ITextSharp Helper Class

• Download source code - 2.37 MB

Introduction

ITextSharp is a library used to create PDF documents. It provides all of the primitive functions necessary to create a PDF document. However, since all of the methods are based on primitive operations, it is easy to confuse the look and feel of a document without enforcing certain standards. This helper class provides two key benefits. First, it simplifies the creation of PDF documents. Second, it helps enforce standards in terms of the look and feel of a document.

This class simplifies the creation process by providing a solid foundation to build your documents on. A lot of the research has been done here and is contained in a ready to use, inheritable class. The code you need to implement dynamic page footers, tables, paragraphs, and images is contained in the class.

The class also helps enforce the standards necessary to provide a uniform look and feel for your PDF document. Since ITextSharp uses primitive operations to build a document, every paragraph and table cell requires a significant amount of decoration to be displayed in the desired format. These calls help by providing standard paragraph, table cells, and phrase factory methods that will help ensure your document always has the same spacing between paragraphs, same font, and other factors that help build a professional looking document.

Background

One of the features exemplified in the helper class is the footer support. In ITextSharp 5.0, developers removed a header-footer class that provided headers and footers. The same functionality can be obtained using OnPageEnd and OnPageStart; however, it is not as easy to implement as the pre-version 5.0 solution.

Using the Code

The heart of this solution is the ITextLetterBase class. This class is designed to be inherited by a working class that will generate the letter. This class would be an excellent candidate for any framework in a shop that uses ITextSharp.

Methods

Properties and Objects

How to Use this Code

Step 1. For the purposes of this demonstration, I will create a console application. Be sure to include references to ITextsharp and System.Drawing.

Step 2. Create a new class to build the document. For example, Letter1. This class needs to inherit the ITextLetterBase class.

public class Letter1 : ITextLetterBase
{
    public Letter1()
    {}
}

Step 3. Add the GenerateLetter method. This is the method that will contain the instructions on creating the letter. The first call in this method should be to GenerateLetterBase(). Then, add the objects and paragraphs you need to create the letter.

public void GenerateLetter()
{  
    // Create ITextSharp Objects
    GenerateLetterBase();
 
    l1.Add(HeaderLogo());
 
    l1.Add(WriteAddress(new AddressType("John Q. Public",
            string.Empty, "Suite 401", "123 Rose Street",
            "Pasadena", "CA", "11111")));
 
    l1.Add(DateLine());
 
    l1.Add(REBlock(new Paragraph("A New Beginning")));
    l1.Add(SalutationLine());
 
    Paragraph p = NewParagraph();
 
    p.Add(ParaLine("Greetings!  This letter was created using the" +
           "ITextLetterBase class.  It makes creating PDF's relatively” +
           "simple and provides automatic footer operations. "));
 
    l1.Add(p);
    l1.Add(NewParagraph("This class was created to help standardize " +
     "the look and feel of a pdf generated by a .Net " +
     "applications.   Before this helper class existed, the " +
     "developer would have to apply styles separately to each “ +
     "paragraph. ));
    Phrase ph = new Phrase("I really hope you find the class and " +
           " this ", fontGeneralText);
    Phrase ph2 = new Phrase("example ",fontBoldText );
    Phrase ph3 = new Phrase("to be useful.", fontGeneralText);
    Paragraph p2 = NewParagraph();
    p2.Add(ph);
    p2.Add(ph2);
    p2.Add(ph3);
    l1.Add(p2);
 
    Closing();

Step 4. Once you have added the content, you need to close the document.

  l1.Close();    // closes the pdf document
      DocumentBytes = PDFStream.GetBuffer();    // creates a byte array.
}

Step 5. Change the Main to use the class:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Letter1 mydoc = new Letter1();
    mydoc.GenerateLetter();
    FileStream f = new FileStream("fileout.pdf", FileMode.Create);
    f.Write(mydoc.DocumentBytes, 0, mydoc.DocumentBytes.Length);
 
    f.Close();
}

In this example, I am writing the contents of DocumentBytes to a file called fileout.pdf.

Points of Interest

Remember to change the base class properties to reflect your organizational needs.

This class should be expanded as you see the need for more standardized classes.

Headers and footers are always more complicated because you cannot write to the document element directly. For example, you could not do “l1.add(footer)” at the page end because it would conflict with the usable page area. Instead, we write a “template” directly to the PDF at a specified location. This may also create a challenge if your footer or header is too large. It will overlap the body area of the document. To avoid this, you need to adjust the body margins of the document object.

History

• May 2010 – First release
• July 2010 - Updated source code