How do you create a PDF from XML in Java?

Question

At the moment, I\'m creating an XML file in Java and displaying it in a JSP page by transforming it with XSL/XSLT. Now I need to take that XML file and display the same info

Answer 1

A - Explanation

You should use Apache FOP framework to generate pdf output. Simply you provide data in xml format and render the page with an xsl-fo file and specify the parameters like margin, page layout in this xsl-fo file.

I'll provide a simple demo, I use maven build tool to gather the needed jar files. Please notify that at the end of the page, there is an svg graphics embedded in pdf. I also want to demonstrate that you can embed svg graphics inside pdf.

B - Sample XML input data

    
        User Bill Data
        Thursday December 9 2016 00:04:29
    
    
        John Doe
        34239
        123AD329248
        17.84
    
    
        Michael Doe
        54823
        942KFDSCW322
        34.50
    
    
        Jane Brown
        66742
        ABDD324KKD8
        69.36
    

C - The XSL-FO Template

    
    
        
            
                
                    
                    
                
            
            
                
                    
                        
                        
                        
                        
                            
                                
                                    
                                        Bill Id:
                                        , Date: 
                                    
                                
                                
                                    
                                        XXX COMPANY
                                    
                                    
                                
                                
                                    
                                        
                                    
                                    Page  of 
                                    
                                
                            
                        
                    
                
                
                    MONTHLY BILL REPORT
                    
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                            
                                
                                    Full Name
                                
                                
                                    Postal Code
                                
                                
                                    National ID
                                
                                
                                    Payment
                                
                            
                            
                                
                                    
                                        
                                            
                                        
                                    
                                    
                                        
                                            
                                        
                                    
                                    
                                        
                                            
                                        
                                    
                                    
                                        
                                            
                                        
                                    
                                
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                
            
        
    

D - Project Directory Structure

E - Pom file

    4.0.0
    com.levent.fopdemo
    apache-fop-demo
    jar
    1.0-SNAPSHOT
    apache-fop-demo
    http://maven.apache.org

    
        2.1
    

          
        
        
            org.apache.xmlgraphics
            fop
            ${fop.version}
        
    

    
        Apache Fop Demo

        
            
                org.apache.maven.plugins
                maven-compiler-plugin
                3.5.1
                
                    1.8
                    1.8
                
            
        
    

F - Demo Code: PdfGenerationDemo.java

package com.levent.fopdemo;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;

import javax.xml.transform.Result;
import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
import javax.xml.transform.TransformerException;
import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
import javax.xml.transform.sax.SAXResult;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;

import org.apache.fop.apps.FOPException;
import org.apache.fop.apps.FOUserAgent;
import org.apache.fop.apps.Fop;
import org.apache.fop.apps.FopFactory;
import org.apache.fop.apps.MimeConstants;

public class PdfGenerationDemo 
{
    public static final String RESOURCES_DIR;
    public static final String OUTPUT_DIR;

    static {
        RESOURCES_DIR = "src//main//resources//";
        OUTPUT_DIR = "src//main//resources//output//";
    }

    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        try {
            convertToPDF();
        } catch (FOPException | IOException | TransformerException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public static void convertToPDF() throws IOException, FOPException, TransformerException {
        // the XSL FO file
        File xsltFile = new File(RESOURCES_DIR + "//template.xsl");
        // the XML file which provides the input
        StreamSource xmlSource = new StreamSource(new File(RESOURCES_DIR + "//data.xml"));
        // create an instance of fop factory
        FopFactory fopFactory = FopFactory.newInstance(new File(".").toURI());
        // a user agent is needed for transformation
        FOUserAgent foUserAgent = fopFactory.newFOUserAgent();
        // Setup output
        OutputStream out;
        out = new java.io.FileOutputStream(OUTPUT_DIR + "//output.pdf");

        try {
            // Construct fop with desired output format
            Fop fop = fopFactory.newFop(MimeConstants.MIME_PDF, foUserAgent, out);

            // Setup XSLT
            TransformerFactory factory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
            Transformer transformer = factory.newTransformer(new StreamSource(xsltFile));

            // Resulting SAX events (the generated FO) must be piped through to
            // FOP
            Result res = new SAXResult(fop.getDefaultHandler());

            // Start XSLT transformation and FOP processing
            // That's where the XML is first transformed to XSL-FO and then
            // PDF is created
            transformer.transform(xmlSource, res);
        } finally {
            out.close();
        }
    }
}

G - Sample Output: output.pdf