iText example   

This example demonstrates a few basic features of the iText library. It creates a 2-page PDF document using various fonts, adds a header (containing the page number) and a footer, draws simple graphics (a couple of lines), and adds text both at an absolute position, and sequentially in a natural flow. It also adds a table that shows various table features, and finally, rotated text.

Note that there two different versions of iText - iText 5, the current version that is still being developed, and iText 2 (jar file, javadocs). iText 5 is published under a less permissive license (the GNU Affero GPL license) than iText 2 (which uses the GNU Lesser GPL) and may require you to obtain a license; see here for some discussion of that. There's also less documentation freely available on the net - you'd really need to buy a copy of iText in Action to get the most out of it (which is a good book, though, and will pay itself back in no time by saving you from hunting for information on the net). (If you're using iText 2, then you should get the first edition of the book.)

The iText API changed substantially from iText 2 to iText 5. This is the code for iText 2:


import java.awt.Color;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

import com.lowagie.text.*;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.*;

public class iTextExample
{

    public static void main (String[] args)
    {

        // creation of the document with a certain size and certain margins
        // (you can use PageSize.Letter instead of PageSize.A4)
        Document document = new Document(PageSize.A4, 50, 50, 50, 50);
        try
        {
            // creation of the different writers
            PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream("iTextExample.pdf"));

            // various fonts
            BaseFont bf_helv = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, "Cp1252", false);
            BaseFont bf_times = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.TIMES_ROMAN, "Cp1252", false);
            BaseFont bf_courier = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.COURIER, "Cp1252", false);
            BaseFont bf_symbol = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.SYMBOL, "Cp1252", false);

            // headers and footers must be added before the document is opened
            HeaderFooter footer = new HeaderFooter(
                        new Phrase("This is page: ", new Font(bf_courier)), true);
            footer.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
            footer.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
            document.setFooter(footer);

            HeaderFooter header = new HeaderFooter(
                        new Phrase("This is a header without a page number", new Font(bf_symbol)), false);
            header.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
            document.setHeader(header);

            document.open();

            int y_line1 = 650;
            int y_line2 = y_line1 - 50;
            int y_line3 = y_line2 - 50;

            // draw a few lines ...
            PdfContentByte cb = writer.getDirectContent();
            cb.setLineWidth(0f);
            cb.moveTo(250, y_line3 - 100);
            cb.lineTo(250, y_line1 + 100);
            cb.moveTo(50, y_line1);
            cb.lineTo(400, y_line1);
            cb.moveTo(50, y_line2);
            cb.lineTo(400, y_line2);
            cb.moveTo(50, y_line3);
            cb.lineTo(400, y_line3);
            cb.stroke();
            // ... and some text that is aligned in various ways
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(bf_helv, 12);
            String text = "Sample text for alignment";
            cb.showTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_CENTER, text + " Center", 250, y_line1, 0);
            cb.showTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_RIGHT, text + " Right", 250, y_line2, 0);
            cb.showTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_LEFT, text + " Left", 250, y_line3, 0);
            cb.endText();

            // start second page
            document.newPage();

            // add text in three paragraphs from top to bottom with various font styles
            Paragraph par = new Paragraph("bold paragraph");
            par.getFont().setStyle(Font.BOLD);
            document.add(par);
            par = new Paragraph("italic paragraph");
            par.getFont().setStyle(Font.ITALIC);
            document.add(par);
            par = new Paragraph("underlined and strike-through paragraph");
            par.getFont().setStyle(Font.UNDERLINE | Font.STRIKETHRU);
            document.add(par);

            // demonstrate some table features
            Table table = new Table(3);
                // 2 pixel wide blue border
            table.setBorderWidth(2);
            table.setBorderColor(new Color(0, 0, 255));
            table.setPadding(5);
            table.setSpacing(5);
            Cell c = new Cell("header");
            c.setHeader(true);
            c.setColspan(3);
            table.addCell(c);
            table.endHeaders();
            c = new Cell("example cell with rowspan 2 and red border");
            c.setRowspan(2);
            c.setBorderColor(new Color(255, 0, 0));
            table.addCell(c);
            table.addCell("1.1");
            table.addCell("2.1");
            table.addCell("1.2");
            table.addCell("2.2");
            c = new Cell("align center");
            c.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
            table.addCell(c);
            cell = new Cell("big cell");
            cell.setRowspan(2);
            cell.setColspan(2);
            table.addCell(cell);
            c = new Cell("align right");
            c.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_RIGHT);
            table.addCell(c);
            document.add(table);

            // add text at an absolute position
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(bf_times, 14);
            cb.setTextMatrix(100, 300);
            cb.showText("Text at position 100, 300.");
            cb.endText();

            // rotated text at an absolute position
            PdfTemplate template = cb.createTemplate(300, 300);                
            template.beginText();
            template.setFontAndSize(bf_times, 14);
            template.showText("Rotated text at position 400, 200.");
            template.endText();

            float rotate = 90;
            float x = 400;
            float y = 200;
            float angle  = (float) (-rotate * (Math.PI / 180));
            float xScale = (float) Math.cos(angle);
            float yScale = (float) Math.cos(angle);
            float xRot   = (float) -Math.sin(angle);
            float yRot   = (float) Math.sin(angle);

            cb.addTemplate(template, xScale, xRot, yRot, yScale, x, y);

            // we're done!
            document.close();

        } catch (Exception ex) {
            System.err.println(ex.getMessage());
        }
    }
}


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And this is the code for iText 5. Headers and footers are added through page events, the package names have changed, and the Table/Cell classes have been removed in favor of PdfPTable/PdfPCell.

An additional difficulty with iText 5 is that 5.x releases are not necessarily backwards source compatible to earlier 5.x releases. For example, the BaseColor(java.awt.Color) constructor that existed in iText 5.1 is no longer available in iText 5.2. While in this case it's easy to adapt the code, there may be other incompatible changes for which the upgrade isn't as straightforward.


import java.awt.Color;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

import com.itextpdf.text.*;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.*;

public class Demo {

    public static void main (String[] args) {

        // creation of the document with a certain size and certain margins
        // may want to use PageSize.LETTER instead
        Document document = new Document(PageSize.A4, 50, 50, 50, 50);
        try {
            // creation of the different writers
            PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream("demo.pdf"));
            writer.setBoxSize("art", new Rectangle(36, 54, 559, 788));

            HeaderFooter event = new HeaderFooter();
            writer.setPageEvent(event);

            // various fonts
            BaseFont bf_helv = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, "Cp1252", false);
            BaseFont bf_times = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.TIMES_ROMAN, "Cp1252", false);
            BaseFont bf_courier = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.COURIER, "Cp1252", false);
            BaseFont bf_symbol = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.SYMBOL, "Cp1252", false);

            int y_line1 = 650;
            int y_line2 = y_line1 - 50;
            int y_line3 = y_line2 - 50;

            document.open();

            PdfContentByte cb = writer.getDirectContent();
            cb.setLineWidth(0f);
            cb.moveTo(250, y_line3 - 100);
            cb.lineTo(250, y_line1 + 100);
            cb.moveTo(50, y_line1);
            cb.lineTo(400, y_line1);
            cb.moveTo(50, y_line2);
            cb.lineTo(400, y_line2);
            cb.moveTo(50, y_line3);
            cb.lineTo(400, y_line3);
            cb.stroke();
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(bf_helv, 12);
            String text = "Sample text for alignment";
            cb.showTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_CENTER, text + " Center", 250, y_line1, 0);
            cb.showTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_RIGHT, text + " Right", 250, y_line2, 0);
            cb.showTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_LEFT, text + " Left", 250, y_line3, 0);
            cb.endText();

            document.newPage();

            // add text in two paragraphs from top to bottom
            Paragraph par = new Paragraph("bold paragraph");
            par.getFont().setStyle(Font.BOLD);
            document.add(par);
            par = new Paragraph("italic paragraph");
            par.getFont().setStyle(Font.ITALIC);
            document.add(par);
            par = new Paragraph("underlined and strike-through paragraph");
            par.getFont().setStyle(Font.UNDERLINE | Font.STRIKETHRU);
            document.add(par);

            // demonstrate some table features
            PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(3);
            table.setSpacingBefore(20);
            table.getDefaultCell().setPadding(5);

            PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("header"));
            cell.setPadding(5);
            cell.setColspan(3);
            table.addCell(cell);
            table.setHeaderRows(1);
            cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("example cell with rowspan 2 and red border"));
            cell.setPadding(5);
            cell.setRowspan(2);
            cell.setBorderColor(new BaseColor(255, 0, 0));
            table.addCell(cell);
            table.addCell("1.1");
            table.addCell("2.1");
            table.addCell("1.2");
            table.addCell("2.2");
            cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("align center"));
            cell.setPadding(5);
            cell.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
            table.addCell(cell);
            cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("rotated cell"));
            cell.setPadding(5);
            cell.setRowspan(2);
            cell.setColspan(2);
            // PdfPCell content can be rotated
            cell.setRotation(90);
            table.addCell(cell);
            cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("align right"));
            cell.setPadding(5);
            cell.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_RIGHT);
            table.addCell(cell);
            document.add(table);

            // add text at an absolute position
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(bf_times, 14);
            cb.setTextMatrix(100, 300);
            cb.showText("Text at position 100, 300.");
            cb.endText();

            // rotated text at an absolute position
            PdfTemplate template = cb.createTemplate(300, 300);                
            template.beginText();
            template.setFontAndSize(bf_times, 14);
            template.showText("Rotated text at position 400, 200.");
            template.endText();

            float rotate = 90;
            float x = 400;
            float y = 200;
            float angle  = (float) (-rotate * (Math.PI / 180));
            float xScale = (float) Math.cos(angle);
            float yScale = (float) Math.cos(angle);
            float xRot   = (float) -Math.sin(angle);
            float yRot   = (float) Math.sin(angle);

            cb.addTemplate(template, xScale, xRot, yRot, yScale, x, y);

            document.close();

        } catch (Exception ex) {
            System.err.println(ex.getMessage());
        }
    }
 
    /** Inner class to add a header and a footer. */
    static class HeaderFooter extends PdfPageEventHelper {

        public void onEndPage (PdfWriter writer, Document document) {
            Rectangle rect = writer.getBoxSize("art");
            switch(writer.getPageNumber() % 2) {
                case 0:
                    ColumnText.showTextAligned(writer.getDirectContent(),
                        Element.ALIGN_RIGHT, new Phrase("even header"),
                        rect.getRight(), rect.getTop(), 0);
                    break;
                case 1:
                    ColumnText.showTextAligned(writer.getDirectContent(),
                        Element.ALIGN_LEFT, new Phrase("odd header"),
                        rect.getLeft(), rect.getTop(), 0);
                    break;
            }
            ColumnText.showTextAligned(writer.getDirectContent(),
                    Element.ALIGN_CENTER, new Phrase(String.format("page %d", writer.getPageNumber())),
                    (rect.getLeft() + rect.getRight()) / 2, rect.getBottom() - 18, 0);
        }
    }
}


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