How to resize a PdfPTable to fit the page?

itext, java

Solution

If you want a table to fit a page, you should create the table before even thinking about page size and ask the table for its height as is done in the TableHeight example. Note that the `getTotalHeight()` method returns 0 unless you define the width of the table. This can be done like this:

    table.setTotalWidth(width);
    table.setLockedWidth(true);

Now you can create a `Document` with size `Rectangle(0, 0, width + margin * 2, getTotalHeight() + margin * 2)` and the table should fit the document exactly when you add it with the `writeSelectedRows()` method.

If you don't want a custom page size, then you need to create a `PdfTemplate` with the size of the table and add the table to this template object. Then wrap the template object in an `Image` and use `scaleToFit()` to size the table down.

public static void main(String[] args) throws DocumentException, FileNotFoundException, IOException {
    String TARGET = "temp.pdf";
    Document document = new Document(PageSize.A4);
    PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(TARGET));
    document.open();


    PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(7);         

    for (int i = 0; i < 700; i++) {
        Phrase p = new Phrase("some text");
        PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
        cell.addElement(p);
        table.addCell(cell);            
    }

    table.setTotalWidth(PageSize.A4.getWidth());
    table.setLockedWidth(true);
    PdfContentByte canvas = writer.getDirectContent();
    PdfTemplate template = canvas.createTemplate(table.getTotalWidth(), table.getTotalHeight());
    table.writeSelectedRows(0, -1, 0, table.getTotalHeight(), template);
    Image img = Image.getInstance(template);
    img.scaleToFit(PageSize.A4.getWidth(), PageSize.A4.getHeight());
    img.setAbsolutePosition(0, (PageSize.A4.getHeight() - table.getTotalHeight()) / 2);
    document.add(img);
    document.close();
}

Problem

I am generating a document, like in the following code, except ofcourse the contents of the table, which are varying. What I need to do is make sure that this table never exceeds one page in size, regardless of the amount of content in the cells. Is there a way to do it ? ``` import com.itextpdf.text.Phrase; import com.itextpdf.text.Document; import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException; import com.itextpdf.text.PageSize; import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell; import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable; import java.awt.Desktop; import java.io.File; import java.io.FileNotFoundException; import java.io.FileOutputStream; import java.io.IOException; public void createTemplate() throws DocumentException, FileNotFoundException, IOException{ String TARGET = System.getProperty("user.home")+"\temp.pdf"; Document document = new Document(PageSize.A4); PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(TARGET)); document.open(); PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(7); for (int i = 0; i < 105; i++) { Phrase p = new Phrase("some text"); PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell(); cell.addElement(p); table.addCell(cell); } table.setTotalWidth(PageSize.A4.getWidth()-10); table.setLockedWidth(true); PdfContentByte canvas = writer.getDirectContent(); PdfTemplate template = canvas.createTemplate(table.getTotalWidth(),table.getTotalHeight()); table.writeSelectedRows(0, -1, 0, PageSize.A4.getHeight(), template); Image img = Image.getInstance(template); img.scaleToFit(PageSize.A4.getWidth(), PageSize.A4.getHeight()); img.setAbsolutePosition(0, PageSize.A4.getHeight()); document.add(img); document.close(); Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop(); File file = new File(TARGET); desktop.open(file); } ``` Edit: @Bruno Lowagie. The hint with the template wrapped in an image sounds just right to me, and I changed the code according, but all I get now is an empty PDF. Am I doing something wrong, or is this the wrong approach alltogether?

Original source