iText 7 provides major improvements over iText 5 for creating and manipulating PDF documents, including a complete rewrite of the font and layout engines. It introduces a modular approach and improves support for advanced typography and Indic scripts. Key features include form filling and flattening, as well as efficient merging of multiple filled forms into a single PDF.

1. PDF made easy with iText 7
What’s new in iText and iTextSharp?
Benoit Lagae, Developer, iText Software
Bruno Lowagie, Chief Strategy Officer, iText Group

2. Why did we write iText?
• Specific problems that needed to be solved
– Emancipate PDF from the desktop to the server
• Solved in 1998 with a first PDF library
• Deep knowledge of PDF required
– Make PDF creation easier for developers
• Solved in 2000 with the release of iText
• Concept: PdfWriter and Document
• Add high-level objects (e.g. paragraph, list, table)

3. History
• First release: 2000
• iText 1: 2003
• iText 2: 2007
• iText 5: 2009; upgrade to Java 5
• iText 7: 2016; upgrade to Java 7
iText is available for Java and .NET

4. Why iText 7?
iText 5 was approaching the limits of its architecture.
iText 7 overcomes these limits and enables further user-driven feature
development and more efficient support
• Complete revision of all classes and interfaces based on experience
with iText 5.
• Complete new layout module, which resolves some inconsistencies
in iText 5 and enables generation of complex layouts.
• Complete rewrite of font support enabling advanced typography.

5. iText 7: modular approach

6. Basic design principle
OutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(dest);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(fos);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
// PDF knowledge needed to add content
pdf.close();
OutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(dest);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(fos);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
Document document = new Document(pdf);
// No PDF knowledge needed to add content
document.close();

7. iText’s basic building
blocks: examples

8. Hello world: code
OutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(dest);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(fos);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
Document document = new Document(pdf);
document.add(new Paragraph("Hello World!"));
document.close();

9. Hello world: result

10. Hello world: the hard way
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(dest);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(fos);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
PageSize ps = PageSize.A4;
PdfPage page = pdf.addNewPage(ps);
PdfCanvas canvas = new PdfCanvas(page);
canvas.beginText()
.setFontAndSize(
PdfFontFactory.createFont(FontConstants.HELVETICA), 12)
.moveText(36, 790)
.showText("Hello World!")
.endText();
pdf.close();

11. List example: code
// Create a PdfFont
PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(FontConstants.TIMES_ROMAN);
// Add a Paragraph
document.add(new Paragraph("iText is:").setFont(font));
// Create a List
List list = new List()
.setSymbolIndent(12)
.setListSymbol("u2022")
.setFont(font);
// Add ListItem objects
list.add(new ListItem("Never gonna give you up"))
.add(new ListItem("Never gonna let you down"))
.add(new ListItem("Never gonna run around and desert you"))
.add(new ListItem("Never gonna make you cry"))
.add(new ListItem("Never gonna say goodbye"))
.add(new ListItem("Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you"));
// Add the list
document.add(list);

12. List example: result

13. Image example
Image fox = new Image(ImageFactory.getImage(FOX));
Image dog = new Image(ImageFactory.getImage(DOG));
Paragraph p = new Paragraph("Quick brown ").add(fox)
.add(" jumps over the lazy ").add(dog);
document.add(p);

14. New in iText 7:
improved typography
and support for Indic scripts

15. iText 5: missing links
Indic scripts:
•Only unsupported major script family
•Feature request #1
•Huge opportunity
•limited support in most other PDF libraries
Other features:
•Optional ligatures in Latin script
•Vowel diacritics in Arabic

16. Indic scripts: problems
•Lack of expertise
•Unicode encodes 49 Indic scripts
•Complex scripts with unique features
•Glyph repositioning: ह + ि = िह
•Glyph substitution: ம + ு = மு
•Half-characters: त + + य = त्य
•Unsolvable issues for iText 5 font engine
•No dedicated Unicode points for half-characters
•No font lookups past ‘uFFFF’
•Ligaturization is context-dependent (virama)

17. Indic scripts: solutions
Writing a new font engine
• Automatic script recognition
• Based on Unicode ranges
• Flexibility = extensibility
• Generic Shaper class
• Separate module, only called when necessary
• Glyph replacement rules
• Different per writing system
• Alternate glyphs are font-dependent

18. Indic scripts: examples
PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(arial, PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H, true);
String txt = "u0938u093Eu0939u093Fu0924u094Du092Fu0915u093Eu0930"; // saahityakaar
document.add(new Paragraph(txt).setFont(font));
String txt = "u0B8Eu0BB4u0BC1u0BA4u0BCDu0BA4u0BBEu0BB3u0BB0u0BCD"; // eluttaalar
document.add(new Paragraph(txt).setFont(font));

19. Other scripts: examples
PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(arial, PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H, true);
String txt = " u0627u0644u0643u0627u062Au0628"; // al-katibu
document.add(new Paragraph(txt).setFont(font));
String txt = "writer";
GlyphLine glyphLine = font.createGlyphLine(txt);
Shaper.applyLigaFeature(foglihtenNo07, glyphLine, null);
canvas.showText(glyphLine)

20. Status of advanced
typography in iText 7
•Indic scripts
•We already support:
•Devanagari
•Tamil
•Coming soon:
•Telugu
•Others: based on customer demand
•Arabic
•Support for vocalized Arabic (diacritics) is in development
•Latin
•Optional ligatures are fully supported

21. Real-world use:
Publishing a database
CSV example

22. Imagine a series of records

23. Parse CSV line by line
OutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(dest);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(fos);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
Document document = new Document(pdf, PageSize.A4.rotate());
document.setMargins(20, 20, 20, 20);
PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(FontConstants.HELVETICA);
PdfFont bold = PdfFontFactory.createFont(FontConstants.HELVETICA_BOLD);
Table table = new Table(new float[]{4, 1, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1});
table.setWidthPercent(100);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(DATA));
String line = br.readLine();
process(table, line, bold, true);
while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
process(table, line, font, false);
}
br.close();
document.add(table);
document.close();

24. Process each line
public void process(Table table, String line,
PdfFont font, boolean isHeader) {
StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(line, ";");
while (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens()) {
if (isHeader) {
table.addHeaderCell(
new Cell().add(
new Paragraph(tokenizer.nextToken()).setFont(font)));
} else {
table.addCell(
new Cell().add(
new Paragraph(tokenizer.nextToken()).setFont(font)));
}
}
}

25. CSV: resulting report

26. Form filling
Form flattening

27. Example form

28. Look inside your PDF

29. Fill the form
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(src);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(dest);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(reader, writer);
PdfAcroForm form = PdfAcroForm.getAcroForm(pdf, true);
Map<String, PdfFormField> fields = form.getFormFields();
fields.get("name").setValue("James Bond");
fields.get("language").setValue("English");
fields.get("experience1").setValue("Off");
fields.get("experience2").setValue("Yes");
fields.get("experience3").setValue("Yes");
fields.get("shift").setValue("Any");
fields.get("info").setValue("I was 38 years old when I became an MI6 agent.");
pdf.close();

30. Result after filling

31. Flatten the form
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(src);
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(dest);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(reader, writer);
PdfAcroForm form = PdfAcroForm.getAcroForm(pdf, true);
Map<String, PdfFormField> fields = form.getFormFields();
fields.get("name").setValue("James Bond");
fields.get("language").setValue("English");
fields.get("experience1").setValue("Off");
fields.get("experience2").setValue("Yes");
fields.get("experience3").setValue("Yes");
fields.get("shift").setValue("Any");
fields.get("info").setValue("I was 38 years old when I became an MI6 agent.");
form.flattenFields();
pdf.close();

32. Result after flattening

33. Form flattening
Merging

34. United States: Example form

35. Flatten and merge
PdfDocument destPdfDocument = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter(dest));
BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(DATA));
String line;
while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
PdfDocument sourcePdfDocument =
new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(SRC), new PdfWriter(baos));
PdfAcroForm form = PdfAcroForm.getAcroForm(sourcePdfDocument, true);
StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(line, ";");
Map<String, PdfFormField> fields = form.getFormFields();
fields.get("name").setValue(tokenizer.nextToken());
form.flattenFields();
sourcePdfDocument.close();
sourcePdfDocument = new PdfDocument(
new PdfReader(new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray())));
sourcePdfDocument.copyPagesTo(1, sourcePdfDocument.getNumberOfPages(),
destPdfDocument, null);
sourcePdfDocument.close();
}
bufferedReader.close();
destPdfDocument.close();

36. The result
(and why we don’t like it)

37. Flatten and merge
PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(dest).setSmartMode(true);
PdfDocument destPdfDocument = new PdfDocument(writer);
BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(DATA));
String line;
while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
PdfDocument sourcePdfDocument =
new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(SRC), new PdfWriter(baos));
PdfAcroForm form = PdfAcroForm.getAcroForm(sourcePdfDocument, true);
StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(line, ";");
Map<String, PdfFormField> fields = form.getFormFields();
fields.get("name").setValue(tokenizer.nextToken());
form.flattenFields();
sourcePdfDocument.close();
sourcePdfDocument = new PdfDocument(
new PdfReader(new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray())));
sourcePdfDocument.copyPagesTo(1, sourcePdfDocument.getNumberOfPages(),
destPdfDocument, null);
sourcePdfDocument.close();
}
bufferedReader.close();
destPdfDocument.close();

38. The result
(much better than before)