Companion App Does not return to calling app

[jtsom-do]

In a .NET 9 Web API app (and also a stand alone .NET 9 web app).

When using the Companion app to preview a PDF from QuestPDF, after calling doc.ShowInCompanion(); the calling application will be paused on that call, waiting for the Companion app to return.

This makes using the Companion difficult at best, as I need to stop and re-run my app to get control back.

Execution will pause at the doc.ShowInCompanion(); statement and never return. The following Console.WriteLine statement will never execute.

[sethcarney]

I've been calling
doc.ShowInCompanionAsync()
and then purposefully not awaiting the async task so that execution can continue.

[MarcinZiabek]

Thank you for sharing your observations 😄

It is an intentional design decision to block the application from further execution. QuestPDF supports hot-reload updates, meaning that once you start previewing your document in the Companion App, you can apply any code changes using the hot-reload feature available in .NET 6 and later. All changes will be immediately reflected in the Companion App.

If you believe a different approach would work better, I’d be glad to hear your perspective.