iText - Persistence of pagestamp in PdfCopy

Question

I'm using iText 4.2.1 to generate my pdf reports. So basically I have a PDF template which contains a cover page, end page and a content page (that just contains an image header).

I'm using PdfCopy & PdfImportedPage to copy my template and PageStamp to add my content dynamically.

Need: I need to use the content page many times: as much as content pages in my report.

Problem: If I use pdfCopy.createPageStamp(importedPage) and ColumnText.showTextAligned to add some text the stamp persists over the next content pages. Thus my content page n°2 contains the text of the 1st one (added by PageStamp) and its own text (added by another PageStamp).

Here is an example of code:


    // Init
    Document doc = new Document();
    PdfCopy pdfCopy = new PdfCopy( doc, new FileOutputStream( new File("Result.pdf") ) );
    doc.open();
    PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader( "pdf-template.pdf" );

    // Page 1
    PdfImportedPage importedPage1= pdfCopy.getImportedPage(pdfReader, 2);
    String text1= "Text of the first page - 1";
    PageStamp stamp1 = pdfCopy.createPageStamp( importedPage1 );
    ColumnText.showTextAligned( stamp.getOverContent(), Element.ALIGN_CENTER,
                                new Phrase(text1), 400, 500, 0 );
    stamp.alterContents();
    pdfCopy.addPage(importedPage1);

    // Page 2
    PdfImportedPage importedPage2= pdfCopy.getImportedPage(pdfReader, 2);
    String text2 = "Text of the second page - 2";
    PageStamp stamp2 = pdfCopy.createPageStamp( importedPage2 );
    ColumnText.showTextAligned( stamp2.getOverContent(), Element.ALIGN_CENTER, 
                                new Phrase(text2), 200, 700, 0 );
    stamp2.alterContents();
    pdfCopy.addPage(importedPage2);

    // Closing
    doc.close();

--> In the 2nd page I will see my text1 and my text2

I tried using the same PdfImportedPage: same result.

I tried using the same PageStamp: same result.

I tried using a different PdfReader: it works but is this really the solution??

Thanks for your help.

There is no such thing as iText 4.2.1. Read about this rogue version and you'll understand that nobody really knows what's inside iText 4.2.1. It's an unofficial version endorsed by no one. I don't think anyone will help you as long as you use a version older than iText 5. — Bruno Lowagie
You should get support from the company that created that fork. Problem is, that company no longer exists. Or ask the developer who forked, ymasory. Problem is, they are probably not interested. — Amedee Van Gasse

mkl mkl · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-15T12:00:49

@Bruno and @Amedee already commented on using a version 4.2.1, so I do not need to talk about that. The question you ask still is valid for the current iText version, though. Thus:

Problem: If I use pdfCopy.createPageStamp(importedPage) and ColumnText.showTextAligned to add some text the stamp persists over the next content pages. Thus my content page n°2 contains the text of the 1st one (added by PageStamp) and its own text (added by another PageStamp).

This is to be expected as it is the documented behavior. Have a look at the PdfCopy.createPageStamp JavaDocs:

/**
 * Create a page stamp. New content and annotations, including new fields, are allowed.
 * The fields added cannot have parents in another pages. This method modifies the PdfReader instance.<p>
 * The general usage to stamp something in a page is:
 * <p>
 * <pre>
 * PdfImportedPage page = copy.getImportedPage(reader, 1);
 * PdfCopy.PageStamp ps = copy.createPageStamp(page);
 * ps.addAnnotation(PdfAnnotation.createText(copy, new Rectangle(50, 180, 70, 200), "Hello", "No Thanks", true, "Comment"));
 * PdfContentByte under = ps.getUnderContent();
 * under.addImage(img);
 * PdfContentByte over = ps.getOverContent();
 * over.beginText();
 * over.setFontAndSize(bf, 18);
 * over.setTextMatrix(30, 30);
 * over.showText("total page " + totalPage);
 * over.endText();
 * ps.alterContents();
 * copy.addPage(page);
 * </pre>
 * @param iPage an imported page
 * @return the <CODE>PageStamp</CODE>
 */
public PageStamp createPageStamp(PdfImportedPage iPage)

(PdfCopy.java)

As it says in the second line: This method modifies the PdfReader instance.

Thus,

I tried using a different PdfReader: it works but is this really the solution??

This is one solution but depending on the source PDF quite a resource-intensive one. Another one is to use PdfCopy without PageStamps and apply your changes in a separate PdfStamper. Depending on your use case there are other ones...

PageStamps represent a very lightweight way to stamp while copying because they simply manipulate the PdfReader and do not have to build their own intermediary structures. In case of incompatible use cases,

iText - Persistence of pagestamp in PdfCopy

1 Answers