Add text over existing PDF files with reportlab

Question

I am interested in filling in the existing PDF formats programmatically. All I really need to do is output the information from user input, and then put the appropriate text on top of the existing PDF file in the appropriate locations. I can already do this with reportlab, loading the same sheet of paper into the printer twice, but it just spoils me wrong.

I am tempted to just personally redesign each existing PDF file and draw each line and character before adding user-entered text, but I wanted to check if there was an easy way to take an existing PDF file and set this as the background for some additional text. I would prefer to use python as this is the only language I feel comfortable with.

I also understand that I could just scan the document itself and use the resulting bitmap as a background, but I would prefer the accuracy of vector graphics.

ReportLab seems to have a commercial product with this functionality , and the specific function I'm looking for is in it (copyPages) - but it seems like an overpayment for a 4-digit product for a simple simple function for non-commercial use.

Answer 1

If the PDF forms are real AcroForms , you can use iText to fill them out. I don’t know if there is a different port than iText (java, original) and iTextSharp (C #), but it is easy to use and free if you do not mind opening your open source solution. You can see this sample code or (java snippet):

String formFile = "/path/to/myform.pdf" String newFile = "/path/to/output.pdf" PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(formFile); FileOutputStream outStream = new FileOutputStream(newFile); PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, outStream); AcroFields fields = stamper.getAcroFields(); // fill the form fields.setField("name", "Shane"); fields.setField("url", "http://stackoverflow.com"); // PDF infos HashMap<String, String> infoDoc = new HashMap<String, String>(); infoDoc.put("Title", "your title here"); infoDoc.put("Author", "JRE ;)"); stamper.setMoreInfo(infoDoc); // Flatten the PDF & cleanup stamper.setFormFlattening(true); stamper.close(); reader.close(); outStream.close(); 

Answer 2

If you just want to add some texts to pre-printed paper. You can scan it as jpg and then put this jpg as background. Please refer to page 15 of the reportlab manual, just call drawImage

Answer 3

It looks like you just need to place your existing PDF in the background of the Reportlab PDF you created. The free PDFRW library can do this easily. Take a look at the Tool Examples page for some specific examples of this technique.