How to generate a PDF dynamically, having sections built on runtime?

[Shalinee Gupta]

Hi, I have to create a PDF with details of an employee's family, and it has to be decided on runtime how many sections for dependents' information will be added. I am using i-text but the problem is coming while the decision making of adding sections for family members. Any ideas on how to do it?

[Ulf Dittmer]

What is "the problem"?

[Shalinee Gupta]

Problem is.. I have a template, with sections: 'Employee Info', 'Spouse Info', 'Dependent1 Info', 'Dependent2 Info' etc
I need to add spouse and dependents in the final PDF only if their values are present, in case the employee does not have a family member, I don't want his section to be displayed with blank fields.
Since, I have to use existing template, so I am not creating the PDF manually (by adding paragraphs and sections). How to achieve this scenario?

[Ulf Dittmer]

I have to use existing template

This is important information. What kind of template are we talking about? Is it a pre-existing PDF in which your code is supposed to fill in values, or something else? How does the template relate to the process of creating the PDF?

[Shalinee Gupta]

yes, it is a pre-existing pdf template in which values will be filled using a map.

[Ulf Dittmer]

I'm not aware of a way to add or remove sections of a PDF. You could reorganize the sections as a series of one-page PDFs, and add only those that you need to the final PDF.

[Shalinee Gupta]

Thanks for the reply Ulf. I was given the requirement in a different way to solve the problem, now I am not working on manipulating sections of an exiting PDF template, but working with fixed template pages and using xml configuration to select required pages on run time.