Not able to replace a text in PDF using PDFBox 2.0.2

[BalaSubramanian Vetrivel]

Hi All

Request your help on this

Not able to replace a text in PDF using PDFBox 2.0.2


http://stackoverflow.com/questions/38306151/not-able-to-replace-a-text-in-pdf-using-pdfbox-2-0-2


My requirements

1)      I need to identify a particular text pattern

2)      Then replace that text pattern with pre-defined text-value with the
same format of text pattern, such as font, font colour, bold  …

3)      I am able to identify the text, replace that text with predefined
values, But writing to PDF is failing.


I tried the following 2 approaches to write to PDF

1)      By Overriding writeString(String string, List<TextPosition>
textPositions)of PDFTextStripper

2)      By using  cosArray.add(new COSString(replacedField)); or
cosArray.set(…)


Results for approach 1 - By Overriding writeString

The pdf generated by this code is not getting opened in PDF. I am able to
open in word, But there is no format of original text.


Results for approach 2 - By using  cosArray.add  or cosArray.set(…)

I am seeing only boxes in generated  PDF .


Code for approach 1 - By Overriding writeString

public void rewrite(String templatePDFPath) throws IOException {



                              PDDocument document = null;



                              Writer pdfWriter = null;



                              try {



                                             File templateFile = new
File(templatePDFPath);

                                             document =
PDDocument.load(templateFile);



                                             this.setSortByPosition(true);

                                             this.setStartPage(0);


this.setEndPage(document.getNumberOfPages());



                                             pdfWriter = new
PrintWriter(Utils.getFilePathWithTimeStamp(templatePDFPath).toString());



                                             this.writeText(document,
pdfWriter);



                              } finally {

                                             if (document != null) {


document.close();

                                             }



                                             if (null != pdfWriter)


pdfWriter.close();



                                             // if (null != pdfWriter)

                                             // pdfWriter.close();



                              }

               }



protected void writeString(String string, List<TextPosition> textPositions)
throws IOException {



                              for (int i = 0; i < textPositions.size();
i++) {

                                             TextPosition text =
textPositions.get(i);



                                             String currentCharcter =
text.getUnicode();

                                             //
System.out.println("String[" + text.getXDirAdj() + "," + //

                                             // text.getYDirAdj() + " fs="
+ text.getFontSize() // + " xscale=" +

                                             // text.getXScale() + "
height=" + // text.getHeightDir() + "

                                             // space=" // +

                                             // text.getWidthOfSpace() + "
width=" + text.getWidthDirAdj() + //

                                             // "]" +

                                             // currentCharcter);



                              }

                              String replacedString =
replaceFields(string.trim());



                              if (!(string.equals(replacedString))) {

                                             System.out.println("Field " +
string + " is replaced by value " + replacedString);

                                             //
super.writeString(replacedString, textPositions);


super.writeString(replacedString);

                              }



               }


Code for approach 2 -  By using  cosArray.add  or cosArray.set(…)

public List<String> replaceFieldsInCosArray(COSArray cosArray) {

                              List<String> replacedStrings = new
ArrayList<String>();

                              String stringsOfCOSArray = "";



                              for (int cosArrayIndex = 0; cosArrayIndex <
cosArray.size(); cosArrayIndex++) {

                                             Object cosObject =
cosArray.get(cosArrayIndex);



                                             if (cosObject instanceof
COSString) {

                                                            COSString
cosString = (COSString) cosObject;


stringsOfCOSArray += cosString.getString();

                                             }

                              }

                              stringsOfCOSArray = stringsOfCOSArray.trim();







                              //cosArray.clear();







                                             String replacedField =
this.replaceFields(stringsOfCOSArray);

                                             System.out.println("cosText:"
+ stringsOfCOSArray + ":replacedField:" + replacedField);



                                             cosArray.add(new
COSString(replacedField));



                                             if
(!stringsOfCOSArray.equals(replacedField)) {


replacedStrings.add(replacedField);

                                             }