public class

ContentReplacer

extends Object
implements AutoCloseable
java.lang.Object
   ↳ com.pdftron.pdf.ContentReplacer

Class Overview

ContentReplacer is a utility class for replacing content (text and images) in existing PDF (template) documents. Users can replace content in a PDF page using the following operations:

  • Replace an image that exists in a target rectangle with a replacement image.
  • Replace text that exists in a target rectangle with replacement text.
  • Replace all instances of a specially marked string with replacement string.
The following code replaces an image in a target region. This code also replaces the text "[NAME]" and "[JOB_TITLE]" with "John Smith" and "Software Developer" respectively. Notice the square braces ('[' and ']') on the target strings in the original PDFDoc. These square braces are not included in the actual function calls below, as they're implicitly added. 
 
 PDFDoc doc = new PDFDoc("../../TestFiles/BusinessCardTemplate.pdf");
   doc.initSecurityHandler();
   ContentReplacer replacer = new ContentReplacer();
   Page page = doc.getPage(1);
   Image img = Image.create(doc, "../../TestFiles/peppers.jpg");
   replacer.addImage(page.getMediaBox(), img.getSDFObj());
   replacer.addString("NAME", "John Smith");
   replacer.addString("JOB_TITLE", "Software Developer");
   replacer.process(page);

Summary

Public Constructors
ContentReplacer()
Create a new ContentReplacer object, to which replacement rules will be added.
Public Methods
void addImage(Rect target_region, Obj replacement_image)
Replace the image that best fits into 'target_region' with 'replacement_image'.
void addString(String template_text, String replacement_text)
Any text of the form "[template_text]" will be replaced by "replacement_text".
void addText(Rect target_region, String replacement_text)
All text inside 'target_region' will be deleted and replaced with 'replacement_text'.
void close()
Frees the native memory of the object.
void destroy()
Frees the native memory of the object.
void process(Page page)
Apply the replacement instructions to the target page.
void setMatchStrings(String start_str, String end_str)
Change the delimiters from '[' and ']' to arbitary strings.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object
From interface java.lang.AutoCloseable

Public Constructors

public ContentReplacer ()

Create a new ContentReplacer object, to which replacement rules will be added. The same object can be used to 'Process' multiple pages.

Throws
PDFNetException

Public Methods

public void addImage (Rect target_region, Obj replacement_image)

Replace the image that best fits into 'target_region' with 'replacement_image'.

Note: The best fit is the image that closest matches 'target_region'. For example if there are two images on the page, one taking up all of the page, and the other smaller, and the smaller one has similar dimensions and position of 'target_region', then the smaller image would be replaced, not the larger. Furthermore, if 'target_region' encloses multiple images, then only the image with the largest area in 'target_region' will be replaced.

Parameters
target_region - The rectangle defining the area in which an image that best fits the rectangle will be replaced by 'replacement_image'.
replacement_image - The 'SDF.Obj' of a 'PDF.Image' object.
Throws
PDFNetException

public void addString (String template_text, String replacement_text)

Any text of the form "[template_text]" will be replaced by "replacement_text".

Note: Only text wrapped in '[' and ']' will be checked, and if it matches 'template_text', then 'template_text' and the surrounding square braces will be replaced by 'replacement_text'. For example AddString("TITLE", "Doctor") will replace any text consisting of "[TITLE]" with "Doctor".

Parameters
template_text - The text to remove.
replacement_text - The new text that will appear in place of 'template_text'.
Throws
PDFNetException

public void addText (Rect target_region, String replacement_text)

All text inside 'target_region' will be deleted and replaced with 'replacement_text'.

Note: The 'replacement_text' will be styled in the same font/color/style that is used by the original text. If there are multiple font styles, the most prevalent style will be used. Also, the 'replacement_text' will wrap within the 'target_region', but if it is too long, the overflow text will not be visible, and no surrounding content will be affected.

Parameters
target_region - The rectangle defining the area in which all text will be replaced by 'replacement_text'.
replacement_text - The new text that will replace the existing text in 'target_region'.
Throws
PDFNetException

public void close ()

Frees the native memory of the object. This can be explicity called to control the deallocation of native memory and avoid situations where the garbage collector does not free the object in a timely manner.

Throws
PDFNetException

public void destroy ()

Frees the native memory of the object. This can be explicitly called to control the deallocation of native memory and avoid situations where the garbage collector does not free the object in a timely manner.

public void process (Page page)

Apply the replacement instructions to the target page. Subsequent calls to 'Process' can be made on other pages, and it will apply the same rules.

Parameters
page - The page to apply the content replacement instructions to.
Throws
PDFNetException

public void setMatchStrings (String start_str, String end_str)

Change the delimiters from '[' and ']' to arbitary strings.

Note: While empty strings are allowed as delimiters, a warning is displayed. Otherwise there are no restrictions. For example, after SetMatchStrings("{{", "}}"), AddString("TITLE", "Doctor") will replace any text consisting of "{{TITLE}}" with "Doctor". Similarly, after SetMatchStrings("Beginning...", "...ending."), AddString("TITLE", "Doctor") will replace "Beginning...TITLE...ending." with "Doctor".

Parameters
start_str - The starting delimiter string.
end_str - The ending delimiter string.
Throws
PDFNetException