How to insert blank lines in PDF?

Question

I am creating a PDF using iText. I want to insert blank lines between paragraphs and tables.

How can I achieve this?

Solution 1

You can trigger a newline by inserting Chunk.NEWLINE into your document. Here's an example.

public static void main(String args[]) {
    try {
        // create a new document
        Document document = new Document( PageSize.A4, 20, 20, 20, 20 );
        PdfWriter.getInstance( document, new FileOutputStream( "HelloWorld.pdf" ) );

        document.open();

        document.add( new Paragraph( "Hello, World!" ) );
        document.add( new Paragraph( "Hello, World!" ) );

        // add a couple of blank lines
        document.add( Chunk.NEWLINE );
        document.add( Chunk.NEWLINE );

        // add one more line with text
        document.add( new Paragraph( "Hello, World!" ) );

        document.close();
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Below is a screen shot showing part of the PDF that the code above produces.

Solution 2

And to insert blank line between tables you can use these both methods

table.setSpacingBefore();      

table.setSpacingAfter();       

Solution 3

You can use "\n" in Paragraph

document.add(new Paragraph("\n\n"));

Solution 4

You can try a blank phrase:

document.add(new Phrase("\n"));

Solution 5

You can add Blank Line throw PdfContentByte class in itextPdf. As shown below:

package com.pdf.test;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;

import com.itextpdf.text.Chunk;
import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Element;
import com.itextpdf.text.Font;
import com.itextpdf.text.Image;
import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.text.Phrase;
import com.itextpdf.text.Rectangle;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfContentByte;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class Ranvijay {

    public static final String RESULT = "d:/printReport.pdf";

    public void createPdf(String filename) throws Exception {
        Document document = new Document();
        PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document,
                new FileOutputStream(filename));
        document.open();

        Font bold = new Font(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 8f, Font.BOLD);
        Font normal = new Font(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 8f, Font.NORMAL);
        PdfPTable tabletmp = new PdfPTable(1);
        tabletmp.getDefaultCell().setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
        tabletmp.setWidthPercentage(100);
        PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(2);
        float[] colWidths = { 45, 55 };
        table.setWidths(colWidths);
        String imageUrl = "http://ssl.gstatic.com/s2/oz/images/logo/2x/googleplus_color_33-99ce54a16a32f6edc61a3e709eb61d31.png";
        Image image2 = Image.getInstance(new URL(imageUrl));
        image2.setWidthPercentage(60);
        table.getDefaultCell().setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
        table.getDefaultCell().setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_RIGHT);
        table.getDefaultCell().setVerticalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_TOP);
        PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
        cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
        cell.addElement(image2);
        table.addCell(cell);
        String email = "[email protected]";
        String collectionDate = "09/09/09";
        Chunk chunk1 = new Chunk("Date: ", normal);
        Phrase ph1 = new Phrase(chunk1);

        Chunk chunk2 = new Chunk(collectionDate, bold);
        Phrase ph2 = new Phrase(chunk2);

        Chunk chunk3 = new Chunk("\nEmail: ", normal);
        Phrase ph3 = new Phrase(chunk3);

        Chunk chunk4 = new Chunk(email, bold);
        Phrase ph4 = new Phrase(chunk4);

        Paragraph ph = new Paragraph();
        ph.add(ph1);
        ph.add(ph2);
        ph.add(ph3);
        ph.add(ph4);

        table.addCell(ph);
        tabletmp.addCell(table);
        PdfContentByte canvas = writer.getDirectContent();
        canvas.saveState();
        canvas.setLineWidth((float) 10 / 10);
        canvas.moveTo(40, 806 - (5 * 10));
        canvas.lineTo(555, 806 - (5 * 10));
        canvas.stroke();
        document.add(tabletmp);
        canvas.restoreState();
        PdfPTable tabletmp1 = new PdfPTable(1);
        tabletmp1.getDefaultCell().setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
        tabletmp1.setWidthPercentage(100);

        document.add(tabletmp1);

        document.close();
    }

    /**
     * Main method.
     * 
     * @param args
     *            no arguments needed
     * @throws DocumentException
     * @throws IOException
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        new Ranvijay().createPdf(RESULT);
        System.out.println("Done Please check........");
    }

}

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Comments

[Mark Storer]

public static final Chunk NEWLINE = new Chunk("\n");. Jes was right, as are you. BTW: add(new Chunk("\n\n\n") should produce three new lines, though I haven't tested it.

[JYelton]

At least in version 5.1.1 of iText#, these methods don't seem to exist; however there are properties: SpacingBefore and SpacingAfter.

[Jordan.J.D]

This is much more useful than Chunk.NEWLINE if you are using tables.

[abh22ishek]

add space while creating new paragraph document.add(new Paragraph(" "));