Getting started with iText - Part 12 (Paragraphs.java)

Next up in the Getting Started with iText series is a translation of Paragraphs.java.

Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?

If you have been following the Getting Started with iText series you may be thinking "Paragraph? I know him from way back in the HelloWorld days". While there is some repetition, this example also introduces a new object called a Phrase. But we will touch more on that object later in the series.

Also making its debut is the FontFactory.getFont method. What is a factory method? A succinct description from an old article at www.javaworld.com describes it as "just a fancy name for a method that instantiates objects". For a more in depth (and more technical) discussion on factories you might be interested in reading Manufacturing Java Objects with the Factory Method Design Pattern.


Documentation: The Paragraph Object
Example: Paragraphs.java

<h1>The Paragraph object Example</h1>
<cfscript>
     savedErrorMessage = "";

     //cfSearching: By default, files are output to the current directory
     fullPathToOutputFile = ExpandPath("./Paragraphs.pdf");

     // step 1: creation of a document-object
     document = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Document").init();
     
     try {
       // step 2:
       // we create a writer that listens to the document
       outStream = createObject("java", "java.io.FileOutputStream").init(fullPathToOutputFile);
       writer = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter").getInstance(document, outStream);

       // step 3: we open the document
       document.open();
       // step 4:
       //cfSearching: create a single objects and reuse them
       paragraph = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Paragraph");
       chunk = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Chunk");
       font = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Font");
       phrase = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Phrase");
       fontFactory = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.FontFactory");
      
       p1 = paragraph.init( chunk.init("This is my first paragraph. ",
            FontFactory.getFont(FontFactory.HELVETICA, javacast("float", 10)))  );
         
       p1.add("The leading of this paragraph is calculated automagically. ");
       p1.add("The default leading is 1.5 times the fontsize. ");
       p1.add(chunk.init("You can add chunks "));
       p1.add(phrase.init("or you can add phrases. "));
       p1.add(phrase.init( "Unless you change the leading with the method setLeading, the leading doesn't change if you add text with another leading. This can lead to some problems.",
           FontFactory.getFont(FontFactory.HELVETICA, javacast("float", 18)))  );
       document.add(p1);
       p2 = paragraph.init(phrase.init("This is my second paragraph. ", 
            FontFactory.getFont(FontFactory.HELVETICA, javacast("float", 12)))  );
       p2.add("As you can see, it started on a new line.");
       document.add(p2);
       p3 = paragraph.init("This is my third paragraph.",
            FontFactory.getFont(FontFactory.HELVETICA, javacast("float", 12))  );
       document.add(p3);
      
       WriteOutput("Finished!");

     } 
     catch (DocumentException de) {
        System.err.println(de.getMessage());
     } 
     catch (IOException ioe) {
        System.err.println(ioe.getMessage());
     }

     // step 5: we close the document
     document.close();
</cfscript>


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