/spring-boot-itext-pdf

Creating PDF with Java and iText

Primary LanguageJava

spring-boot-itext-pdf

Creating PDF with Java and iText

Build and run

Configurations

Open the application.properties file and set your own configurations.

Prerequisites

  • Java 8
  • Maven > 3.0

Using the terminal

Go on the project's root folder, then type:

$ mvn spring-boot:run

From Eclipse (Spring Tool Suite)

Import as Existing Maven Project and run it as Spring Boot App.

Usage

  • Launch the application and go on http://localhost:8080/
  • Take a look to console output: you should see some log from com.boot.application.app.controllers.PdfController.java
  • Optional: if you setted a log file in the application.properties open such file to see the log

1. Overview

iText is a Java library originally created by Bruno Lowagie which allows to create PDF, read PDF and manipulate them. The following tutorial will show how to create PDF files with iText. This tutorial assumes that you have basis Java and Eclipse knowledge.

iText has a hierarchical structure. The smallest text unit is a "Chunk" which is a String with a pre-defined font. A "Phrase" combines several Chunks and allows to define line spacing. "Paragraph" is a subclass of "Phrase" and allows to define more layout attributes, e.g. margins. The class "Anchor" is a subclass of "Paragraph" and serves as the basis for hyperlinks in the generated PDF.