ASP.NET and iTextSharp (free PDF Generator for .NET) | Tech Off

sbc
GW R/Me

Anyone use iTextSharp to create PDF's containing form fields? It is for a form that is generated from a database and one that the user can fill in (to print and send, or email).

I can generate the PDF from the database, but have no idea how to add text boxes, checkboxes etc. The tutorials don't seem to cover that.

Ideally I'd want to convert a HTML web page to a PDF, but I don't think that is possible (with any freely available components), especially when using it on a shared hosting service (the options I have seen include installing software on the server, then running that and returning the file).

joachim

I had similar problem. I just downloaded a trial of the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat, which has a cool form designer tool. I used that to create the template document for my program, including adding all the form fields.

This works fine as long as you do not need to modify the template after it is created.

My code then creates the PDF documents based on this template, by filling in values from database records, into form fields programmatically.

Good luck...

sbc
GW R/Me

Any example of doing this? I have Acrobat 5, so can create the PDF.

How do you then use iTextSharp to modify the fields (i.e. do you have any example code)?

Apart from iTextSharp, the tools that generate the PDF's are quite expensive (also, I can only use free components). iTextdotNET uses J#, so I can't use that (but I don't think it offers anything over iTextSharp).

joachim

OK, let's say I have a PDF document called "Form.pdf" with 4 form fields. The form fileds are "name", "address", "postal_code" and "email".

Here's the code to create a new PDF file using "Form.pdf" as a template:

private void fillForm()
{
    string formFile = @"N:\.NET\Form.pdf";
    string newFile = @"N:\.NET\Filled-out Form.pdf";
    PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(formFile);
    PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, new FileStream(
                newFile, FileMode.Create));
    AcroFields fields = stamper.AcroFields;

    // set form fields
    fields.SetField("name", "John Doe");
    fields.SetField("address", "2 Milky Way, London");
    fields.SetField("postal_code", "XX1 4YY");
    fields.SetField("email", "johndoe@hotmail.com");

    // flatten form fields and close document
    stamper.FormFlattening = true;
    stamper.Close();
}

Acrobat 5 should be enough to create a PDF form. Let me know if you're having any troubles.

sbc
GW R/Me

Thanks, that worked out fine. Pity the documentation is not that good, but as a side effect I found out about generating a document from Xml or via document.Add.

Only difference is I used Server.MapPath to get the file, and saved the 'stamped' document to a MemoryStream that is then streamed to the user. Didn't use FormFlattening either - what is the advantage of using it?

Also, how do you change author, subject, keywords etc using PdfStamper/Reader?

joachim

sbc wrote:
Thanks, that worked out fine. Pity the documentation is not that good, but as a side effect I found out about generating a document from Xml or via document.Add.

Only difference is I used Server.MapPath to get the file, and saved the 'stamped' document to a MemoryStream that is then streamed to the user. Didn't use FormFlattening either - what is the advantage of using it?

Also, how do you change author, subject, keywords etc using PdfStamper/Reader?

Form Flattening flettens the actual form fields so that they can no longer be changed in the new document created by the stamper. If you have not set that, anyone can change the contents of the form fields... If you do specify Form Flattening, then the form fields will be converted into text and cannot be further modified.

To add the document meta-data, you would normally use the following methods of the Document object (before calling document.Open()):

private void createPDF()
{
   string newFile = @"N:\.NET\New Document.pdf";
   Document doc = new Document();
   PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, new FileStream(newFile, FileMode.Create));
   // Metadata
   doc.AddCreator("PDF Printer by Joachim Tesznar");
   doc.AddTitle("New PDF Document");
   // Add content
   doc.Open();
   doc.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World"));
   doc.Close();
}

I don't know how you can do this using the PdfStamper object; there must be a way of accessing the document object in-directly. If you find out how, let me know... Wink

If you can't, I know a way around this but it requires copying the ContentByte of that document and importing a page into a new document where you can set the meta-data.

Another option is to create your document in XML (see the tutorial), then use the XmlParser object to convert it to PDF. You can set your meta-data in the XML document and the parser will set these in the PDF for you.

Have fun

joachim

Once you created the PDF file using the PdfStamper object, you can set the document properties by importing the file into a new document - where you can set properties such as Author and Title.

Note, the following code is just a workaround (not a solution):

using System.IO;
using iTextSharp.text;
using iTextSharp.text.pdf;

public static void CopyDocumentTest()
{
   int pageNumber = 1;
   PdfReader reader = new PdfReader("New Document.pdf");
   Rectangle size = reader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(pageNumber);
   Document document = new Document(size);
   PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, new FileStream("Copy of New Document.pdf", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write));

   //set document info
   document.AddTitle("Document copied using iTextSharp");
   document.AddAuthor("Joachim Tesznar");
   document.AddSubject("Dynamic Content");
   document.AddCreator("PDF Form Tool by Joachim Tesznar");

   document.Open();

   PdfContentByte cb = writer.DirectContent;
   document.NewPage();
   PdfImportedPage page = writer.GetImportedPage(reader, pageNumber);
   cb.AddTemplate(page, 0, 0);
   document.Close();
}

sbc
GW R/Me

I looked at XML, but it seems as though it does not have the required tags for creating forms. Plus it is probably far easier to do the document in Word, then convert to PDF and add the form fields using Acrobat.

It looks like the steps I have to take are:

- Use PdfReader to get the original PDF.

- Use PdfStamper to edit the form fields, save into a MemoryStream.

- Populate a PdfWriter document from the PdfStamper (which actually contains PdfStamper.Writer, but I dont think you can access the document part of it). Save into MemoryStream which is then sent to the user.

Don't know why you have to go through all those stages just to modify a file (only need the first two if you don't need to change the title). The last stage seems as though it would be inefficient.

Although PdfStamper does have a SetMoreInfo method that may be able to change the meta information (at least in iText, not checked if iTextSharp has this).

Pity there are no iTextSharp forums to ask on.

joachim

sbc wrote:
Don't know why you have to go through all those stages just to modify a file

You don't; like I said it's just a workaround. And yes, it's inefficient (especially if you're doing it on the server).

But if it is just the Title you are worries about, then just set the title on the form template and when the new document is created with the stamper, the Title will still be there.

sbc
GW R/Me

Here is what I will try that may work (won't be able to do it till tomorrow though). Pseudo code:

HashMap info = stamper.GetMoreInfo();
info["Title"] = "New Title";
info["Creator"] = "Web page";
stamper.SetMoreInfo(info);

Hopefully that will be all I need to do.

sbc
GW R/Me

Managed to modify the data using the following:

Hashtable info = new Hashtable();
info["Title"] = "Modified Form";
info["Author"] = "Fred Bloggs";
info["Creator"] = "My Web App";
stamper.MoreInfo = info;

joachim

Nice work

thanks

craigsdennis

So glad to finally find a forum where people are talking about this iTextSharp. The documentation is next to useless. I wrote pretty cool ASP.NET application that takes form input and then generates a PDF by taking the text of the fields on the form and pasting them to a template.
So essentially I have our designer make the PDF template with the form fields formatted the way they should be with font and color and then we create it. It's been working great until...our client decided that some of the dynamic text should have a CMYK color.

Until then we hadn't realized that our font colors were coming in grayscale. Black and White of course work fine, but when we try this rich pink look it comes out gray. Anyone have any idea how to change this.

I poked around and found the SetDefaultColorSpace function, but I'm not sure what the second parameter is supposed to be. And more importantly I'm not even sure it's how to change this.

Anyone know? I am using PDF stamper and form flattening would rather not have to take the approach of gathering all the field properties myself and reposting them, as that is what the Stamper is for.

If you have any idea or even a place to look that has some sort of info other than the sourceforge page...please please let me know.

Thanks,
--Craig Dennis

joachim

Craig

Have a look at the Java documentation; Java iText version is very different from the current iTextSharp version but the API is well documented in some places so might give you ideas (it's helped me). You can find it on http://itextdocs.lowagie.com/docs/.

Are you trying to set the form fields font color using stamper? When I needed to have some dynamic text in color, I used the PdfContentByte object to create the text and then position it on the document, but not sure how would that work on the form with the stamper. Let us know.

Have fun

craigsdennis

FYI....Hey all so you know....I finally figured out the error.

The Color.cs class had an error.

The constructor that takes floats accidentally created a new RGB using the R 3 times, thus creating a gray effect much like #CCCCCC. So....if you fix that it'll work, I told Paulo so should be fixed in the next iterim.

Thanks,
--Craig Dennis
Rhino Internet
http://www.rhinointernet.com

joachim

Nice one Craig, well done mate Smiley

rocko_hunk

Hi guys,

I am a newbie to iTextSharp,
can anybody please send me the code for

reading pdf Form fields and their values using iTextSharp

sbc
GW R/Me

This should work:

C#

// this is used to store the PDF in memory<br>
MemoryStream m = new MemoryStream();<br>
// which document to open<br>
string file = Server.MapPath("form.pdf");<br>
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(file);<br>
// then create a PdfStamper from the created reader to modify the form fields<br>
PdfStamper outStamper = new PdfStamper(reader, m);<br>
string name = outStamper.AcroFields.GetField("name");

VB.NET

' this is used to store the PDF in memory<br>
Dim m As MemoryStream = New MemoryStream()<br>
' which document to open<br>
Dim file As String = Server.MapPath("form.pdf")<br>
Dim reader As PdfReader = New PdfReader(file)<br>
' then create a PdfStamper from the created reader to modify the form fields<br>
Dim outStamper As PdfStamper = New PdfStamper(reader, m)<br>
Dim name As String = outStamper.AcroFields.GetField("name")

ManniAT

Hi Guys,

I'm new to iTextSharp (and general PDF devel).
Can anyboy give me some "startup" how to digital sign a PDF document?
As far as I know signed PDFs there are two kinds of.
One is simply signed - and the other one is a "Certified Document".

In Acrobat I get asked (when I am the first signer) if I want to certify the document.

And furtheron - there tow kinds of signing - one is with a visible signature - and one is without it.

My primary goal is to
a.) open an existing PDF
b.) select a certificate from the users CertStore (CryptoAPI)
c.) create a "Certified document" with the selected key
d.) place a visula representation of it on the last page of the document.

Regards

Manfred

sbc
GW R/Me

While this is java code, it should be easily ported to C#.

http://itextpdf.sourceforge.net/howtosign.html

ManniAT

Hi,

thanks for that hint - I will give it a try!

By the way I did not find this site till now - I always was on lowagie.com Perplexed

Thanks again

Manfred

rocsky

you can get more information about iTextsharp tutorial(both C# version and VB.NET version ) from http://hardrock.cnblogs.com

joachim

rocsky wrote:

you can get more information about iTextsharp tutorial(both C# version and VB.NET version ) from http://hardrock.cnblogs.com

Yeah - as long as you can understand this:

下类文件，为类构造函数增加了一个参数以便用户可以方便的在使用的时候设置配置文件路径，这样就可以把这个类包放置在任何可以被访问到的目录下，否则原来的版本下引用class.Chinese.php的文件必须和class在相同的目录下面才行。

Perplexed

sbc
GW R/Me

joachim wrote:
rocsky wrote:
you can get more information about iTextsharp tutorial(both C# version and VB.NET version ) from http://hardrock.cnblogs.com

Yeah - as long as you can understand this:

下类文件，为类构造函数增加了一个参数以便用户可以方便的在使用的时候设置配置文件路径，这样就可以把这个类包放置在任何可以被访问到的目录下，否则原来的版本下引用class.Chinese.php的文件必须和class在相同的目录下面才行。

According to translate.dictionary.com that is (assuming simplified chinese)

translation wrote:
下类 the document, increased a parameter for the kind of structure function in order to the user may facilitate in the use time establishment disposition document way, like this may lay aside this kind of package in any may under the table of contents which visits, otherwise under the original edition quotes class.Chinese.php the document to have only then to be good with class under the same table of contents.