17/5/2014 Modifying an existing document with IText PDF API in Java.

http://tutorials.jenkov.com/java-itext/modifying-pdf-documents.html 1/3
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Modifying Existing
PDF Documents

By Jakob
Jenkov
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Java IText: Modifying
Existing PDF Documents
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IText can modify existing PDF files in many different ways. Here I'll just
cover one of the most used modifications - stamping an existing PDF
with text or images. Get the book "IText in Action" to get the full story
on manipulating existing PDF documents.
If you already have a finished PDF, and just want to add a header, footer
or watermark to it, IText provides the
com.itextpdf.pdf.PdfStamper class.
First you read the existing document using a PdfReader, then modify
it using the PdfStamper.
Here is a simple code example:
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Image;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfContentByte;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfReader;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfStamper;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
public class PdfStamperExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
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try {
PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader("HelloWorld.pdf");
PdfStamper pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader,
new FileOutputStream("HelloWorld-Stamped.pdf"));
Image image = Image.getInstance("watermark.png");
for(int i=1; i<= pdfReader.getNumberOfPages(); i++){
PdfContentByte content =
pdfStamper.getUnderContent(i);
image.setAbsolutePosition(100f, 700f);
content.addImage(image);
}
pdfStamper.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (DocumentException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Adding Content to the PDF
Document
To add content to the document you need to access to a
PdfContentByte from the PdfStamper. You can add content either
above or below the existing content in the PDF document. Here is how
you obtain the PdfContentByte from the PdfStamper.
PdfContentByte underContent = pdfStamper.getUnderContent(1);
PdfContentByte overContent = pdfStamper.getOverContent(1);
The number passed as parameter is the page number of the page to get
the under or over content for.
The PdfContentByte object has methods for adding all kinds of
content to a PDF including text, graphics, images etc.
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