Creating a wicked Film Festival VIP Pass with iText - Part 1 (CODE)

Here is the full code for Creating a wicked Film Festival VIP Pass with iText - Part 1

UPDATE: I wanted to re-emphasize an issue that is mentioned in the instructions for this entry. MX users that are running the JavaLoader.cfc must read the article Using a Java URLClassLoader in CFMX Can Cause a Memory Leak.

In summary it is recommended that you store a single instance of the javaLoader in the server scope, rather than creating a new object each time (as in the code below). This prevents a memory leak caused by a bug in ColdFusion MX. I do not know if this bug exists in ColdFusion 8.

The code for this example creates a new instance of the JavaLoader on each request. This was intended only to demonstrate how to use the JavaLoader. To avoid any confusion, my future code examples will use a server scoped object instead.

Stay tuned for Part 2

<h1>Accreditation Card Example - Step 1 (CreateForm)</h1>
<cfscript>
    savedErrorMessage = "";
 
    // cfSearching: All file paths are relative to the current directory
 // cfSearching: Your file paths may be different
 fullPathToOutputFile = ExpandPath("./accreditation_form.pdf");
 fullPathToKubrikImage = ExpandPath("./kubrick.jpg");
 fullPathToFFLogoImage = ExpandPath("./fflogo.jpg");
 fullPathToYourImage = ExpandPath("./yourPersonImage.jpg");
 fullPathToITextJar = ExpandPath("./iText-2.0.7.jar");
 dotNotationPathToJavaLoader = "javaloader.JavaLoader";
  
 // cfSearching: page width and height in millimeters
 WIDTH = mmToPoints(53.98);
 HEIGHT = mmToPoints(85.60);

 pathsForJavaLoader = arrayNew(1);
 arrayAppend(pathsForJavaLoader, fullPathToITextJar);
 javaLoader = createObject("component", dotNotationPathToJavaLoader).init(pathsForJavaLoader);
 
 // cfSearching: create colors used in the form template
 color = createObject("java", "java.awt.Color"); 
 RED = color.init( javacast("int", 255), javacast("int", 0), javacast("int", 80) );
 GREEN = color.init(javacast("int", 192), javacast("int", 222), javacast("int", 30) );
 BLUE = color.init(javacast("int", 0), javacast("int", 173), javacast("int", 205) );
 ORANGE = color.init(javacast("int", 241), javacast("int", 165), javacast("int", 1) );
 GRAY = color.init(javacast("int", 192), javacast("int", 192), javacast("int", 192) );
 BLACK = color.init(javacast("int", 0), javacast("int", 0), javacast("int", 0) );
 WHITE = color.init(javacast("int", 255), javacast("int", 255), javacast("int", 255) );
 BaseFont = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.pdf.BaseFont");
 FONT = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.FontFactory").getFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA,
   BaseFont.WINANSI, BaseFont.NOT_EMBEDDED).getBaseFont();
  
  


 try {
  // cfSearching: create a document with the preset page dimensions
  pageDimensions = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.Rectangle").init( WIDTH, HEIGHT );
  document = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.Document").init(pageDimensions);

        // we create a writer that listens to the document and directs a PDF-stream to a file  
  outStream = createObject("java", "java.io.FileOutputStream").init(fullPathToOutputFile);
  writer = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter").getInstance(document, outStream);

  // step 3
  document.open();
  // step 4
  directContent = writer.getDirectContent();

  // top part of the card
  // cfSearching: create a red band across the top portion of the document
  directContent.setColorFill(RED);
  directContent.rectangle(javacast("float", 0), mmToPoints(57), WIDTH, HEIGHT - mmToPoints(57));
  directContent.fill();

  // cfSearching: overlay a smaller black band in the middle
  directContent.setColorFill(BLACK);
  directContent.rectangle(javacast("float", 0), mmToPoints(61), WIDTH, mmToPoints(21));
  directContent.fill();
 
  // cfSearching: for the bottom of the card use a white background
  directContent.setColorFill(WHITE);

  // cfSearching: add the kubrick photo and logo to the top section
  Image = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.Image");
  kubrick = Image.getInstance(fullPathToKubrikImage);
  kubrick.scaleToFit(WIDTH, mmToPoints(21));
  kubrick.setAbsolutePosition( javacast("float", 0), mmToPoints(61));
  directContent.addImage(kubrick);

  logo = Image.getInstance(fullPathToFFLogoImage);
  logo.scaleToFit(mmToPoints(14), mmToPoints(14));
  logo.setAbsolutePosition(mmToPoints(37), mmToPoints(65));
  directContent.addImage(logo);

  // cfSearching: add the festival name just beneath the photo and logo
  Element = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.Element");
  directContent.beginText();
  directContent.setFontAndSize(FONT, javacast("float", 7));
  directContent.showTextAligned(Element.ALIGN_CENTER,
     "Flanders International Film Festival-Ghent", WIDTH / 2,
     mmToPoints(58.5), javacast("float", 0) );
  directContent.endText();

  // bottom part of the card
  Rectangle = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.Rectangle");
  TextField = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.pdf.TextField");
  
  // cfSearching: add the gray footer
  filmfestival = TextField.init(writer, rectangle.init( javacast("float", 0), 
       javacast("float", 0), WIDTH, mmToPoints(9)), 
       "filmfestival");
  filmfestival.setBackgroundColor(GRAY);
  filmfestival.setTextColor(WHITE);
  filmfestival.setText("www.filmfestival.be");
  filmfestival.setFontSize( javacast("float", 14) );
  filmfestival.setOptions(TextField.READ_ONLY);
  filmfestival.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
  writer.addAnnotation(filmfestival.getTextField());

  // cfSearching: add the festival date just above the footer
  directContent.beginText();
  directContent.moveText(mmToPoints(1.5), mmToPoints(12));
  directContent.setFontAndSize(FONT, javacast("float", 21) );
  directContent.setColorFill(RED);
  directContent.showText("10");
  directContent.setColorFill(BLUE);
  directContent.showText("/");
  directContent.setColorFill(RED);
  directContent.showText("21");
  directContent.setColorFill(BLUE);
  directContent.showText("OCT");
  directContent.setColorFill(GREEN);
  directContent.showText("2006");
  directContent.endText();
  directContent.setColorStroke(BLUE);
  directContent.moveTo(mmToPoints(24.5), mmToPoints(29));
  directContent.lineTo(mmToPoints(24.5), mmToPoints(36));
  directContent.moveTo(mmToPoints(24.5), mmToPoints(48));
  directContent.lineTo(mmToPoints(24.5), mmToPoints(54));
  directContent.stroke();


  // central part of the card
  PushbuttonField = javaLoader.create("com.lowagie.text.pdf.PushbuttonField");
  photo = PushbuttonField.init(writer, 
       rectangle.init(mmToPoints(3), mmToPoints(29), mmToPoints(24), mmToPoints(54)), 
       "photo");
  t1 = directContent.createTemplate(mmToPoints(21), mmToPoints(25));
  t1.setColorFill(GRAY);
  t1.rectangle( javacast("float", 0), javacast("float", 0), mmToPoints(21), mmToPoints(25));
  t1.fill();
  photo.setTemplate(t1);
  photo.setLayout(PushbuttonField.LAYOUT_ICON_ONLY);
  writer.addAnnotation(photo.getField());
  type = TextField.init(writer, rectangle.init( mmToPoints(26), mmToPoints(46), 
      WIDTH - mmToPoints(1.5), mmToPoints(54)), "type");
  type.setTextColor(GRAY);
  type.setText("TYPE");
  type.setFontSize(0);
  writer.addAnnotation(type.getTextField());

  number = TextField.init(writer, rectangle.init( mmToPoints(26),
      mmToPoints(44), WIDTH - mmToPoints(1.5), mmToPoints(48)), "number");
  number.setText("N° 0000000");
  number.setFontSize(8);
  writer.addAnnotation(number.getTextField());

  name = TextField.init(writer, rectangle.init( mmToPoints(26),
      mmToPoints(28), WIDTH - mmToPoints(1.5), mmToPoints(40)), "name");
  name.setText("Name");
  name.setFontSize(8);
  name.setOptions(TextField.MULTILINE);
  writer.addAnnotation(name.getTextField());

  barcode = PushbuttonField.init(writer, rectangle.init(mmToPoints(3), 
      mmToPoints(23), WIDTH - mmToPoints(3), mmToPoints(28)), "barcode");
  
  t2 = directContent.createTemplate(WIDTH - mmToPoints(6), mmToPoints(5));
  t2.setColorFill(GRAY);
  t2.rectangle(0, 0, WIDTH - mmToPoints(6), mmToPoints(5));
  t2.fill();
  barcode.setTemplate(t2);
  barcode.setLayout(PushbuttonField.LAYOUT_ICON_ONLY);
  writer.addAnnotation(barcode.getField());
 }
    catch (com.lowagie.text.DocumentException de) {
        savedErrorMessage = de;
    } 
    catch (java.io.IOException ioe) {
        savedErrorMessage = ioe;
    }

 document.close();
    outStream.close();
</cfscript>

<!--- show any errors --->
<cfif len(savedErrorMessage) gt 0>
    Error - unable to create document
    <cfdump var="#savedErrorMessage#">
</cfif>

<cffunction name="mmToPoints" returntype="numeric" access="public" output="false" 
         hint="Converts millimeters to PostScript points">

 <cfargument name="millimeters" type="numeric" required="true">
 <cfreturn javacast("float", (arguments.millimeters * 2.8346456)) />
</cffunction>