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Version: Version 1.7

Get started with .NET

This guide walks you through the steps to use a sample project, and then explains how to integrate the Pdftools SDK into your application with .NET.

Prerequisites​

The Pdftools SDK for .NET requires .NET and .NET Core 2.0 or higher, or .NET Framework 4.6.1 or higher.

Getting started with a sample project​

Learn how to use the Pdftools SDK using a C# sample project and convert a PDF file to an image.

Compile and run the sample​

Switch between the following tabs to display steps for the command line interface or for the Visual Studio. To compile and run the sample, follow these steps:

info

This documentation uses Visual Studio 2022.

  1. Download a sample project, and then unzip the file.

  2. In the sample folder, double click PdfToolsPdf2ImgSimple.csproj

  3. Click Build -> Build Solution to compile the project.

  4. Within the sample project, open your terminal.

  5. The sample project contains a PDF file PdfPrimerWhitePaper.pdf. To render it in multi-page TIFF image format, run:

    ./bin/Debug/net6.0/PdfToolsPdf2ImgSimple PdfPrimerWhitepaper.pdf tiff_output.tiff

The code sample takes:

  • The input and output files represented as a file name or a file path with the file name.
  • Both file paths (input and output) can be relative or absolute.

Review the following snippet with a placeholder and compare it to the last step of the previous procedure:

./bin/Debug/net6.0/PdfToolsPdf2ImgSimple INPUT_FILE OUTPUT_FILE
tip

You can apply a similar procedure as described in this tutorial for other code samples. For more information, see Code samples page.

Integrate the SDK into your application​

Integrate and initialize the Pdftools SDK into your application by following the instructions in the next sections.

Add the SDK to your project​

info

This documentation uses Visual Studio 2022 on Windows.

  1. Open your solution in Visual Studio.
  2. Click Tools > Nuget Package Manager > Manage NuGet Packages for Solution....
  3. Click the Search tab and search for Pdftools SDK.
  4. Select the NuGet package named PdfTools by PDF Tools AG, select your Project, and then click Install.
  5. Click OK to allow the changes, and then review and Accept the license agreement.

Initialize the SDK​

After installing the Nuget package the final step before using the SDK is to initialize the SDK with your license key. To initialize the Pdftools SDK with your license key, follow these steps:

  1. Copy your license key. For more information, review Find the license key.

  2. Replace the <PDFSDK,V1,include-your-key-here> in the following method with the value of your license key:

    Sdk.Initialize("<PDFSDK,V1,include-your-key-here>");

    Use the license key in the same format as you copied it. Include the less-than (<) and greater-than (>) signs.

Try it without license key

You can try the Pdftools SDK without a license with watermarked results. For more information, review Pdftools SDK license management. Without a valid license key the output files are watermarked. Get in touch with the Pdftools sales team through the Contact page to get a full license.

Implement your use case​

  • Find more use cases and sample projects at the Code samples page.
  • For more technical information about the Pdftools SDK for .NET, consult the .NET technical notes.