Develop Reference

Why is my copied PDF file sized incorrect?

I need to remove the first few pages of a PDF file. Apparently, the easiest way to do that is to create a copy of it and not duplicate the unwanted pages. This works, but they look a lot smaller than they should. Any ideas?
How it should look
How it actually looks
private static void ClipSpecificPDF(string input, string output, int pagesToCut)
{
PdfReader myReader = new PdfReader(input);
using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(output, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None))
{
using (Document doc = new Document())
{
using (PdfWriter myWriter = PdfWriter.GetInstance(doc, fs))
{
//Open the desitination for writing
doc.Open();
//Loop through each page that we want to keep
for (int i = pagesToCut; i < myReader.NumberOfPages; i++)
{
//Add a new blank page to destination document
var PS = myReader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(i);
myWriter.SetPageSize(PS);
doc.NewPage();
//Extract the given page from our reader and add it directly to the destination PDF
myWriter.DirectContent.AddTemplate(myWriter.GetImportedPage(myReader, i + 1), 0, 0);
}
//Close our document
doc.Close();
}
}
}
}

The problem you describe is explained in the FAQ. For instance in the answer to the questions:
How to merge documents correctly?
Why does the function to concatenate / merge PDFs cause issues in some cases?
Using PdfWriter to manipulate PDF documents is a very bad idea. Read chapter 6 of my book to discover why this is a bad idea, and take a look at Table 6.1 to find out which class is a better fit.
In the same chapter, you'll find the SelectPages example. Suppose that you want to create a new PDF containing only page 4 to 8. In that case, you simply use the SelectPages() method and PdfStamper:
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(src);
reader.SelectPages("4-8");
PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, new FileStream(dest, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write));
stamper.Close();
reader.Close();
By using PdfReader, the page size is preserved, as well as any of the interactive features that may be present.
Your approach is bad because you do not respect the original page size: you copy a document with letter (?) format to a document with A4 pages. If the origin of the page doesn't correspond with the lower-left corner, parts of your document will be invisible. If there are interactive features in your PDF, they will be lost. Of all the possible examples you could have followed, you picked the worst one...

Drawing on PDF using ITextSharp, without creating a new PDF

i try to draw simple shapes (rectangles, circles..) on an existing PDF using ITextSharp, without having to create a new PDF. I found a post who talk about this issue (itextsharp modify existing pdf (no new source pdf) and add watermark) and i would like to know if anybody could tell me more about it.
my aim is to modify a pdf by adding a circle on it, the current solution involve the creation of a new PDF (Itextsharp). Is it possible to add a circle on a PDF without creating a new one ?
Thank you.
J.

You can't read a file and write to it simultaneously. Think of how Word works: you can't open a Word document and write directly to it. Word always creates a temporary file, writes the changes to it, then replaces the original file with it and then throws away the temporary file.
You can do that too:
read the original file with PdfReader,
create a temporary file for PdfStamper, and when you're done,
replace the original file with the temporary file.
Or:
read the original file into a byte[],
create PdfReader with this byte[], and
use the path to the original file for PdfStamper.
This second option is more dangerous, as you'll lose the original file if you do something that causes an exception in PdfStamper.
As for adding content with PdfStamper, please take a look at the section entitled "Manipulating existing PDFs" in the free ebook The Best iText Questions on StackOverflow. You'll find questions such as:
How to add a watermark to a PDF file?
How do I insert a hyperlink to another page with iTextSharp in an existing PDF?
iText - How to stamp image on existing PDF and create an anchor
...
All of these examples add content by creating a PdfContentByte instance like this:
PdfContentByte canvas = stamper.getOverContent(pagenumber);
It's this canvas you need to use when drawing a circle on the page with page number pagenumber. It is important that you use the correct coordinates when you do this. That's explained here: How to position text relative to page using iText?
Update:
Json posted the following code in the comments:
string oldFile = #"C:\Users\ae40394\Desktop\hello.pdf";
string newFile = #"C:\Users\ae40394\Desktop\NEW.pdf";
// creating a reader with the original PDF
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(oldFile);
Rectangle rect = reader.GetPageSize(1);
FileStream fs = new FileStream(newFile,FileMode.Create);
using (PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, fs)) {
// modify the pdf content
PdfContentByte cb = stamper.GetOverContent(1);
cb.SetColorStroke(iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.GREEN);
cb.SetLineWidth(5f);
cb.Circle(rect.GetLeft() + 30, rect.GetBottom() + 30 ,20f);
cb.Stroke();
}
reader.Close();
File.Replace(#"C:\Users\ae40394\Desktop\NEW.pdf", #"C:\Users\ae40394\Desktop\hello.pdf", #"C:\Users\ae40394\Desktop\hello.pdf.bac");
I slightly adapted the code, because:
There is no need for a Document object,
The stamper is closed when using is closed,
When the stamper is closed, so is the FileStream
the coordinates of the circle were hard coded. I used the page size to make sure they are made relative to the origin of the coordinate system, although to be sure, you may also want to check if there's a Crop Box.

You CAN read a file and write to it simultaneously.
Here is an example:
private void button4_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
using (PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(new FileStream(pdfInput, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read)))
{
using (PdfStamper pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader, new FileStream(pdfInput, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None)))
{
PdfContentByte canvas = pdfStamper.GetUnderContent(1);
canvas.SetColorFill(BaseColor.YELLOW);
canvas.Rectangle(36, 786, 66, 16);
canvas.Fill();
}
}
// PDF Datei im Anschluss anzeigen/öffnen
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(pdfInput);
}

string oldFile = #"C:\...6166-21.pdf";
string newFile = #"C:\...NEW.pdf";
// open the reader
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(oldFile);
Rectangle size = reader.GetPageSizeWithRotation(1);
Document document = new Document(size);
FileStream fs = new FileStream(newFile, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, fs);
document.Open();
// the pdf content
PdfContentByte cb = writer.DirectContent;
cb.SetColorStroke(iTextSharp.text.BaseColor.GREEN);
cb.Circle(150f, 150f, 50f);
cb.Stroke();
// 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();

Change object's color inside existiong PDF with iTextSharp

Major part of my job is automation of engineering process, so I have to create simple program, that compares 2 different version of 1 drawn element, by overlapping drawings, in order to review differences. Drawings represent single sheet PDF files.
I'm using .Net Framework and C# 4.5;
iTextSharp library for editing PDF files;
Initially, I'm getting 2 files, read them and create the third one, that contains the result;
var file1 = "file1.pdf";
var file2 = "file2.pdf";
var result = "result.pdf";
using (Stream f1Stream = new FileStream(file1, FileMode.Open))
using (Stream f2Stream = new FileStream(file2, FileMode.Open))
using (Stream resultStream = new FileStream(result, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite))
using (PdfReader f2Reader = new PdfReader(f2Stream))
using (PdfReader f1Reader = new PdfReader(f1Stream))
{
PdfStamper pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(f1Reader, resultStream);
PdfContentByte pdfContentByte = pdfStamper.GetOverContent(1);
var page = pdfStamper.GetImportedPage(f2Reader, 1);
pdfContentByte.AddTemplate(page,2,2);
pdfStamper.Close();
}
The code above makes just that, but a few sequential questions are arising
I want to change the color of elements in the result file i.e. elements that come from the 1st drawing in green and the others from 2nd one - in red color. Maybe I have to change the color of entities in initial 2 PDFs and then to merge;
Initial files have layers, and because they are two sequential revision of the same construction element and differences between them are very few, they have identical layers. And I want to have " layerFoo " and " layerFoo# " in the result PDF. Maybe I have to rename all the layers in one the the 2 initial PDFs and then to merge them.
Аll suggestions are welcomed including usage of another library :)
--> Edit1
Big thanks to Chris Haas! You are absolutely right for token type and string value! iTextRUPS is great helping tool for understanding the structure of PDF files.
Following code is taken from the post that you pointed me out.
The following statement:
stream.SetData(System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(String.Join("\n", newBuf.ToArray())));
updates the stream of the file and then with
using (var fs = new FileStream(file2, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None))
{
var stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, fs);
reader.SetPageContent(1,reader.GetPageContent(1));
stamper.Close();
}
the new file is created with updated stream.
I made 1 simple test file with only 2 lines, change their color and save back to a new file.
No problem!
After that, I tried the same simple operation with real file, that represents real drawing of construction element, the result file was less than half of the original and was broken.
What comes to mind is the updated stream is saved to the new file but the other information inside other containers is not saved, it's just the stream.
Because I stuck with that, I continue to the next step of investigation -> layers
I wrote this code in order to get available layers in a PDF file. I will try to insert more records into layers dictionary to see what will happen.
var resourcesReference = page.Get(PdfName.RESOURCES) as PdfIndirectReference;
var resources = PdfReader.GetPdfObject(resourcesReference) as PdfDictionary;
var propertiesObjhectReferences = resources.Get(PdfName.PROPERTIES);
var properties = PdfReader.GetPdfObject(propertiesObjhectReferences) as PdfDictionary;
foreach (var property in properties.Keys)
{
var layerReference = properties.Get(property);
var layerObject = PdfReader.GetPdfObject(layerReference) as PdfDictionary;
foreach (var key in layerObject.Keys)
{
if (key.ToString()!=PdfName.TYPE.ToString())
{
var layerName = layerObject.GetAsString(key).ToUnicodeString();
}
}
}
If I come back to my main goal from the top of the post, I tends to insert the stream and layers from first file into second in order to obtain result file, that contains objects from the previous 2, painted in different colors + layers from both.
Feel free to suggest me another, more simpler and beautiful solution! I will be happy if you revise my code and correct it! Thank You very much!
EDIT 2
I will simplify the work because the lack of time, just change the color of entities inside one PDF and put it on the background on the other.
const string Pdf = "file1.pdf";
var reader = new PdfReader(Pdf);
var page = reader.GetPageN(1);
var objectReference = page.Get(PdfName.CONTENTS) as PdfIndirectReference;
var stream = (PRStream)PdfReader.GetPdfObject(objectReference);
var streamBytes = PdfReader.GetStreamBytes(stream);
var tokenizer = new PRTokeniser(new RandomAccessFileOrArray(streamBytes));
var newBuf = new List<string>();
while (tokenizer.NextToken())
{
var token = tokenizer.StringValue;
newBuf.Add(token);
if (tokenizer.TokenType == PRTokeniser.TokType.OTHER
&& newBuf[newBuf.Count - 1].Equals("S", StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))
{
newBuf.Insert(newBuf.Count - 1, "0");
newBuf.Insert(newBuf.Count - 1, "1");
newBuf.Insert(newBuf.Count - 1, "1");
newBuf.Insert(newBuf.Count - 1, "RG");
}
}
var resultStream = String.Join("\n", newBuf.ToArray());
stream.SetData(System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(resultStream));
var file2 = Pdf.Insert(Pdf.Length - 4, "Result");
using (var fs = new FileStream(file2, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None))
{
var stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, fs);
reader.SetPageContent(1, reader.GetPageContent(1));
stamper.Close();
}
Result PDF is broken and iTextRUPS throws exception when try to get the stream data from the page.

How to add new page in pdf for multiple record iTextsharp

I have an xml and mapping to pdf form field using iTextsharp. It works well for single record. But when multiple records are there, it does not add 2nd record in the output pdf. Here is a code
public static void GeneratePdf(string sin, List<XElement> elements)
{
var pdfTemplate = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/input.pdf");
var newFile = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/output.pdf");
var pdfReader = new PdfReader(pdfTemplate);
var pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader, new FileStream(
newFile, FileMode.Create));
foreach (var element in elements)
{
foreach (var elem in elements.Elements())
{
pdfStamper.AcroFields.SetField(elem.Name.ToString(), (string)elem);
}
}
pdfStamper.FormFlattening = false;
pdfStamper.Close();
}

Your question is unclear because you're telling us nothing about the nature of your form.
IF YOU'RE FORM IS BASED ON ACROFORM TECHNOLOGY
Please take a look at this video tutorial: http://itextpdf.com/codenvy_webapp
You can find the examples used in this tutorial here: https://github.com/blowagie/itextsamples
You can also find the standalone examples here: http://itextpdf.com/sandbox/acroforms/reporting
Note that there's an example "HOW NOT TO DO IT". Make sure you use the correct example: FillFlattenMerge2
Document document = new Document();
PdfCopy copy = new PdfSmartCopy(document, new FileOutputStream(dest));
document.open();
ByteArrayOutputStream baos;
PdfReader reader;
PdfStamper stamper;
AcroFields fields;
while (myApp.hasMoreRecords()) {
baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
reader = new PdfReader(SRC);
stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, baos);
fields = stamper.getAcroFields();
myApp.processNextRecord(fields);
stamper.setFormFlattening(true);
stamper.close();
reader.close();
// add the PDF to PdfCopy
reader = new PdfReader(baos.toByteArray());
copy.addDocument(reader);
reader.close();
}
document.close();
Note that myApp is an instance of a custom class you could write to loop over a record set. You'd implement a method hasMoreRecords() and processNextRecord() to loop over the records and process them one by one.
IF YOUR FORM IS BASED ON THE XML FORMS ARCHITECTURE
In this case, you're using the wrong methods. You can't fill out a dynamic form using the setField() method. The fact that it works for one record is a sign that your form is either an AcroForm or a hybrid XFA form. In both cases you can NOT achieve what you want without changing your form into a pure, dynamic XFA form.
As soon as you have a pure, dynamic XFA form, you need to use this code:
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(src);
PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(reader,
new FileOutputStream(dest));
AcroFields form = stamper.getAcroFields();
XfaForm xfa = form.getXfa();
xfa.fillXfaForm(new FileInputStream(xml));
stamper.close();
reader.close();
I repeat: this code snippet will only work if you have a correct form. Elements in your question indicate that this is not the case. If your form isn't a dynamic XFA form, you won't find any software that can achieve what you want!!!
Watch these movies for more info: http://itextpdf.com/product/xfa_worker

Underline form field value using itextsharp

I have an application that uses itextsharp to fill PDF form fields.
I got new requirement from the customer to allow underlining the fields values.
I have read many posts including answers to questions in this site but I could't figure out a way to do it.
Current my code does the following:
Creates a PDFStamper instance
Get the form fields using stamper.AcroFields property
Set the field value using the AcroFields.SetFieldRichValue() method.
But when I am opening the PDF the field is empty.
I verified that the field is set as rich text in the PDF itself.
Any idea what I am doing wrong ?
Here is a snnipest of my code:
FileStream stream = File.Open(targetFile, FileMode.Create);
var pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(new PdfReader(sourceFile), stream);
// Iterate the fields in the PDF
foreach (var fieldName in pdfStamper.AcroFields.Fields.Keys)
{
// Get the field value of the current field
var fieldValue = "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><body xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xtml\" xmlns:xfa=\"http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/\" xfa:contentType=\"text/html\" xfa:APIVersion=\"Acrobat:8.0.0\" xfa:spec=\"2.4\"><p style=\"text-align:left\"><b><i>Here is some bold italic text</i></b></p><p style= \"font-size:16pt\">This text uses default text state parameters but changes the font size to 16.</p></body>"
// Set the field value
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(fieldValue) == false)
{
pdfStamper.AcroFields.SetFieldRichValue(key, fieldValue);
}
}
Edit:
I have revised my code based on Mark Storer's post to a question (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1454701/adding-rich-text-to-an-acrofield-in-itextsharp). The new code is:
// Create reader to read the source file
var reader = new PdfReader(sourceFile);
// Create a stream for the generated file
var stream = File.Open(targetFile, FileMode.Create);
// Create stamper to generate the new file
var pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(reader, stream);
// Field name and value
var fieldName = "myfield";
var fieldValue = "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><body xfa:APIVersion=\"Acroform:2.7.0.0\" xfa:spec=\"2.1\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\" xmlns:xfa=\"http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/\"><p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12pt\"><b>write line1 bold</b></p</body>";
// Output stream for the temporary file that should contain the apearance of the field
var msOutput = new FileStream(#"d:\temp.pdf", FileMode.Create);
// string reader to read the field value
var textReader = new StringReader(fieldValue);
// Create new document
var document = new Document(pdfStamper.AcroFields.GetFieldPositions(fieldName)[0].position);
// writer for the new doucment
var writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, msOutput);
// Open the document
document.Open();
// Get elements to append to the doucment
var list = HTMLWorker.ParseToList(textReader, null);
// Append elements to the doucment
foreach (var element in list)
{
document.Add(element);
}
// close the documnet
document.Close();
// Append push button that contains the generated content as its apearance
// this approach is based on the suggestion from Mark storer that can be found in:
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1454701/adding-rich-text-to-an-acrofield-in-itextsharp
var button = new PushbuttonField(pdfStamper.Writer, pdfStamper.AcroFields.GetFieldPositions(fieldName)[0].position, fieldName + "_")
{
Layout = PushbuttonField.LAYOUT_ICON_ONLY,
BackgroundColor = null,
Template = pdfStamper.Writer.GetImportedPage(new PdfReader(targetFile, 1)
};
pdfStamper.AddAnnotation(button.Field, 1);
pdfStamper.FormFlattening = true;
pdfStamper.Close();
pdfStamper.Dispose();
But the problem now is that the temporary document contains no content....
Any ideas ?

There's a lot of code above, almost 400 lines. In the future, try to distill everything down to a very simple and reproducible test case.
When using SetFieldRichValue you also need to set the PdfStamper's AcroFields.GenerateAppearances property to false:
stamper.AcroFields.GenerateAppearances = false;
You can read more about this here along with some caveats and other workarounds.

I managed to resolve it with little trick - I used Anchor (hyperling) element inside ColumnText element and position it above the form field. The anchor is displayed with underline by default. In order to avoid the hand marker when the user hover the mouse on the anchor, I set the "Reference" property of the anchor to null.
Here is the code I used:
// Create reader
var reader = new PdfReader(sourceFilePathAndName);
// Create stream for the target file
var stream = File.Open(targetFilePathAndName, FileMode.Create);
// Create the stamper
var pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(reader, stream);
const string fieldName = "MyField";
// Get the position of the field
var targetPosition = pdfStamper.AcroFields.GetFieldPositions(fieldName)[0].position;
// Set the font
var fontNormal = FontFactory.GetFont("Arial", 16, Font.UNDERLINE, BaseColor.BLACK);
// Create the anchor
var url = new Anchor("some default text", fontNormal) { Reference = null };
// Create the element that will contain the anchor and allow to position it anywhere on the document
var data = new ColumnText(pdfStamper.GetOverContent(1));
// Add the anchor to its container
data.SetSimpleColumn(url, targetPosition.Left, targetPosition.Bottom, targetPosition.Right, targetPosition.Top, 0, 0);
// Write the content to the document
data.Go();
pdfStamper.FormFlattening = true;
pdfStamper.Close();
pdfStamper.Dispose();