Generating PDF Reports in Swift: PDFKit and UIPrintPageRenderer

Generating PDF Reports in Swift (iOS/macOS) Using PDFKit

Creating PDF documents is a common task in mobile and desktop applications. On Apple platforms (iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS), the built-in framework PDFKit is used for this purpose. It allows you to programmatically generate, display, and edit PDF files. In this article, we will explore how to create a full-fledged PDF report using Swift: with text, tables, images, and customizable pages.

What is PDFKit?

PDFKit is an Apple framework included in the standard iOS/macOS SDKs. It provides classes for working with PDF:

• PDFDocument — representation of the entire document.
• PDFPage — an individual page.
• PDFView — displaying PDF on screen.
• UIPrintPageRenderer (for iOS) — page generation via Core Graphics drawing.

For report generation, UIPrintPageRenderer is most commonly used, or you can draw directly via Core Graphics in a PDF context. The second method offers more flexibility but requires more code.

Project Setup

Open Xcode, create a new project for iOS or macOS. Make sure to import the PDFKit module:

import PDFKitimport UIKit // for iOS

For macOS, you will need import Cocoa and corresponding work with NSView.

Method 1: Generating PDF via UIPrintPageRenderer (iOS)

This method is convenient if you want to use HTML markup or complex layouts. UIPrintPageRenderer allows you to render pages using UIPrintFormatter.

func generatePDFUsingRenderer() -> Data? {    let renderer = UIPrintPageRenderer()        // Setting up A4 page size    let pageSize = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 595.2, height: 841.8) // in points    renderer.setValue(pageSize, forKey: "paperRect")    renderer.setValue(pageSize, forKey: "printableRect")        // Creating an HTML string with the report    let htmlString = """    <h1>Sales Report</h1>    <p>Date: 2025-03-17</p>    <table border="1">        <tr><th>Product</th><th>Quantity</th><th>Price</th></tr>        <tr><td>Laptop</td><td>5</td><td>50000</td></tr>        <tr><td>Mouse</td><td>20</td><td>1500</td></tr>    </table>    """        let formatter = UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter(markupText: htmlString)    renderer.addPrintFormatter(formatter, startingAtPageAt: 0)        // Rendering to PDF    let pdfData = NSMutableData()    UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToData(pdfData, .zero, nil)        for pageIndex in 0..<renderer.numberOfPages {        UIGraphicsBeginPDFPage()        renderer.drawPage(at: pageIndex, in: UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!)    }        UIGraphicsEndPDFContext()    return pdfData as Data}

Call the function and save the result:

if let pdfData = generatePDFUsingRenderer() {    let paths = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)    let fileURL = paths[0].appendingPathComponent("report.pdf")    try? pdfData.write(to: fileURL)    print("PDF saved: \\(fileURL)")}

Method 2: Drawing via Core Graphics (iOS/macOS)

This method is more low-level but gives you full control over every element. It is suitable for macOS, where UIPrintPageRenderer is not available.

func generatePDFWithCoreGraphics() -> Data? {    let pdfData = NSMutableData()    let pageRect = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 612, height: 792) // US Letter        guard let consumer = CGDataConsumer(data: pdfData),          let pdfContext = CGContext(consumer: consu