Using different fonts in PDF using iTextSharp and PDFStamper

Question

I'm using iTextSharp to load an existing PDF and adding text using the PdfStamper. I want full control over the text, meaning I want to be able to control the font (only TrueType), font size and coordinates. Right now, I'm using ShowTextAligned to add text to certain coordinaties and setFontAndSize to set the font and font size. This is my code to add text:

    private void AddText(BaseFont font, string text, int x, int y, int size)
    {
        pdf.BeginText();
        pdf.SetFontAndSize(font, size);
        pdf.ShowTextAligned(PdfContentByte.ALIGN_LEFT, text, x, y, 0);
        pdf.EndText();
    }

The following function is used to load the TrueType font:

    public BaseFont GetFont(string font, string encoding)
    {
        if (!(font.EndsWith(".ttf") || font.EndsWith(".TTF")))
            font += ".ttf";

        BaseFont basefont;

        basefont = BaseFont.CreateFont(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["fontdir"] + font, encoding, BaseFont.NOT_EMBEDDED);

        if (basefont == null)
            throw new Exception("Could not load font '" + font + "' with encoding '" + encoding + "'");

        return basefont;
    }

The following code is used to load the existing PDF:

        Stream outputPdfStream = Response.OutputStream;
        PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(new RandomAccessFileOrArray(HttpContext.Current.Request.MapPath("PdfTemplates/" + ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["pdf_template"])), null);
        PdfStamper pdfStamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader, outputPdfStream);

        pdf = pdfStamper.GetOverContent(1);

This all works perfectly, except when I try to use different fonts. So when AddText is called multiple times with different fonts, the PDF will display a generic error when openend. I wonder if it is possible to use different fonts using the ShowTextAligned function and if it is, how?

Answer 1

Not really, no. It'll only handle one font at a time. Out of curiosity what are you doing to get bad pdf output? I'd like to see your code.

Have a look at ColumnText instead. There are quite a few examples floating around and its well-covered in "iText in Action 2nd edition". All the samples from the book are available on line.

Answer 2

Thanks for your answer Mark, however I already solved the issue. There was a problem with my Content-Type header I use to tell the browser how large the PDF is. This caused the browser to stop downloading before the entire PDF was actually downloaded. When adding a new font, the PDF size would just exceed the size specified in the Content-Type header, thus resulting in a bad PDF. It's solved now, multiple fonts work just fine :-).