Embedding a ZUGFeRD Invoice in a PDF Report

Environment

Version	Product	Author
2025.2.520	RadPdfProcessing	Desislava Yordanova
19.1.25.716	Telerik Reporting	-

Description

This article demonstrates how to embed ZUGFeRD (acronym for Zentraler User Guide des Forums elektronische Rechnung Deutschland) invoices to PDF reports combining Telerik Reporting and Telerik Document Processing Libraries.

Solution

Telerik Reporting does not currently provide a built-in way to embed an XML file (such as the ZUGFeRD invoice) directly into the PDF during report generation. However, RadPdfProcessing, offered by the Telerik Document Processing Libraries, provides such functionality out of the box.

The recommended workflow is:

1. Generate the PDF Report using Telerik Reporting.
2. Import the PDF into RadPdfProcessing.
3. Embed the ZUGFeRD XML file.
4. Export the final PDF.

Code Example

Here is a code snippet that demonstrates the process:

using System.Diagnostics; 
using Telerik.Windows.Documents.Fixed.FormatProviders.Pdf;
using Telerik.Windows.Documents.Fixed.FormatProviders.Pdf.Export;
using Telerik.Windows.Documents.Fixed.Model;

// Define paths for reports and PDFs
string reportFolderPath = @"..\..\..\Reports\Storage";
string pdfFolderPath = @"..\..\..\Reports\Pdf Files";
string[] reportFiles = Directory.GetFiles(reportFolderPath);

foreach (string reportFilePath in reportFiles)
{
    // Step 1: Generate PDF Report using Telerik Reporting
    var reportProcessor = new Telerik.Reporting.Processing.ReportProcessor();
    var deviceInfo = new System.Collections.Hashtable();

    var reportSource = new Telerik.Reporting.UriReportSource();
    reportSource.Uri = reportFilePath;

    Telerik.Reporting.Processing.RenderingResult result = reportProcessor.RenderReport("PDF", reportSource, deviceInfo);
    string fileName = result.DocumentName + "_byReporting." + result.Extension;
    string filePath = pdfFolderPath + @"\" + fileName;

    if (!result.HasErrors)
    {
        using (System.IO.FileStream fs = new System.IO.FileStream(filePath, System.IO.FileMode.Create))
        {
            fs.Write(result.DocumentBytes, 0, result.DocumentBytes.Length);
        }
    }

    // Step 2: Import the PDF Report, add ZUGFeRD XML, and Export PDF using Telerik Document Processing
    string filePathToImport = pdfFolderPath + @"\" + fileName;

    PdfFormatProvider pdfProvider = new PdfFormatProvider();
    RadFixedDocument fixedDocument = pdfProvider.Import(File.OpenRead(filePathToImport), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));

    // Embed the ZUGFeRD XML file
    byte[] xmlBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(@"zugferd-invoice.xml");
    fixedDocument.EmbeddedFiles.AddZugferdInvoice(xmlBytes);

    // Configure PDF export settings for compliance
    PdfExportSettings settings = new PdfExportSettings();
    settings.ComplianceLevel = PdfComplianceLevel.PdfA3B;
    pdfProvider.ExportSettings = settings;

    // Export the final PDF
    string exportedFileName = result.DocumentName + "_byDPL." + result.Extension;
    filePath = pdfFolderPath + @"\" + exportedFileName;
    using (Stream output = File.OpenWrite(exportedFileName))
    {
        pdfProvider.Export(fixedDocument, output, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
    }

    Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo { FileName = exportedFileName, UseShellExecute = true });
}

See Also

• RadPdfProcessing
• Embedding ZUGFeRD Invoices