How to create a bulleted list in Apache POI XWPF Document?

Question

I want to create a bulleted/numbered list in a docx word document with Java. I am using the Apache POI 3.10 library. If I understand correctly, the steps would be like this:

Answer 1

I found the easiest way was to extract numbering.xml from a Word document that has the style you want, and then manually recreate the important tags from the XML tree using Java. It sounds a bit painful, but it's much more precise than trying to parse something the MS Word has created. And the CT functions are named after the XML nodes that they affect, so it's fairly intuitive once you get the idea.

For example in my case (this will return the correct CTAbstractNum for either a bulleted or numbered single-level list):

private static CTAbstractNum getAbstractNumber(STNumberFormat.Enum numFmt) {

    CTAbstractNum ctAbsNum = CTAbstractNum.Factory.newInstance();

    CTLvl lvl = ctAbsNum.addNewLvl(); //Add a level

    CTDecimalNumber start = lvl.addNewStart(); //Set the starting number
    start.setVal(BigInteger.ONE);

    CTNumFmt fmt = lvl.addNewNumFmt(); //Set the number format
    fmt.setVal(numFmt);

    //Add the text that's used for the bullet point 
    CTLevelText lt = lvl.addNewLvlText(); 
    if (numFmt == STNumberFormat.BULLET) {
        lt.setVal("");     
        lvl.addNewRPr(); //Set the Symbol font
        CTFonts f = lvl.getRPr().addNewRFonts();
        f.setAscii("Symbol");
        f.setHAnsi("Symbol");
    }
    else { //Decimal
        lt.setVal("%1.");
    }

    lvl.addNewPPr(); 
    CTInd ind = lvl.getPPr().addNewInd(); //Set the indent
    ind.setHanging(BigInteger.valueOf(360));
    ind.setLeft(BigInteger.valueOf(720));           

    System.out.println(ctAbsNum);

    return ctAbsNum;
}