How do I create a table with multiple header in iText 8?

In the following example we are going to create a table with multiple header. We will create table header with columns that spans in multiple columns and rows.

Here are the steps:

  1. Create a PdfWriter object called writer with the output filename.
  2. Create a PpdfDocument object called pdf, and pass the writer object as parameter.
  3. Using try-with-resource block, create a Document object with the pdf object as constructor argument.
  4. Instantiate a Table object. In this example we define it with five columns, and set the width of the table to take the full page width.
  5. Add table header cell using addHeaderCell() method. We add cell that spans multiple rows or multiple columns using the Cell constructor parameters rowspan and colspan.
  6. Add some rows of data to the table.
  7. Finally, we add the table object to the document.

And here is the full code snippet:

package org.kodejava.itext;

import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Cell;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Table;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.TextAlignment;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.UnitValue;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.VerticalAlignment;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;

public class TableWithMultiHeader {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        TableWithMultiHeader demo = new TableWithMultiHeader();
        demo.createTable();
    }

    private void createTable() {
        try {
            PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter("multi_header_table.pdf");
            PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);

            try (Document document = new Document(pdf)) {
                Table table = new Table(5);
                table.setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(100));

                table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(2, 1)
                        .setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.MIDDLE)
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("No")));
                table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(2, 1)
                        .setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.MIDDLE)
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("Name")));
                table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(1, 2)
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("Date: " + LocalDate.now()
                                .format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd-MMM-yyyy")))));
                table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(2, 1)
                        .setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.MIDDLE)
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("Activity")));
                table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(1, 1)
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("Start Time")));
                table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(1, 1)
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("End Time")));

                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.RIGHT)
                        .add(new Paragraph("1")));
                table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Alice")));
                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("10:00")));
                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("11:00")));
                table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Learn ukulele basic")));

                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.RIGHT)
                        .add(new Paragraph("2")));
                table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Bob")));
                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("09:00")));
                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                        .add(new Paragraph("11:00")));
                table.addCell(new Cell()
                        .add(new Paragraph("Learn piano basic")));

                document.add(table);
            }
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Running the code will give you the result shown in the image below:

Multi-header Table

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itext-core</artifactId>
    <version>8.0.3</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Maven Central

How do I add Image to a Table in iText 8?

In this example you’ll see how to add Image to a Table when creating a PDF document using iText 8. We start by finding the image resource using getResource() method and pass the absolute path to the resource name. The getResource() method return a java.net.URL object.

With this URL object in hand we then create the ImageData object using the ImageDataFactory.create() method. To the create() factory method we pass the URL object as a parameter. Finally, we create the Image object by calling the constructor of this class and passes the ImageData object as a parameter.

Here is the complete code snippet. Below we create a Premier League Ladder table showing club current position from position 1 to 10.

package org.kodejava.itext;

import com.itextpdf.io.image.ImageData;
import com.itextpdf.io.image.ImageDataFactory;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.colors.DeviceGray;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.borders.Border;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Cell;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Image;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Table;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.TextAlignment;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.UnitValue;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.VerticalAlignment;

import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Objects;

import static com.itextpdf.kernel.colors.DeviceGray.makeLighter;

public class TableExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        TableExample demo = new TableExample();
        demo.createTable();
    }

    private void createTable() throws Exception {
        String destination = "premier-league-ladder.pdf";
        PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(destination);
        PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);

        String[] headers = {"Position", "Club", "Played", "Won", "Drown", "Lost", "GF", "GA", "GD", "Points"};

        try (Document document = new Document(pdf)) {
            Table table = new Table(headers.length + 1);
            // Set table width to span the entire page
            table.setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(100));

            URL plLogoFile = TableExample.class.getResource("/epl/pl-main-logo.png");
            ImageData plImageData = ImageDataFactory.create(Objects.requireNonNull(plLogoFile));

            table.addHeaderCell(new Cell().setBorder(Border.NO_BORDER)
                    .add(new Image(plImageData).scaleToFit(50, 50)));
            table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(1, 11).setBorder(Border.NO_BORDER)
                    .setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.MIDDLE)
                    .add(new Paragraph("Premier League Ladder").setFontSize(16).setBold()));

            for (String header : headers) {
                if (header.equals("Club")) {
                    table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(1, 2)
                            .setBackgroundColor(makeLighter(DeviceGray.GRAY))
                            .setBorderLeft(Border.NO_BORDER).setBorderRight(Border.NO_BORDER)
                            .setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(28))
                            .add(new Paragraph(header)));
                } else {
                    table.addHeaderCell(newCell()
                            .setBackgroundColor(makeLighter(DeviceGray.GRAY))
                            .setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(8))
                            .add(new Paragraph(header).setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)));
                }
            }

            int position = 1;
            for (Club club : getTableData()) {
                String fileName = club.name().replace(' ', '_').toLowerCase() + ".png";
                URL logoFile = TableExample.class.getResource("/epl/logo/" + fileName);
                ImageData imageData = ImageDataFactory.create(Objects.requireNonNull(logoFile));

                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(position++))));
                table.addCell(newCell().setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(1))
                        .setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.MIDDLE)
                        .add(new Image(imageData).scaleAbsolute(16, 16)));
                table.addCell(newCell().setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(27))
                        .add(new Paragraph(club.name())));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.played()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.won()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.drawn()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.lost()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.goalsFor()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.goalsAgainst()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.goalDifference()))));
                table.addCell(newCell().add(newCenteredParagraph(String.valueOf(club.points()))));
            }

            document.add(table);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    private Cell newCell() {
        return new Cell().setBorderLeft(Border.NO_BORDER).setBorderRight(Border.NO_BORDER);
    }

    private Paragraph newCenteredParagraph(String text) {
        return new Paragraph(text).setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER);
    }

    private List<Club> getTableData() {
        List<Club> clubs = new ArrayList<>();
        clubs.add(new Club("Arsenal", 20, 4, 4, 70, 24));
        clubs.add(new Club("Liverpool", 19, 6, 2, 64, 25));
        clubs.add(new Club("Man City", 19, 5, 3, 62, 27));
        clubs.add(new Club("Aston Villa", 17, 4, 6, 59, 37));
        clubs.add(new Club("Tottenham", 15, 5, 6, 55, 39));
        clubs.add(new Club("Man United", 15, 2, 11, 39, 39));
        clubs.add(new Club("West Ham", 12, 6, 9, 43, 47));
        clubs.add(new Club("Wolves", 12, 5, 11, 42, 44));
        clubs.add(new Club("Newcastle", 12, 4, 11, 57, 45));
        clubs.add(new Club("Brighton", 10, 9, 8, 49, 44));
        return clubs;
    }

    record Club(String name, int won, int drawn, int lost, int goalsFor, int goalsAgainst) {
        public int played() {
            return won + drawn + lost;
        }

        public int goalDifference() {
            return goalsFor - goalsAgainst;
        }

        public int points() {
            return (won * 3) + drawn;
        }
    }
}

And here is the output of the generated PDF table:

Premier League Ladder Table

In the example above you can also see how to expand the width of the table to take the full width of the page.

table.setWidth(UnitValue.createPercentValue(100));

To span a table Cell to take multiple columns you can create a Cell object and specify the rowspan and colspan parameter.

table.addHeaderCell(new Cell(1, 2));

To remove the vertical border of the Cell you can set the left and right border by calling the setBorderLeft() and setBorderRight() method and passes Border.NO_BORDER as parameter.

new Cell().setBorderLeft(Border.NO_BORDER).setBorderRight(Border.NO_BORDER);

The data of the table is encapsulated using a record, this feature is introduced in Java 14, prior to this version you will create a simple POJO, which is a Java object with properties and related getters and setters method.

public record Club(String name, int won, int drawn, int lost, int goalsFor, int goalsAgainst) {}

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itext-core</artifactId>
    <version>8.0.3</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Maven Central

How do I create a table in PDF document using iText 8?

When it comes to generating PDF documents dynamically, iText 8 is a powerful and versatile Java library that provides a wide range of functionalities. One common requirement in PDF generation is the need to include tables to present structured data. In this blog post, we will explore how to create a table in a PDF document using the iText 8 library.

The Table class in iText 8 is a layout element that represents data in a two-dimensional grid. It allows you to create tables with rows and columns to organize and display data in a structured format.

To create a table using iText 8, we would first need to create an instance of Document class where the table will be added. We then define a Table object either by passing the number columns, or an array of float for the column width as parameter.

Here is how you can create a table with iText 8:

package org.kodejava.itext;

import com.itextpdf.kernel.colors.DeviceGray;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.colors.DeviceRgb;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Table;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Cell;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.TextAlignment;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;

public class CreateTable {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException {
        String destination = "table_example.pdf";
        PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(destination);

        PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
        try (Document document = new Document(pdf)) {

            float[] pointColumnWidths = {150F, 200F, 100F};
            Table table = new Table(pointColumnWidths);

            // Add header cells to the table
            table.addHeaderCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Id"))
                    .setFontColor(DeviceRgb.WHITE).setBold().setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                    .setBackgroundColor(DeviceGray.GRAY));
            table.addHeaderCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Name"))
                    .setFontColor(DeviceRgb.WHITE).setBold().setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                    .setBackgroundColor(DeviceGray.GRAY));
            table.addHeaderCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Age"))
                    .setFontColor(DeviceRgb.WHITE).setBold().setTextAlignment(TextAlignment.CENTER)
                    .setBackgroundColor(DeviceGray.GRAY));

            // Add cells to the table
            table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("1")));
            table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Alice")));
            table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("20")));

            table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("2")));
            table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("Bob")));
            table.addCell(new Cell().add(new Paragraph("25")));

            // Add table to document
            document.add(table);
        }
    }
}

This will create a new document with a table including three columns and three rows. The first row is the table header, we style it with a gray background, set the font weight to bold and center aligned the text.

iText 8 Table Example

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itext-core</artifactId>
    <version>8.0.2</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Maven Central

How do I create an ordered list in iText 8?

Creating an ordered list in iText 8 involves creating a List object and adding ListItem objects to it, similarly to creating an unordered list.

For automatic numbering or bullets in a list, you’ll have to use ListNumberingType with the appropriate configuration. For example, ListNumberingType.DECIMAL for Arabic number (1, 2, 3, etc.) and ListNumberingType.ENGLISH_LOWER for English lower case alphabet (a, b, c, etc.).

Here’s an example:

package org.kodejava.itext;

import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.List;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.ListItem;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.ListNumberingType;

public class OrderedListExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter("output.pdf"));
        try (Document doc = new Document(pdfDoc)) {
            // Create a List object and set numbering type
            List list = new List(ListNumberingType.DECIMAL);

            // Add ListItems
            list.add(new ListItem("First item"));
            list.add(new ListItem("Second item"));
            list.add(new ListItem("Third item"));
            list.add(new ListItem("Fourth item"));

            // Add the list to our document
            doc.add(list);
        }
    }
}

In this example, we’re passing ListNumberingType.DECIMAL to the List constructor. This will number our list items as follows: “1.”, “2.”, “3.”, etc.

Other options you’ll find in the ListNumberingType enum are:

  • DECIMAL_LEADING_ZERO
  • ENGLISH_LOWER
  • ENGLISH_UPPER
  • ROMAN_LOWER
  • ROMAN_UPPER
  • GREEK_LOWER
  • GREEK_UPPER
  • ZAPF_DINGBATS_1
  • ZAPF_DINGBATS_2
  • ZAPF_DINGBATS_3
  • ZAPF_DINGBATS_4

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itext-core</artifactId>
    <version>8.0.2</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Maven Central

How do I create an unordered list in iText 8?

Creating an unordered list in iText 8 involves creating a List object and adding ListItem objects to it.

Here is an example of how you can do this:

package org.kodejava.itext;

import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.List;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.ListItem;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class UnorderedListExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter("output.pdf"));
        try (Document doc = new Document(pdfDoc)) {
            // Create a List object
            List list = new List();
            list.setListSymbol("\u2022 ");

            // Add ListItems
            list.add(new ListItem("First item"));
            list.add(new ListItem("Second item"));
            list.add(new ListItem("Third item"));
            list.add(new ListItem("Fourth item"));

            // Add the list to our document
            doc.add(list);
        }
    }
}

In this code:

  • A PdfDocument object is created to write to a PDF file named “output.pdf”.
  • A Document object is created, which represents an actual PDF document.
  • A List object is created, representing the unordered list.
  • ListItem objects representing individual list items are added to the List.
  • Finally, the List is added to the Document, and the Document is automatically closed by the try-with-resource block, and flush any remaining content to the PDF.

You may put different things in your ListItem objects, and nest other List objects within them, if you wish.

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itext-core</artifactId>
    <version>8.0.2</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Maven Central