When we first designed the XFINIUM.PDF library for .NET 2 years ago one of the design targets was an easy learning curve. Although it was released first in a controlled corporate environment we still had to make it easy to use.
We used simple and clear abstractions that relate to real world and also to PDF specification: PdfFixedDocument class represents a PDF document which has a fixed layout by its nature, PdfPage class represents a page in a PDF document, the page drawing surface is represented by a PdfGraphics object. The pen is used to stroke a path outline while the brush is used to fill the path interior. An annotation is represented by a specific instance of PdfAnnotation class, a form field by PdfField class and so on. We tried to match the objects in PDF specification with classes in our object model so if you are looking for more advanced PDF features you can easily find them in our API. For example optional content objects are represented by PdfOptionalContentGroup class in our API.
Creating a PDF document with XFINIUM.PDF is a simple task, an empty PDF document requires only 3 lines of code: create the document, create one page and save the document.
PdfFixedDocument document = new PdfFixedDocument();
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
document.Save("empty.pdf");
Adding text content to the document above requires 3 more lines of code: font creation for drawing the text, brush creation for setting the text color and drawing the actual text on page graphics.
PdfFixedDocument document = new PdfFixedDocument();
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
// Create a standard font with Helvetica face and 24 point size
PdfStandardFont helvetica = new PdfStandardFont(PdfStandardFontFace.Helvetica, 24);
// Create a solid RGB red brush.
PdfBrush brush = new PdfBrush(PdfRgbColor.Red);
// Draw the text on the page.
page.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", helvetica, brush, 100, 100);
document.Save("helloworld.pdf");
Our object model follows the PDF specification quite closely. This lets you build complex abstractions, such as flow documents, on top of it without problems.