pdfstamper HTMLWorker itextSharp

Question

My application is MVC c#, I use itextSharp 5.3.4 to generate PDF using an existing template. I add text to the form fields (from sql database) using:

 pdfFormFields.SetField("Notes", cth.Notes.ToString());

The challenge I have is adding html contents, for example:

text text <img alt="" height="133" src="/Content/UserFiles/635380078478327671/Images/test.png" width="179" />

I used before HTMLWorker to generate paragraphs using:

public Paragraph CreateSimpleHtmlParagraph (String text)
    {

    string fontpath = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/Content/");
    BaseFont bf = BaseFont.CreateFont(fontpath + "ARIALUNI.ttf", BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
    var f = new Font(bf, 10, Font.NORMAL);
    var p = new Paragraph { Alignment = Element.ALIGN_LEFT, Font = f };
    var styles = new StyleSheet();
    styles.LoadTagStyle(HtmlTags.SPAN, HtmlTags.FONTSIZE, "10");
    styles.LoadTagStyle(HtmlTags.BODY, HtmlTags.ENCODING, BaseFont.IDENTITY_H);
    using (var sr = new StringReader(text))
        {
        var elements = iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser.HTMLWorker.ParseToList(sr, styles);
        foreach (var e in elements)
            {
            p.Add(e);
            }
        }
    return p;
    }

Can't figure out how can I add the paragraph to the form field, or even add a new page to the existing form or generating a new document and merging the form and the new document. Would appreciate your suggestions.

I don't think there has ever been a 4.7 version of iTextSharp (I should know, I'm the CEO of the iText Group), so you may be using an unofficial version. One usually doesn't get support on unofficial versions as we don't know what's inside such a version. — Bruno Lowagie
Before I answer, please answer this counter-question: do you need the resulting PDF to remain interactive or is it OK to flatten the form? — Bruno Lowagie

Bruno Lowagie Bruno Lowagie · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-11T08:04:16

Assuming that you want to flatten the form (I'll delete this answer if that's not your intention), I want to refer you to this example: MovieAds (see http://tinyurl.com/itextsharpIIA2C08 for the corresponding C# example).

You have a list of iText elements obtained from HTMLWorker. You are adding them to a Paragraph object. This is wrong. You should add them to a ColumnText object:

ColumnText ct = new ColumnText(canvas);
var elements = iTextSharp.text.html.simpleparser.HTMLWorker.ParseToList(sr, styles);
foreach (var e in elements) {
    ct.AddElement(e);
}

Now you need the position of the field:

AcroFields.FieldPosition f = form.GetFieldPositions("Notes")[0];

You can now use this FieldPosition object to define the rectangle for the ColumnText object:

ct.SetSimpleColumn(
    f.position.Left, f.position.GetBottom(2),
    f.position.GetRight(2), f.position.Top
  );

To render the elements you've added to ct, just do:

ct.Go();

Note that elements that don't fit into the rectangle will be omitted. That's why the example I refer to returns a Boolean:

return ColumnText.HasMoreText(ct.Go(simulate));

If the HasMoreText() method returns true, I try adding the same elements anew, but using a smaller font.

pdfstamper HTMLWorker itextSharp

1 Answers