Various types of publications such as magazines, newspapers, research articles, etc. use multi-column page layouts. While generating such documents programmatically, you may need to create multi-column PDFs. For such cases, this article covers how to create a multi-column PDF in Java.
Java Library to Create Multi-Column PDF
To create a multi-column PDF, we will use Aspose.PDF for Java. It is a feature-rich PDF manipulation library that lets you create simple as well as complex PDF files from scratch.
You can either download the library’s JAR or install it within your Java application using the following Maven configurations.
<repository>
<id>AsposeJavaAPI</id>
<name>Aspose Java API</name>
<url>https://repository.aspose.com/repo/</url>
</repository>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.aspose</groupId>
<artifactId>aspose-pdf</artifactId>
<version>22.12</version>
</dependency>
Create a Multi-Column PDF in Java
Aspose.PDF for Java makes it quite easier for you to create a multi-column PDF file. The following are the steps to achieve this.
- First, create a new Document object.
- Then, set the page margins using Document.getPageInfo().getMargin().setLeft() and Document.getPageInfo().getMargin().setRight() methods.
- Add a new page in the PDF using Document.getPages().add() method and get its reference into a Page object.
- Create a new Graph object and add it to the paragraph collection using Page.getParagraphs().add() method.
- Create a new Line and add it to the Graph.getShapes() collection.
- Add heading text to the page using Page.getParagraphs().add() method.
- Create a new FloatingBox and specify the number of columns, column spacing, and column width.
- Create another Graph object.
- Add a new Line to the Graph.getShapes() collection.
- Add Graph to the FloatingBox.getParagraphs() collection.
- Create a new TextFragment and add it to FloatingBox.getParagraphs() collection.
- Add FloatingBox to the page using Page.getParagraphs().add() method.
- Finally, save the PDF file using Document.save(string) method.
Java Code to Create Multi-Column PDF
The following code sample shows how to create a multi-column PDF in Java.
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| // Create a new document | |
| Document doc = new Document(); | |
| // Specify the left margin info for the PDF file | |
| doc.getPageInfo().getMargin().setLeft(40); | |
| // Specify the Right margin info for the PDF file | |
| doc.getPageInfo().getMargin().setRight(40); | |
| // Add a new page and get its reference | |
| Page page = doc.getPages().add(); | |
| // Create a new graph | |
| com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Graph graph1 = new com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Graph(500, 2); | |
| // Add the graph to paraphraphs collection | |
| page.getParagraphs().add(graph1); | |
| // Add a line to the graph | |
| float[] posArr = new float[] { 1, 2, 500, 2 }; | |
| com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Line l1 = new com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Line(posArr); | |
| graph1.getShapes().add(l1); | |
| // Create string variable with text containing HTML content | |
| String s = "<span style=\"font-family: \"Times New Roman\", Times, serif;\" font-size=\"14pt\" \">" | |
| +"<strong> How to Steer Clear of money scams</<strong> </span>"; | |
| // Create text fragment and initialize it with HTML text | |
| HtmlFragment heading_text = new HtmlFragment(s); | |
| page.getParagraphs().add(heading_text); | |
| // Create a floating box | |
| FloatingBox box = new FloatingBox(); | |
| // Add columns in the section | |
| box.getColumnInfo().setColumnCount(2); | |
| // Set the spacing between the columns | |
| box.getColumnInfo().setColumnSpacing("5"); | |
| // Set column width | |
| box.getColumnInfo().setColumnWidths("105 105"); | |
| // Create a new text fragment | |
| TextFragment text1 = new TextFragment("By A Googler (The Official Google Blog)"); | |
| text1.getTextState().setFontSize (8); | |
| text1.getTextState().setLineSpacing (2); | |
| text1.getTextState().setFontSize (10); | |
| text1.getTextState().setFontStyle (FontStyles.Italic); | |
| // Add text to paragraph | |
| box.getParagraphs().add(text1); | |
| // Create a graph object to draw a line | |
| com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Graph graph2 = new com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Graph(50, 10); | |
| // Specify the coordinates for the line | |
| float[] posArr2 = new float[] { 1, 10, 100, 10 }; | |
| // Create a line | |
| com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Line l2 = new com.aspose.pdf.drawing.Line(posArr2); | |
| // Add line to graph | |
| graph2.getShapes().add(l2); | |
| // Add the line to paragraphs collection of section object | |
| box.getParagraphs().add(graph2); | |
| // Create a new text fragment to set content of the document | |
| TextFragment text2 = new TextFragment("Sed augue tortor, sodales id, luctus et, pulvinar ut, eros. Suspendisse vel dolor. " | |
| +"Sed quam. Curabitur ut massa vitae eros euismod aliquam. Pellentesque sit amet elit. Vestibulum interdum pellentesque augue." | |
| +"Cras mollis arcu sit amet purus. Donec augue. Nam mollis tortor a elit. Nulla viverra nisl vel mauris. Vivamus sapien. nascetur " | |
| +"ridiculus mus. Nam justo lorem, aliquam luctus, sodales et, semper sed, enim Nam justo lorem, aliquam luctus, sodales et,nAenean " | |
| +"posuere ante ut neque. Morbi sollicitudin congue felis. Praesent turpis diam, iaculis sed, pharetra non, mollis ac, mauris. " | |
| +"Phasellus nisi ipsum, pretium vitae, tempor sed, molestie eu, dui. Duis lacus purus, tristique ut, iaculis cursus, tincidunt vitae, " | |
| +"risus. Sed commodo. *** sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam justo lorem, aliquam " | |
| +"luctus, sodales et, semper sed, enim Nam justo lorem, aliquam luctus, sodales et, semper sed, enim Nam justo lorem, aliquam luctus, " | |
| +"sodales et, semper sed, enim nAenean posuere ante ut neque. Morbi sollicitudin congue felis. Praesent turpis diam, iaculis sed, " | |
| +"pharetra non, mollis ac, mauris. Phasellus nisi ipsum, pretium vitae, tempor sed, molestie eu, dui. Duis lacus purus, tristique ut," | |
| +"iaculis cursus, tincidunt vitae, risus. Sed commodo. *** sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus " | |
| +"mus. Sed urna. . Duis convallis ultrices nisi. Maecenas non ligula. Nunc nibh est, tincidunt in, placerat sit amet, vestibulum a, nulla." | |
| +"Praesent porttitor turpis eleifend ante. Morbi sodales.nAenean posuere ante ut neque. Morbi sollicitudin congue felis. Praesent turpis diam," | |
| +"iaculis sed, pharetra non, mollis ac, mauris. Phasellus nisi ipsum, pretium vitae, tempor sed, molestie eu, dui. Duis lacus purus, tristique" | |
| +"ut, iaculis cursus, tincidunt vitae, risus. Sed commodo. *** sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus." | |
| +"Sed urna. . Duis convallis ultrices nisi. Maecenas non ligula. Nunc nibh est, tincidunt in, placerat sit amet, vestibulum a, nulla. " | |
| +"Praesent porttitor turpis eleifend ante. Morbi sodales."); | |
| // Add text to the floating box | |
| box.getParagraphs().add(text2); | |
| // Add floating box to the page | |
| page.getParagraphs().add(box); | |
| // Save PDF file | |
| doc.save("multicolumn-pdf.pdf"); |
The following is the screenshot of the multi-column PDF generated by the above code sample.
Free Java PDF Library
You can get a free temporary license to create multi-column PDF files without any limitations.
Explore Java PDF Library
You can learn more about the Java PDF library using the documentation. In case you would have any questions, feel free to ask via our forum.
Conclusion
Multi-column layout in PDF documents is used for various types of publications. In this post, you have learned how to create multi-column PDF files from scratch using Java. The step-by-step guide and code sample have shown how to easily generate a multi-column PDF in a Java application.