Settings' threw an exception.
---> System.Exception: The QuestPDF library has encountered an issue while loading one of its dependencies.
Your runtime is currently not supported by QuestPDF. Currently supported runtimes are: win-x86, win-x64, linux-x64, linux-arm64, linux-musl-x64, osx-x64, osx-arm64. Your current runtime is detected as 'linux-x64'.
---> System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load shared library 'QuestPdfSkia' or one of its dependencies. In order to help diagnose loading problems, consider setting the LD_DEBUG environment variable: libQuestPdfSkia: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.API.check_compatibility_by_calculating_sum(Int32 a, Int32 b)
at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.CheckIfExceptionIsThrownWhenLoadingNativeDependencies()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.g__ThrowCompatibilityException|1_0(Exception innerException)
at QuestPDF.Skia.SkNativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.Test()
at QuestPDF.Helpers.NativeDependencyCompatibilityChecker.Test()
at QuestPDF.Settings..cctor()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at QuestPDF.Settings.set_License(Nullable`1 value)

...

It is weird, because the current runtime detected was 'linux-x64', which is under the supported runtimes list.

AWS Lambda function configuration:

• Runtime: .NET 6 (C#/PowerShell)
• Architecture: x86_64

Project configuration:

• .net6.0
• QuestPDF: 2024.3.6
• Platform target: x64

Please, let me know in case you need more information. 😃

[MarcinZiabek]

Did it work on 2024.3.5?

Unfortunately, dotnet does not always want to load proper resources, even though they are present 😪

[MarcinZiabek]

Also, it is quite interesting that you are using the Linux x86 architecture but c# API reports x64.

[felipetofoli]

Did it work on 2024.3.5?

Unfortunately, dotnet does not always want to load proper resources, even though they are present 😪

@MarcinZiabek , thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately, I didn't test the 2024.3.5, and I don't have access to the AWS Lambda environment at the moment.
I updated from the version 2023.12.6, and that one was working as expected.

I will test with the 2024.3.5 version and will bring the results to you.