ITextSharp insert text to an existing pdf

Tony picture Tony · Oct 22, 2010 · Viewed 135.4k times · Source

The title sums it all.

I want to add a text to an existing PDF file using iTextSharp, however i can't find how to do it anywhere in the web...

PS: I cannot use PDF forms.

Answer

Tony picture Tony · Nov 3, 2010

I found a way to do it (dont know if it is the best but it works)

string oldFile = "oldFile.pdf";
string newFile = "newFile.pdf";

// open the reader
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(oldFile);
Rectangle size = reader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(1);
Document document = new Document(size);

// open the writer
FileStream fs = new FileStream(newFile, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, fs);
document.Open();

// the pdf content
PdfContentByte cb = writer.DirectContent;

// select the font properties
BaseFont bf = BaseFont.CreateFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, BaseFont.CP1252,BaseFont.NOT_EMBEDDED);
cb.SetColorFill(BaseColor.DARK_GRAY);
cb.SetFontAndSize(bf, 8);

// write the text in the pdf content
cb.BeginText();
string text = "Some random blablablabla...";
// put the alignment and coordinates here
cb.ShowTextAligned(1, text, 520, 640, 0);
cb.EndText();
cb.BeginText();
text = "Other random blabla...";
// put the alignment and coordinates here
cb.ShowTextAligned(2, text, 100, 200, 0);
cb.EndText();

// create the new page and add it to the pdf
PdfImportedPage page = writer.GetImportedPage(reader, 1);
cb.AddTemplate(page, 0, 0);

// close the streams and voilá the file should be changed :)
document.Close();
fs.Close();
writer.Close();
reader.Close();

I hope this can be usefull for someone =) (and post here any errors)