Question

Requirment: To generate invoice in pdf format on company template and send it in email.

Approach I used:

1. Placed the company template at path: ~Content/InvoiceTemplate/
2. Using iTextsharp Pdf stamper, generated pdf, saved it at path: ~/Content/reports/
3. In email module, picked the file generated above and attached to email to be sent

Problem: Every invoice generated is being stored on application server, making application heavier day by day.

Question: What is the other way out to send the generated in voice in email, without saving it on application server?

Code:

    public static void WriteInTemplate(List<Models.Statement> statementList)
    {
        try
        {
            string invoiceNumber = statementList.FirstOrDefault().Invoice.ToString().Trim();

            using (Document document = new Document())
            {
                FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(HostingEnvironment.MapPath("~/Content/reports/" + invoiceNumber + ".pdf"), FileMode.Create);
                using (PdfSmartCopy smartCopy = new PdfSmartCopy(document, fileStream))
                {
                    document.Open();

                    int statementCounter = 0;
                    int numberOfItems = statementList.Count();
                    int remainingItems = numberOfItems;
                    int maxItemsPerPage = 17;
                    if (remainingItems > 0)
                    {
                        do
                        {
                            if (remainingItems < maxItemsPerPage)
                                maxItemsPerPage = remainingItems;


                            PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(HostingEnvironment.MapPath("~/Content/InvoiceTemplate/invoiceTemplate.pdf"));
                            using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
                            {
                                using (PdfStamper pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader, memoryStream))
                                {
                                    string month = null;
                                    string day = null;
                                    string year = null;

                                    AcroFields pdfFields = pdfStamper.AcroFields;
                                    {//billing address
                                        pdfFields.SetField("BillToCompany", statementList.FirstOrDefault().BillToCompany.ToString().Trim().ToUpper());
                                        pdfFields.SetField("BillToContact", statementList.FirstOrDefault().BillToContact.ToString().Trim().ToUpper());
                                   }
           //---------------------snip------------------------------//
           //---------------------snip------------------------------//

                                    }
                                    {//invoice sum up
                                        double subTotal = Convert.ToDouble(statementList.FirstOrDefault().Subtotal);
                                        pdfFields.SetField("Subtotal", statementList.FirstOrDefault().Subtotal.ToString("0.00").Trim());

                                        double misc = Convert.ToDouble(statementList.FirstOrDefault().Misc);
                                        pdfFields.SetField("Misc", statementList.FirstOrDefault().Misc.ToString("0.00").Trim());

                                        double tax = Convert.ToDouble(statementList.FirstOrDefault().Tax);
                                        pdfFields.SetField("Tax", statementList.FirstOrDefault().Tax.ToString("0.00").Trim());

                                    }
                                    pdfStamper.FormFlattening = true; // generate a flat PDF 

                                }
                                pdfReader = new PdfReader(memoryStream.ToArray());
                                smartCopy.AddPage(smartCopy.GetImportedPage(pdfReader, 1));

                            }
                            remainingItems = remainingItems - maxItemsPerPage;

                        } while (remainingItems > 0);
                    }
                }
            }

            emailController.CreateMessageWithAttachment(invoiceNumber);
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
        }

    }

Answer 1

You can try to attach the file from a memory stream. You can search Google for “C# Attach file from memory stream”.

Here is a sample snippet:

 mail.Attachments.Add(new Attachment(memoryStream, "example.txt", "text/plain"));

Or:

email attachment from the MemoryStream comes empty

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxbcl/thread/049420de-7e93-4fcb-9920-0c1cdf4ca420/

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/InMemoryMailAttachment.aspx