RTL not working in pdf generation with itext 5.5 for Arabic text

Question

I have java code that writes arabic characters with the help of itext 5.5 and xmlworker jars, but its writing left to right even after writer.setRunDirection(PdfWrit

Answer 1

For developers that need an straightforward solution

I used this trick and output is very clean and nice!

1. create a PDFPTable with 1 column
2. for every paragraph of your content, create a Paragraph object and set its alignment to Paragraph.ALIGN_JUSTIFIED (I don't know why but it causes to paragraph align to right of page!!!)
3. create a PDFPCell and remove its borders using setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER) and add the paragraph to cell
4. add the cell to the table

here is a code sample to your convenience.

public void main(){
    /*
    * create and initiate document
    * */
    // repeat this for all your paragraphs
    PdfPTable pTable = new PdfPTable(1);
    Paragraph paragraph = getCellParagraph();
    paragraph.add("your RTL content");
    PdfPCell cell = getPdfPCellNoBorder(paragraph);
    pTable.addCell(cell);

    // after add all your content
    document.add(pTable);
}

private Paragraph getCellParagraph() {
    Paragraph paragraph = new Paragraph();
    paragraph.setAlignment(Paragraph.ALIGN_JUSTIFIED);
    // set other styles you need like custom font
    return paragraph;
}

private PdfPCell getPdfPCellNoBorder(Paragraph paragraph) {
    PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
    cell.setRunDirection(PdfWriter.RUN_DIRECTION_RTL);
    cell.setPaddingBottom(8);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    cell.addElement(paragraph);
    return cell;
}