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Java and PDF with iText. This article demonstrate how to create PDF files with Java and the iText library. In this tutorial iText version 5.5.x is used

1. Overview

iText is a Java library originally created by Bruno Lowagie which allows to create PDF, read PDF and manipulate them. The following tutorial will show how to create PDF files with iText.

This tutorial assumes that you have basis Java and Maven knowledge.

iText has a hierarchical structure. The smallest text unit is a "Chunk" which is a String with a pre-defined font. A "Phrase" combines several Chunks and allows to define line spacing. "Paragraph" is a subclass of "Phrase" and allows to define more layout attributes, e.g. margins. The class "Anchor" is a subclass of "Paragraph" and serves as the basis for hyperlinks in the generated PDF.

2. Create a PDF

Create a new Maven project named com.vogella.itext.write with the package "com.vogella.itext.write". Change the pom to the following.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.vogella.itext.write</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.itext.write</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
    </properties>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.13.0</version> <!-- Use the latest version if
                available -->
                <configuration>
                    <source>${maven.compiler.source}</source>
                    <target>${maven.compiler.target}</target>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
    <dependencies>

        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.itextpdf/itextpdf -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
            <artifactId>itextpdf</artifactId>
            <version>5.5.13.4</version>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>
</project>

Create the following class FirstPdf.java . I assume that the code is pretty much self-explaining. I tried to add lots of comments to make it easier to understand. For more complex examples have a look at the iText Homepage.

package com.vogella.itext.write;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.util.Date;

import com.itextpdf.text.Anchor;
import com.itextpdf.text.BadElementException;
import com.itextpdf.text.BaseColor;
import com.itextpdf.text.Chapter;
import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Element;
import com.itextpdf.text.Font;
import com.itextpdf.text.List;
import com.itextpdf.text.ListItem;
import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.text.Phrase;
import com.itextpdf.text.Section;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class FirstPdf {
    private static String FILE = "FirstPdf.pdf";
    private static Font catFont = new Font(Font.FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 18, Font.BOLD);
    private static Font redFont = new Font(Font.FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 12, Font.NORMAL, BaseColor.RED);
    private static Font subFont = new Font(Font.FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 16, Font.BOLD);
    private static Font smallBold = new Font(Font.FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 12, Font.BOLD);

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Document document = new Document();
            PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(FILE));
            document.open();
            addMetaData(document);
            addTitlePage(document);
            addContent(document);
            document.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    // iText allows to add metadata to the PDF which can be viewed in your Adobe
    // Reader
    // under File -> Properties
    private static void addMetaData(Document document) {
        document.addTitle("My first PDF");
        document.addSubject("Using iText");
        document.addKeywords("Java, PDF, iText");
        document.addAuthor("Lars Vogel");
        document.addCreator("Lars Vogel");
    }

    private static void addTitlePage(Document document) throws DocumentException {
        Paragraph preface = new Paragraph();
        // We add one empty line
        addEmptyLine(preface, 1);
        // Lets write a big header
        preface.add(new Paragraph("Title of the document", catFont));

        addEmptyLine(preface, 1);
        // Will create: Report generated by: _name, _date
        preface.add(new Paragraph("Report generated by: " + System.getProperty("user.name") + ", " + new Date(), //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$ //$NON-NLS-3$
                smallBold));
        addEmptyLine(preface, 3);
        preface.add(new Paragraph("This document describes something which is very important ", smallBold));

        addEmptyLine(preface, 8);

        preface.add(new Paragraph(
                "This document is a preliminary version and not subject to your license agreement or any other agreement with vogella.com ;-).",
                redFont));

        document.add(preface);
        // Start a new page
        document.newPage();
    }

    private static void addContent(Document document) throws DocumentException {
        Anchor anchor = new Anchor("First Chapter", catFont);
        anchor.setName("First Chapter");

        // Second parameter is the number of the chapter
        Chapter catPart = new Chapter(new Paragraph(anchor), 1);

        Paragraph subPara = new Paragraph("Subcategory 1", subFont);
        Section subCatPart = catPart.addSection(subPara);
        subCatPart.add(new Paragraph("Hello"));

        subPara = new Paragraph("Subcategory 2", subFont);
        subCatPart = catPart.addSection(subPara);
        subCatPart.add(new Paragraph("Paragraph 1"));
        subCatPart.add(new Paragraph("Paragraph 2"));
        subCatPart.add(new Paragraph("Paragraph 3"));

        // add a list
        createList(subCatPart);
        Paragraph paragraph = new Paragraph();
        addEmptyLine(paragraph, 5);
        subCatPart.add(paragraph);

        // add a table
        createTable(subCatPart);

        // now add all this to the document
        document.add(catPart);

        // Next section
        anchor = new Anchor("Second Chapter", catFont);
        anchor.setName("Second Chapter");

        // Second parameter is the number of the chapter
        catPart = new Chapter(new Paragraph(anchor), 1);

        subPara = new Paragraph("Subcategory", subFont);
        subCatPart = catPart.addSection(subPara);
        subCatPart.add(new Paragraph("This is a very important message"));

        // now add all this to the document
        document.add(catPart);

    }

    private static void createTable(Section subCatPart) throws BadElementException {
        PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(3);

        // t.setBorderColor(BaseColor.GRAY);
        // t.setPadding(4);
        // t.setSpacing(4);
        // t.setBorderWidth(1);

        PdfPCell c1 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Table Header 1"));
        c1.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
        table.addCell(c1);

        c1 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Table Header 2"));
        c1.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
        table.addCell(c1);

        c1 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Table Header 3"));
        c1.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
        table.addCell(c1);
        table.setHeaderRows(1);

        table.addCell("1.0");
        table.addCell("1.1");
        table.addCell("1.2");
        table.addCell("2.1");
        table.addCell("2.2");
        table.addCell("2.3");

        subCatPart.add(table);

    }

    private static void createList(Section subCatPart) {
        List list = new List(true, false, 10);
        list.add(new ListItem("First point"));
        list.add(new ListItem("Second point"));
        list.add(new ListItem("Third point"));
        subCatPart.add(list);
    }

    private static void addEmptyLine(Paragraph paragraph, int number) {
        for (int i = 0; i < number; i++) {
            paragraph.add(new Paragraph(" "));
        }
    }
}

The resulting pdf should look like the following.

pdfwrite10

3. Formatting your output

Paragraph allows to set the alignment and the indentation. For this example, add the following class to your project. Create the following class PositionPdf.java.

package com.vogella.itext.position;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;

import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.Element;
import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class PositionPdf {
    private static String FILE = "PositionPdf.pdf";

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Document document = new Document();
            PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(FILE));
            document.open();
            // Left
            Paragraph paragraph = new Paragraph("This is right aligned text");
            paragraph.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_RIGHT);
            document.add(paragraph);
            // Centered
            paragraph = new Paragraph("This is centered text");
            paragraph.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
            document.add(paragraph);
            // Left
            paragraph = new Paragraph("This is left aligned text");
            paragraph.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_LEFT);
            document.add(paragraph);
            // Left with indentation
            paragraph = new Paragraph(
                    "This is left aligned text with indentation");
            paragraph.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_LEFT);
            paragraph.setIndentationLeft(50);
            document.add(paragraph);

            document.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

}

4. Read an existing pdf

iText allows to read existing pdf’s and include them into your own pdf. The following example will creates page 2 of the previous example and create a new document with this page.

Create the following class ReadAndUsePdf.java.

package de.vogella.itext.read;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Image;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfImportedPage;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfReader;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class ReadAndUsePdf {
    private static String INPUTFILE = "FirstPdf.pdf";
    private static String OUTPUTFILE = "ReadPdf.pdf";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws DocumentException,
            IOException {
        Document document = new Document();

        PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document,
                new FileOutputStream(OUTPUTFILE));
        document.open();
        PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(INPUTFILE);
        int n = reader.getNumberOfPages();
        PdfImportedPage page;
        // Go through all pages
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
            // only page number 2 will be included
            if (i == 2) {
                page = writer.getImportedPage(reader, i);
                Image instance = Image.getInstance(page);
                document.add(instance);
            }
        }
        document.close();

    }

}

5. Links and Literature

5.1. iText Resources

iText Homepage

http://itextdocs.lowagie.com/tutorial/ Tutorial from iText homepage, lots of specific examples

5.2. vogella Java example code

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