Thank you Paulo!
Finally, it worked. As a summary I write down what I did for people who may
interest about it in the future.
My intention is to output one merged pdfs based on 1, 2... N auto-generated
pdf files (all dynamically generated based on the same template - XFA PDF
form), auto-filling out necessary fields based on database, leaving other
fields editable so that users can fill out them online.
(0) stamp.setFormFlattening(true);
stamp.partialFormFlattening(to_be_flattened_col_name);
(1) Remove XFA
PdfDictionary acro =
(PdfDictionary)PdfReader.getPdfObject(reader.getCatalog().get(PdfName.ACROFORM));
acro.remove(new PdfName("XFA"));
(2) Do AcroFields.renameField
Be careful:
http://1t3xt.info/api//com/lowagie/text/pdf/AcroFields.html#renameField(java.lang.String,%20java.lang.String)
Renames a field. Only the last part of the name can be renamed. For example,
if the original field is "ab.cd.ef" only the "ef" part can be renamed.
(3) Generated InputStream[] based on (1), (2)
(4) PdfCopyFields copy = new PdfCopyFields(new FileOutputStream(filename));
(5) for (int i=0; i< InputStream[].length; i++)
{
copy.addDocument(InputStream[i]);
}
copy.close();
output.flush();
output.close();
(6) Output the merged pdf through web browser
response.reset();
response.setContentType("application/pdf");
response.setContentLength(fileData.length);
response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline;filename=\""+
filename + "\";");
Now merged file with editable fields are displayed through web successfully
:clap:
I will provided a small example model to explain how I did it:
==========================================
. method1
private static InputStream method1(
String rename_i,
String col1,
String col2,
//... ...
String colN
)
{
try
{
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
PdfReader reader = null;
PdfStamper stamp = null;
reader = new PdfReader(ORG_PDF_PATH +
"template.pdf");
PdfDictionary acro = (PdfDictionary)
PdfReader.getPdfObject(reader.getCatalog().get(PdfName.ACROFORM));
acro.remove(new PdfName("XFA"));
//filling in the form
stamp = new PdfStamper(reader, baos);
AcroFields form1 = stamp.getAcroFields();
form1.renameField("form1[0].#subform[0].col1[0]",
"form1[0].#subform[0].col1_" + rename_i);
form1.renameField("form1[0].#subform[0].col2[0]",
"form1[0].#subform[0].col2_" + rename_i);
//... ...
form1.renameField("form1[0].#subform[0].colN[0]",
"form1[0].#subform[0].colN_" + rename_i);
form1.setField("col1_" + rename_i, col1);
form1.setField("col2_" + rename_i, col2);
//... ...
form1.setField("colN_" + rename_i, colN );
stamp.setFormFlattening(true);
stamp.partialFormFlattening("col1_" + rename_i);
stamp.partialFormFlattening("col2_" + rename_i);
//... ...
stamp.partialFormFlattening("colN_" + rename_i);
stamp.close();
return new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray());
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.err.println("Error msg: " + e.getMessage() + "\n");
}
return null;
}
. method 2
public synchronized static void method2(
HttpServletResponse res,
ServletOutputStream responseOut,
String names[]
)
{
String sql = "";
String name = "";
String col1 = "";
String col2 = "";
//... ...
String colN = "";
PdfReader[] pdfs_arr = new PdfReader[names.length];
try
{
for(int i=0 ; i< names.length; i++)
{
name = names[i];
//col1 = DBAction to retireve value
//col2 = DBAction to retrieve value
//...
//colN = DBAction to retrieve value
pdfs_arr[i] = new PdfReader(method1(
i + "",
col1,
col2,
//...,
colN
)
);
} //end of for-loop
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.out.println("\n\nPrint merged pdf error: " + e.getMessage()
+ "\n");
}
long milisec = Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis();
String filename = "temporal" + milisec + ".pdf";
try
{
File file = new File(filename);
OutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(file);
PdfCopyFields copy = new PdfCopyFields(new
FileOutputStream(filename));
for (int i=0; i< pdfs_arr.length; i++)
{
copy.addDocument(pdfs_arr[i]);
}
copy.close();
output.flush();
output.close();
byte[] fileData = new byte[(int)file.length()];
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file);
fis.read(fileData);
res.reset();
res.setContentType("application/pdf");
res.setContentLength(fileData.length);
res.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline;filename=\""+ filename
+ "\";");
responseOut.write(fileData);
responseOut.flush();
responseOut.close();
responseOut.flush();
responseOut.close();
file.delete();
fis.close();
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.out.println("Any error: " + e.getMessage() + "\n");
}
}
Paulo Soares-3 wrote:
>
> PdfCopyFields works with the fields at its disposal and if they have the
> same name they will have the same value and that is to be expected. What's
> generally done is to rename the fields, by adding a _1 for the first pdf
> _2 for the second and so on for example. You can do it with
> AcroFields.renameField().
>
> Paulo
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: luy [mailto:[email protected]]
>> Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 2:19 PM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: Re: [iText-questions] PDF merge with some fields
>> still editable
>>
>>
>> Thank you Paulo,
>>
>> PdfCopyFields would copy the value as well, wouldn't it? I
>> tried it, and I
>> got:
>>
>> change fields1 in pdf1,
>> pdf2.field1 is updated as well - this is not what I want, I
>> want pdf1.fields
>> are totally unrelated to pdf2.... pdfN's fields.
>>
>> Some comments?
>>
>> --
>> Lu Ying
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Paulo Soares-3 wrote:
>> >
>> > If you use PdfCopyFields editable fields will still be editable and
>> > flattened fields will still be flattened.
>> >
>> > Paulo
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "luy" <[email protected]>
>> > To: <[email protected]>
>> > Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 9:49 PM
>> > Subject: Re: [iText-questions] PDF merge with some fields
>> still editable
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Is is possible that pdf1, pdf2... pdfN to be merged into
>> pdf_merge.pdf and
>> > at
>> > the same time,
>> >
>> > pdf1.editable fields are still editable?
>> >
>> > It seems that when all pdf files are merged, editable fields are
>> > flattened?
>> > Each pdf1... pdf2 are pdf files generated with partialFormFlattening
>> >
>> > <pre>
>> > Tried many ways but still cannot generated the merged pdf
>> file with fields
>> > in each pdf file is still editable.
>> >
>> > Need help about how itext do this:
>> >
>> > pdf1: 2 fields are flattened; 5 fields are editable
>> > pdf2: 3 fields are flattened; 4 fields are editable
>> > ...
>> > pdfN: 1 field is flattened; 6 fields are editable
>> >
>> > result.pdf (merging pdf1, pdf2.... pdfN)
>> > pdf1: still 2 fields flattened; 5 editable fields
>> > pdf2: still 3 fields flattened; 4 editable fields
>> > ... ...
>> >
>> > </pre>
>
>
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is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your
developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay
ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference
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You can also search the keywords list: http://1t3xt.info/tutorials/keywords/
