Convert TXT file to PDF using iText (keep formatting)

Question

I am trying to convert a .txt file into a .pdf file using iText library. The problem that I am facing is the following:

I have a clear formatting in the txt file, something similar with this:

TEXT                                   *******************
Other text here                        * SOME_CODE_HERE_ *
Other text                             *******************

And in the output the formatting is gone and looks like this:

TEXT           ******************
Other text here         * SOME_CODE_HERE_ *
Other text          ******************

The code looks like this:

public static boolean convertTextToPDF(File file) throws Exception {

    BufferedReader br = null;

    try {

        Document pdfDoc = new Document(PageSize.A4);
        String output_file = file.getName().replace(".txt", ".pdf");
        System.out.println("## writing to: " + output_file);
        PdfWriter.getInstance(pdfDoc, new FileOutputStream(output_file)).setPdfVersion(PdfWriter.VERSION_1_7);;

        pdfDoc.open();

        Font myfont = new Font();
        myfont.setStyle(Font.NORMAL);
        myfont.setSize(11);

        pdfDoc.add(new Paragraph("\n"));

        if (file.exists()) {

            br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
            String strLine;

            while ((strLine = br.readLine()) != null) {
                Paragraph para = new Paragraph(strLine + "\n", myfont);
                para.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_JUSTIFIED);
                pdfDoc.add(para);
            }
        } else {
            System.out.println("no such file exists!");
            return false;
        }
        pdfDoc.close();
    }

    catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        if (br != null) 
            br.close();
    }

    return true;
}

I also tried to create a BaseFont with IDENTITY_H but it doesn't work. I guess it's about the encoding or something like that. What do you think? I run out of solutions...

Thanks

LE: As suggested by Alan, and by the tutorial from iText's page, I used this part in addition with my existing code and it works fine.

        BaseFont courier = BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.COURIER, BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
        Font myfont = new Font(courier);

Answer 1

You need to use a Monospaced Font e.g. Courier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monospaced_font

http://itextpdf.com/examples/iia.php?id=208

Answer 2

I know this is old, but i had the same problem in converting text files into pdf's and i used this (i wrote this in vb.net):

 Dim pdfDoc As Document = New Document(PageSize.A4) 
 Dim pdfWrite As PdfWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(pdfDoc, New FileStream(pdfFoldername & "\" & "name of file", FileMode.Create))
 pdfDoc.Open()
 Dim courier As BaseFont = BaseFont.CreateFont(BaseFont.COURIER, BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.EMBEDDED)
 Dim myfont As iTextSharp.text.Font = New iTextSharp.text.Font(courier, 10)
 Dim para As Paragraph = New Paragraph(page, myfont)
 pdfDoc.Add(para)

The difference to the above answer and updated code is using '10' as my font size. That made the PDF look identical to the formatting from the text file.