Creating pdf documents in java

I can only use the default Java API, and can't use external ones. How do I write to a PDF? I've tried just writing with a FileOutputStream, and it didn't work. Improve this question. Chris Shafer Chris Shafer 68 1 1 silver badge 6 6 bronze badges. PDF format is owned by the iron proprietary fist of Adobe and it's also a complex image file, not text. What kinds of documents do you want to create? As long as it is only about a few small ones only using Standard 14 Fonts, no images, a lightweight PDF creation class is feasible.

The PDF specification is only one part of what you need to understand and put into code. SlaterTyranus it is an ISO standard too. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer.

John Sulik John Sulik 76 1 1 silver badge 8 8 bronze badges. Try this one. The author only uses the default Java APIs, which fits your need: import java. FileWriter; import java. IOException; import java. ArrayList; import java. HashMap; import java. List; import java. Map; import java. The following are the components used in creating an empty PDF doc.

PdfWritter The PdfWritter class belongs to the package com. While instantiating an object of PdfWritter object, we have to pass a string value, which represents the path of the file, where we want the PDF to be created. PdfDocument The PdfDocument class belongs to the package com. This class represents the PDF Document. While instantiating this class, we have to pass the PdfWriter object as an argument. Document The Document class belongs to the package com.

It is one of the core classes in IText. While instantiating the Document class, we need to pass the PdfDocument object as an argument.

Closing the Document. Close the document using the close method of the Document class as shown below. PdfDocument; import com. You can create a list and then add list-items to PDF with ease. You can also pass a symbol for marking the list-items Unicode character. You can also select a numbered or lettered list.

There are also specialized classes for Roman letters and Greek letters.