How can I convert the Taks in a Tasks list into PDF documents?

Question

In order to document what happened on a project and why those decisions were made my customers needs to turn the tasks on a task list into documents, preferably PDFs. For now I only have to convert the current version of the tasks, and it could be implemented as a batch job that should be executed then the project is completed.

Any ideas about how to approach this challenge would be appreciated.

Answer 1

There are a few libraries out in the wild that create PDF files from ASP.NET pages.

What you could do is have an application page that displays your tasks in the form of a datatable or SPGridView, and uses one of those PDF libraries to write that page to a PDF.

Here's an example: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/Creating_PDF_documents_in.aspx

Here's a link to Muhimbi's blog which uses another tool which can be implemented in a workflow on an uploaded document, could be manipulated in a way to convert a page generated on the fly perhaps:

http://www.muhimbi.com/blog/2009/04/using-pdf-converter-from-sharepoint.html

Answer 2

Thanks for the reference James.

You can perhaps merge the list data into an MS-Word file before PDF conversion as described here. You can do this in combination with a workflow.

The latest version also supports HTML to PDF conversion so you could create an HTML string on the fly and send that to the converter or convert the item's detail page directly.