Getting started with iText - Part 10 (Chunks.java)

The next installation in Getting started with iText translates the Chunks.java example.

Chunks? This is a good thing ... right?

The name sounds a bit peculiar, but the documentation explains that a Chunk is "the smallest significant part of text that can be added to a document. It is the 'atom' building block of most of the other High Level Text objects." (Now that sounds better).

This example introduces a few new classes like com.lowagie.text.Chunk and java.awt.Color, plus the java primitive type float. You may notice the java code contains a few numbers followed by a letter: 8.0f. The "f" stands for (32-bit float literal). The literal is not used in the CF code.

Now I hit a few stumbling blocks while converting the java code for the java.awt.Color object. The java code calls the constructor with hexadecimal numbers.

   new Color(0xFF, 0xDE, 0xAD)

I checked the API and it does not mention any constructors that accept hexadecimal values. Perhaps java performs some type of implicit conversion? Ultimately I ended up converting hexadecimal values to integers using a tip from one of the functions at www.cflib.org. I also found some other interesting java methods for converting colors, but more about that next time.


Documentation: The Chunk Object
Example: Chunks.java

So where is the code?

<h1>The Chunk object example</h1>
<cfscript>
    savedErrorMessage = "";

    fullPathToOutputFile = ExpandPath("./Chunks.pdf");

    // step 1: creation of a document-object
    document = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Document").init();
    
    try {
        // step 2:
        // we create a writer that listens to the document
        outStream = createObject("java", "java.io.FileOutputStream").init(fullPathToOutputFile);
        writer = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter").getInstance(document, outStream);

        // step 3: we open the document
        document.open();
        // step 4:
        //cfSearching: create a single chunk and color object and reuse them
        chunk = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.Chunk");
        color = createObject("java", "java.awt.Color");

        fox = chunk.init("quick brown fox");
        superscript = javacast("float", "8.0");
        fox.setTextRise(superscript);
        // cfSearching: Using the java.awt.Color constructor that accepts primitive integers
        // cfSearching: InputBaseN(string, 16) converts a hexadecimal value to decimal 
        foxColor = color.init(     javacast("int", InputBaseN("0xFF", 16)), 
                                javacast("int", InputBaseN("0xDE", 16)), 
                                javacast("int", InputBaseN("0xAD", 16)) 
                             );
        fox.setBackground(foxColor);
        jumps = chunk.init(" jumps over ");

        dog = chunk.init("the lazy dog");
        subscript = javacast("float", "-8.0");
        dog.setTextRise(subscript);
        dogColor =     color.init( javacast("int", InputBaseN("0xFF", 16)), 
                                javacast("int", InputBaseN("0x00", 16)), 
                                javacast("int", InputBaseN("0x00", 16)) 
                             );    
        // cfSearching: Must create a PdfContentByte to use one of its constants
        pdfContentByte = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfContentByte");
        dog.setUnderline(dogColor, 
                            javacast("float", 3.0), 
                            javacast("float", 0.0), 
                            javacast("float", -5.0) + subscript, 
                            javacast("float", 0.0), 
                            PdfContentByte.LINE_CAP_ROUND);
        document.add(fox);
        document.add(jumps);
        document.add(dog);

        WriteOutput("Finished!");

    } catch (DocumentException de) {
        System.err.println(de.getMessage());
    } catch (IOException ioe) {
        System.err.println(ioe.getMessage());
    }

    // step 5: we close the document
    document.close();
</cfscript>


<!--- show any errors --->
<cfif len(savedErrorMessage) gt 0>
    Error - unable to create document
    <cfdump var="#savedErrorMessage#">
</cfif>