import com.lowagie.text.*;
import com.lowagie.text.Font;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.MultiColumnText;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

import java.util.Random;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.awt.Color;

public class MultiColumnTextSimple {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Document document = new Document(PageSize.LETTER);
            OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("c:\\MultiColumnTextSimple.pdf");
            PdfWriter.getInstance(document, out);
            document.open();

            
            Paragraph p = new Paragraph ("Here is some text to push the lines down\nHere is some text to push the lines down\nHere is some text to push the lines down\nHere is some text to push the lines down\nHere is some text to push the lines down\nHere is some text to push the lines down\nHere is some text to push the lines down\n");
            document.add(p);
            

            MultiColumnText mct = new MultiColumnText(MultiColumnText.AUTOMATIC);

            // set up 3 even columns with 10pt space between
            mct.addRegularColumns(document.left(), document.right(), 10f, 3);

            // Write some iText poems
            for (int i = 0; i < 80; i++) {
                mct.addElement(newPara(randomWord(noun), Element.ALIGN_CENTER, Font.BOLDITALIC));
                for (int j = 0; j < 4; j++) {
                    mct.addElement(newPara(poemLine(), Element.ALIGN_LEFT, Font.NORMAL));
                }
                mct.addElement(newPara(randomWord(adverb), Element.ALIGN_LEFT, Font.NORMAL));
                mct.addElement(newPara("\n\n", Element.ALIGN_LEFT, Font.NORMAL));
            }

            document.add(mct);
            document.close();
        } catch (DocumentException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

    private static Element newPara(String text, int alignment, int type) {
       Font font = FontFactory.getFont("Helvetica", 10, type, Color.BLACK);
       Paragraph p = new Paragraph(text, font);
       p.setAlignment(alignment);
       p.setLeading(font.size() * 1.2f);
       return p;
    }

    static Random rand = new Random();


    static String[] verb = {"flows", "draws", "renders", "throws exception", "runs",
        "crashes", "downloads", "usurps", "vexes", "whispers", "boils",
        "capitulates", "crashes", "craves", "looks", "defies", "defers",
        "defines", "envelops", "entombs", "falls", "fails", "halts",
        "appears", "nags", "overflows", "burns", "dies", "writes",
        "flushes"};

    static String[] noun = {"ColumnText", "paragraph", "phrase", "chunk", "PdfContentByte",
        "PdfPTable", "iText", "color", "vertical alignment", "horizontal alignment", "PdfWriter",
        "ListItem", "PdfStamper", "PDF", "HTML", "XML", "column", "font",
        "table", "FDF", "field", "NullPointerException", "CJK font"};

    static String[] adjective = {"foul", "broken", "gray", "slow", "beautiful",
       "throbbing", "sharp", "stout", "soundless", "neat",
       "swift", "uniform", "upright", "vibrant", "dingy",
       "vestigal", "messy", "sloppy", "baleful", "boastful",
       "dark", "capricious", "concrete", "deliberate", "sharp",
        "drunken", "undisciplined", "perfect", "bloated"};

    static String[] adverb = {"randomly", "quickly", "triumphantly", "suggestively",
       "slowly", "angrily", "uncomfortably", "finally", "unexpectedly",
       "hysterically", "thinly", "dryly", "blazingly",
       "terribly", "bleakly", "irritably", "dazzlingly", "expectantly",
       "impersonally", "abruptly", "awfully", "caressingly", "completely",
       "undesirably", "drolly", "hypocritically", "blankly",
       "dimly"};

    private static String randomWord(String[] type)
    {
       return type[rand.nextInt(type.length)];
    }

    public static String poemLine()
    {
       StringBuffer results = new StringBuffer(150);
       results.append(randomWord(adjective));
       results.append(" ");
       results.append(randomWord(noun));
       results.append(" ");
       results.append(randomWord(verb));
       results.append(" ");
       results.append(randomWord(adverb));
       results.append(", ");
       return results.toString();
 }

}