Creating a PDF Document through Java Part 1.

In this Post we shall take the first steps towards creating a simple PDF document through Java. For this we shall require the iText-5.0.5.jar file which you should download from Sourceforge site.  We shall next create a NetBeans based Java application for creating the PDF. We shall have to add the iText-5.0.5.jar file to the project library. The pictures below should be self explanatory.

Main.java
/*
 * To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
 * and open the template in the editor.
 */

package javapdfceator;

/**
 *
 * @author Champak
 */
public class Main {

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
         java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new PDFFrame().setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

}


PDFFrame.java

/*
 * To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
 * and open the template in the editor.
 */

/*
 * PDFFrame.java
 *
 * Created on Jan 7, 2011, 9:23:56 PM
 */

package javapdfceator;

import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

/**
 *
 * @author Champak */
public class PDFFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {

    /** Creates new form PDFFrame */
    public PDFFrame() {
        initComponents();
    }

    /** This method is called from within the constructor to
     * initialize the form.
     * WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
     * always regenerated by the Form Editor.
     */
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    // <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc="Generated Code">                         
    private void initComponents() {

        jLabel1 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        txtSubject = new javax.swing.JTextField();
        jLabel2 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel3 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel4 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel5 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jButton1 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        txtFilename = new javax.swing.JTextField();
        txtAuthor = new javax.swing.JTextField();
        txtTitle = new javax.swing.JTextField();
        jScrollPane1 = new javax.swing.JScrollPane();
        txtContent = new javax.swing.JTextArea();

        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        jLabel1.setText("Subject");

        jLabel2.setText("Author");

        jLabel3.setText("Title");

        jLabel4.setText("Filename");

        jLabel5.setText("Contents");

        jButton1.setText("Save to PDF");
        jButton1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                jButton1ActionPerformed(evt);
            }
        });

        txtContent.setColumns(20);
        txtContent.setRows(5);
        jScrollPane1.setViewportView(txtContent);

        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(getContentPane());
        getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
                    .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                        .addGap(18, 18, 18)
                        .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.TRAILING)
                            .addComponent(jLabel1)
                            .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
                                .addComponent(jLabel3)
                                .addComponent(jLabel2)
                                .addComponent(jLabel5)))
                        .addGap(38, 38, 38)
                        .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
                            .addComponent(txtTitle, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 99, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                            .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                                .addComponent(txtSubject, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 99, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                .addGap(42, 42, 42)
                                .addComponent(jLabel4)
                                .addGap(18, 18, 18)
                                .addComponent(txtFilename, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 99, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                            .addComponent(txtAuthor, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 99, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                            .addComponent(jScrollPane1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 342, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)))
                    .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                        .addGap(196, 196, 196)
                        .addComponent(jButton1)))
                .addContainerGap(81, Short.MAX_VALUE))
        );
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addContainerGap()
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.TRAILING)
                    .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(jLabel4)
                        .addComponent(txtFilename, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
                        .addComponent(txtSubject, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(jLabel1)))
                .addGap(18, 18, 18)
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE)
                    .addComponent(jLabel2)
                    .addComponent(txtAuthor, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                .addGap(18, 18, 18)
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.BASELINE)
                    .addComponent(jLabel3)
                    .addComponent(txtTitle, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
                    .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                        .addGap(29, 29, 29)
                        .addComponent(jLabel5))
                    .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                        .addGap(18, 18, 18)
                        .addComponent(jScrollPane1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)))
                .addPreferredGap(javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement.RELATED, 45, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                .addComponent(jButton1)
                .addContainerGap())
        );

        pack();
    }// </editor-fold>                       

    private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {                                        
       try
       {
           Document newdoc=new Document();
      FileOutputStream fs=new FileOutputStream(txtFilename.getText());
      PdfWriter writer=PdfWriter.getInstance(newdoc, fs);
      newdoc.open();
      newdoc.addSubject(txtSubject.getText());
      newdoc.addTitle(txtTitle.getText());
      newdoc.addAuthor(txtAuthor.getText() );
      Paragraph p = new Paragraph(txtContent.getText());
      newdoc.add(p);
      newdoc.close();
      JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(PDFFrame.this, "Document Created");
       }
       catch(Exception ex)
       {
           JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(PDFFrame.this,ex.getMessage());
       }
    }                                       

  

    // Variables declaration - do not modify                    
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel2;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel3;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel4;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel5;
    private javax.swing.JScrollPane jScrollPane1;
    private javax.swing.JTextField txtAuthor;
    private javax.swing.JTextArea txtContent;
    private javax.swing.JTextField txtFilename;
    private javax.swing.JTextField txtSubject;
    private javax.swing.JTextField txtTitle;
    // End of variables declaration                  

}

 

 

 

We shall continue this series.