Columns: iText 5 versus iText 7

Remarks#

In iText 5, you can’t use the add() method to add a Paragraph to a Document if you want to organize the content in columns. We can’t reuse the code of the https://stackoverflow.com/documentation/itext/5786/text-to-pdf-itext-5-versus-itext-7/20398/text2pdf-java-itext-5 example.

Instead we have to create a ColumnText object, we have to add all the Paragraph objects to this object, and once we’ve finished adding all the content, we can start rendering that content using the go() method. While doing so, we have to keep track of the columns, and create new pages when necessary.

What we fixed in iText 7:

With iText 7, we can copy and paste the code from the https://stackoverflow.com/documentation/itext/5786/text-to-pdf-itext-5-versus-itext-7/20399/text2pdf-java-itext-7 example. We can continue using the add() method the same way we did before. If we want to render the content in two columns instead of in one, we simple have to change the document renderer:

Rectangle[] columns = {
    new Rectangle(36, 36, 254, 770),
    new Rectangle(305, 36, 254, 770)};
document.setRenderer(new ColumnDocumentRenderer(document, columns));

Want to know more?

Read Working with the RootElement which is chapter 5 in the iText 7: Building Blocks tutorial. Get the free ebook!

Text2PdfColumns.java (iText 5)

Suppose that we have the following text file: jekyll_hyde.txt

How do we convert it to a PDF that looks like this:

When using iText 5, you’d need code like this:

public void createPdf(String dest)
throws DocumentException, IOException {
    Document document = new Document();
    PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(dest));
    document.open();
    ColumnText ct = new ColumnText(writer.getDirectContent());
    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(TEXT));
    String line;
    Paragraph p;
    Font normal = new Font(FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 12);
    Font bold = new Font(FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 12, Font.BOLD);
    boolean title = true;
    while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
        p = new Paragraph(line, title ? bold : normal);
        p.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_JUSTIFIED);
        title = line.isEmpty();
        ct.addElement(p);
    }
    Rectangle[] columns = {
        new Rectangle(36, 36, 290, 806), new Rectangle(305, 36, 559, 806)
    };
    int c = 0;
    int status = ColumnText.START_COLUMN;
    while (ColumnText.hasMoreText(status)) {
        ct.setSimpleColumn(columns[c]);
        status = ct.go();
        if (++c == 2) {
            document.newPage();
            c = 0;
        }
    }
    document.close();
}

Source: developers.itextpdf.com

Text2PdfColumns.java (iText 7)

Suppose that you have the following text file: jekyll_hyde.txt

How do we convert it to a PDF that looks like this:

When using iText 7, you’d need code like this:

public void createPdf(String dest) throws IOException {
    PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter(dest));
    Document document = new Document(pdf)
        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.JUSTIFIED);
    Rectangle[] columns = {
        new Rectangle(36, 36, 254, 770),
        new Rectangle(305, 36, 254, 770)};
    document.setRenderer(new ColumnDocumentRenderer(document, columns));
    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(TEXT));
    String line;
    PdfFont normal = PdfFontFactory.createFont(FontConstants.TIMES_ROMAN);
    PdfFont bold = PdfFontFactory.createFont(FontConstants.TIMES_BOLD);
    boolean title = true;
    while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
        document.add(new Paragraph(line).setFont(title ? bold : normal));
        title = line.isEmpty();
    }
    document.close();
}

Source: developers.itextpdf.com and the iText 7: Building Blocks tutorial.