Advanced PDF Generation

Headers & Footers

C# / .NET

var request = new PdfGenerateRequest
{
    HtmlContent = htmlBody,
    Options = new PdfOptions
    {
        Format = PdfPageFormat.A4,
        DisplayHeaderFooter = true,
        HeaderTemplate = @"
            <div style='font-size:10px; width:100%; text-align:center;'>
                <span>My Company - Confidential</span>
            </div>",
        FooterTemplate = @"
            <div style='font-size:10px; width:100%; text-align:center;'>
                <span>Page <span class='pageNumber'></span> of <span class='totalPages'></span></span>
            </div>",
        Margins = new PdfMargins
        {
            Top = "60mm",    // Extra space for header
            Bottom = "40mm"  // Extra space for footer
        }
    }
};

Node.js

const pdf = await page.pdf({
    format: 'A4',
    displayHeaderFooter: true,
    headerTemplate: `
        <div style="font-size:10px; width:100%; text-align:center; color:#666;">
            My Company - Confidential
        </div>
    `,
    footerTemplate: `
        <div style="font-size:10px; width:100%; text-align:center; color:#666;">
            Page <span class="pageNumber"></span> of <span class="totalPages"></span>
        </div>
    `,
    margin: { top: '60mm', bottom: '40mm', left: '20mm', right: '20mm' }
});

---

Page Break Control

Control where page breaks occur in multi-page documents:

<style>
    /* Force page break before element */
    .page-break-before { page-break-before: always; }
    
    /* Force page break after element */
    .page-break-after { page-break-after: always; }
    
    /* Avoid breaking inside element */
    .keep-together { page-break-inside: avoid; }
    
    /* Table rows - avoid orphan headers */
    thead { display: table-header-group; }
    tr { page-break-inside: avoid; }
</style>

<div class="section">
    <h2>Section 1</h2>
    <p>Content...</p>
</div>

<div class="page-break-before">
    <h2>Section 2 (New Page)</h2>
    <p>This starts on a new page</p>
</div>

---

Print-Optimized CSS

<style>
    @media print {
        /* Hide screen-only elements */
        .no-print, nav, .sidebar { display: none !important; }
        
        /* Ensure backgrounds print */
        * { -webkit-print-color-adjust: exact !important; }
        
        /* Reset margins for print */
        body { margin: 0; padding: 20mm; }
        
        /* Optimize links */
        a[href]:after { content: " (" attr(href) ")"; font-size: 0.8em; }
    }
</style>

---

Landscape & Custom Sizes

// Landscape A4
var landscapeOptions = new PdfOptions
{
    Format = PdfPageFormat.A4,
    Landscape = true
};

// Custom size (e.g., label printing)
var labelOptions = new PdfOptions
{
    Format = PdfPageFormat.Custom,
    Width = "4in",
    Height = "2in"
};

---

Performance Tips

Tip	Description
Reuse browser instance	Don't launch/close for each PDF
Limit external resources	Embed fonts & images as base64
Use networkidle	Wait for all resources to load
Set timeouts	Prevent hanging on slow content
Cache rendered PDFs	Enable EnableCaching option

// Singleton browser pattern in .NET
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IPdfGenerator, PlaywrightPdfGenerator>();

---

Error Handling

try
{
    var result = await _pdf.GenerateWithResultAsync(request);
    
    if (!result.Success)
    {
        _logger.LogError("PDF generation failed: {Error}", result.ErrorMessage);
        return StatusCode(500, new { error = result.ErrorMessage });
    }
    
    _logger.LogInformation(
        "Generated PDF: {Pages} pages, {Size} bytes in {Time}ms",
        result.PageCount, result.SizeBytes, result.GenerationTimeMs);
    
    return File(result.PdfBytes, "application/pdf");
}
catch (PdfGenerationException ex)
{
    return StatusCode(500, new { error = ex.Message });
}