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>8.0.4</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>8.0.4</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>8.0.4</version>
    <type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Maven Central

How do I create nested Table in iText?

This example show you how to create nested table in iText. To create a nested table you can add a com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable object into a cell using the com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell‘s addElement() method.

package org.kodejava.itextpdf;

import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Phrase;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

public class TableNestedDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Document doc = new Document();
        try {
            PdfWriter.getInstance(doc, new FileOutputStream("TableNestedDemo.pdf"));
            doc.open();

            PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(3);
            PdfPCell cell1 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell 1"));
            PdfPCell cell2 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell 2"));
            PdfPCell cell3 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell 3"));

            PdfPTable nestedTable = new PdfPTable(2);
            nestedTable.addCell(new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Nested 1")));
            nestedTable.addCell(new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Nested 2")));
            cell3.addElement(nestedTable);

            table.addCell(cell1);
            table.addCell(cell2);
            table.addCell(cell3);
            doc.add(table);
        } catch (DocumentException | FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            doc.close();
        }
    }
}

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itextpdf</artifactId>
    <version>5.5.13.3</version>
</dependency>

Maven Central

How do I set Table’s cell alignment in iText?

We can set table cell’s content alignment horizontally and vertically. To set the horizontal alignment we use the setHorizontalAlignment() method. To align it vertically we use the setVerticalAlignment() method. The alignment constant is defined in the com.itextpdf.text.Element class.

package org.kodejava.itextpdf;

import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Element;
import com.itextpdf.text.Phrase;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

public class TableCellAlignment {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Document doc = new Document();
        try {
            PdfWriter.getInstance(doc, new FileOutputStream("TableCellAlignment.pdf"));
            doc.open();

            // Setting table's cells horizontal alignment
            PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(3);
            PdfPCell cell1 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell 1"));
            cell1.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_LEFT);
            table.addCell(cell1);
            PdfPCell cell2 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell 2"));
            cell2.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
            table.addCell(cell2);
            PdfPCell cell3 = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell 3"));
            cell3.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_RIGHT);
            table.addCell(cell3);
            table.completeRow();

            // Setting table's cells vertical alignment
            PdfPCell[] cells = new PdfPCell[3];
            int[] alignments = new int[]{
                    Element.ALIGN_TOP,
                    Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE,
                    Element.ALIGN_BOTTOM
            };
            for (int i = 0; i < cells.length; i++) {
                cells[i] = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Cell " + (i + 1)));
                cells[i].setMinimumHeight(50);
                cells[i].setVerticalAlignment(alignments[i]);
                table.addCell(cells[i]);
            }
            table.completeRow();

            doc.add(table);
        } catch (DocumentException | FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            doc.close();
        }
    }
}

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>itextpdf</artifactId>
    <version>5.5.13.3</version>
</dependency>

Maven Central