ack-pdfbox
Java code for specific pdf manipulations
This package is Java code and not Node code. This Java code has been put on NPM for easy inclusion in other NPM packages such as pdfbox-cli-wrap
Table of Contents
Purpose
To have a uniform and standardized method for populating PDF Acroforms. A JSON file is produced when reading a PDF Acroform and that same JSON file can be used to turn around and populate the source PDF.
CLI Test Commands
Open ack-pdfbox in a terminal command prompt and then run the following commands
PDFBox Version
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar -version
PDFToImage Test
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar pdftoimage -endPage 1
Embed Timestamp Signature
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar sign test/pdfbox-test.p12 pdfbox-test-password test/unencrypted.pdf -tsa http://tsa.safecreative.org -out test/unencrypted22.pdf
Read Acroform Output Json File
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar read test/i-9.pdf test/i-9.pdf.json
Fill Acroform From Json File
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar fill test/i-9.pdf test/i-9-with-sig.pdf.json test/i-9-with-sig.pdf -flatten true
Encrypt PDF
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar Encrypt <pdf-path> <pdf-out-path> <options>
Decrypt PDF
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar Encrypt <pdf-path> <pdf-out-path> <options>
Sample Code
Sample Read Acroform Json File Result
[{
"fullyQualifiedName": "form1[0].#subform[6].FamilyName[0]",
"isReadOnly": false,
"partialName": "FamilyName[0]",
"type": "org.apache.pdfbox.pdmodel.interactive.form.PDTextField",
"isRequired": false,
"page": 6,
"cords": {
"x": "39.484",
"y": "597.929",
"width": "174.00198",
"height": "15.119995"
},
"value": "Apple"
}]
Sample Json File Used For Acroform Fill
The JSON file below will fill two fields.
- First field is a plain text field
- Second field will be replaced by a base64 image of a hand-signature
- remove was added to delete field from pdf
- base64Overlay was added to insert hand-signature image where field was
- uri specifies jpg or png image data
- forceWidthHeight forces image to fit with-in field coordinates
[{
"fullyQualifiedName": "form1[0].#subform[6].FamilyName[0]",
"isReadOnly": false,
"partialName": "FamilyName[0]",
"type": "org.apache.pdfbox.pdmodel.interactive.form.PDTextField",
"isRequired": false,
"page": 6,
"cords": {
"x": "39.484",
"y": "597.929",
"width": "174.00198",
"height": "15.119995"
},
"value": "Apple"
},{
"fullyQualifiedName": "form1[0].#subform[6].EmployeeSignature[0]",
"isReadOnly": true,
"partialName": "EmployeeSignature[0]",
"type": "org.apache.pdfbox.pdmodel.interactive.form.PDTextField",
"isRequired": false,
"page": 6,
"cords": {
"x": "126.964",
"y": "227.523",
"width": "283.394",
"height": "15.12001"
},
"remove": true,
"base64Overlay": {
"uri": "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAA...",
"forceWidthHeight": true
}
}]
Generate Certificates and KeyStore
If you will be running encrypt/decrypt functionality WITH certificate based security, get ready to run some terminal commands against Java's keytool.
In a terminal command prompt window, run the following in a folder where certificate files can live
Step #1 Create keyStore
keytool -genkey -keyalg RSA -alias pdfbox-test-alias -keystore pdfbox-test-keystore.jks -storepass pdfbox-test-password -validity 360 -keysize 2048
Step #2 Create a selfsigned certificate
keytool -export -alias pdfbox-test-alias -file pdfbox-test.crt -keystore pdfbox-test-keystore.jks
Step #3 Marry the certificate and keyStore together as a .p12 file
keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore pdfbox-test-keystore.jks -destkeystore pdfbox-test.p12 -srcstoretype JKS -deststoretype PKCS12 -deststorepass pdfbox-test-password -srcalias pdfbox-test-alias -destalias pdfbox-test-p12
You should now have the following files in targeted folder:
- pdfbox-test.crt
- used to encrypt
- pdfbox-test-keystore.jks
- used to create p12 file below
- pdfbox-test.p12
- used to decrypt
MAY Need Java Cryptography
Depending on your level of advanced encryption needs, you (may) need to install Java Cryptography
API
PDFToImage
Will create an image for any or every page in a PDF document.
- password - The password to the PDF document.
- imageType=jpg - The image type to write to. Currently only jpg or png.
- outputPrefix - Name of PDF document The prefix to the image file.
- startPage=1 - The first page to convert, one based.
- endPage - The last page to convert, one based.
- nonSeq - false Use the new non sequential parser.
Timestamp Signature
Will embed timestamp signature with optional TSA option
- pkcs12_keystore - keystore the pkcs12 keystore containing the signing certificate (typically a .p12 file)
- password - the password for recovering the key
- pdf_to_sign - the PDF file to sign
- options
- tsa - url - sign timestamp using the given TSA server
- out - path - pdf output path
- e - sign using external signature creation scenario
Encrypt
Will encrypt a PDF document
- pdfPath - The PDF file to encrypt
- outPath - The file to save the decrypted document to. If left blank then it will be the same as the input file || options
- options
- O: The owner password to the PDF, ignored if -certFile is specified.
- U: The user password to the PDF, ignored if -certFile is specified.
- certFile: Path to X.509 cert file.
- canAssemble: true Set the assemble permission.
- canExtractContent: true Set the extraction permission.
- canExtractForAccessibility: true Set the extraction permission.
- canFillInForm: true Set the fill in form permission.
- canModify: true Set the modify permission.
- canModifyAnnotations: true Set the modify annots permission.
- canPrint: true Set the print permission.
- canPrintDegraded: true Set the print degraded permission.
- keyLength: 40, 128 or 256 The number of bits for the encryption key. For 128 and above bits Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files must be installed.
Decrypt
Will decrypt a PDF document
- pdfPath - The PDF file to decrypt
- outPath - The file to save the decrypted document to. If left blank then it will be the same as the input file || options
- options - {}
- password: Password to the PDF or certificate in keystore.
- keyStore: Path to keystore that holds certificate to decrypt the document (typically a .p12 file). This is only required if the document is encrypted with a certificate, otherwise only the password is required.
- alias: The alias to the certificate in the keystore.
read
Read Acroform fields from a PDF
- pdfPath - The PDF file to read
- jsonPath - optional, path to write JSON file otherwise output to console
fill
Fill Acroform fields from a PDF
- pdfPath - The PDF file to fill
- jsonPath - The json file to fill pdf with
- outPath - The file to save the decrypted document to. If left blank then it will be the same as the input file || options
- options
- flatten - Boolean - The form will become uneditable
add-image
Insert a single image into a PDF or append multi images as individual pages
- pdfPath - The PDF file to encrypt
- imagesPath - The file image(s) to append to document. Allows multiple image arguments, which is great for appending photos as pages.
- options
- out - The file to save the decrypted document to. If left blank then it will be the same as the input file || options
- page - The page number where to drop image. Use -1 to append on a new page
- x - The x cord where to drop image
- y - The y cord where to drop image. Use -1 for top
- width - default is image width. Accepts percent width
- height - default is image height
Example Add Images as Pages
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar add-image test/unencrypted.pdf test/testImage.png test/testImage2.JPG test/testImage.JPG -y -1 -width 100% -page -1 -out test/unencrypted2.pdf
copy-fields
Copies the form fields from one pdf to another
- sourcePdfPath - The PDF file to copy the fields from
- targetPdfPath - The PDF file to copy the fields to (this file will not be overwritten unless outPath is specified as the same path)
- outPath - The file path to save the resulting pdf to
Example Copy Fields
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar copy-fields test/fw4-filled.pdf test/fw4.pdf test/fw4-with-copied-fields.pdf
rename-fields
Renames the all of the form fields in the source pdf based on a given substring
- sourcePdfPath - The PDF file to rename the fields in
- outPath - The file path to save the resulting pdf(with the renamed fields) to
- sourceString - The substring to be replaced
- targetString - The string to replace all instances of the sourceString with
Example Rename Fields
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar rename-fields test/fw4.pdf test/fw4-with-renamed-fields.pdf "foo" "bar"
translate-fields
Translates the position of the form fields in the source pdf based on a given offset
- sourcePdfPath - The PDF file to rename the fields in
- outPath - The file path to save the resulting pdf(with the translated fields) to
- translateX - A number representing how far to move the fields along the X axis (can be negative)
- translateY - A number representing how far to move the fields along the Y axis (can be negative)
Example Translate Fields
java -jar dist/ackpdfbox-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar translate-fields test/fw4.pdf test/fw4-with-translated-fields.pdf 50 100
Resources
- This Java code is bundled using Maven
- PDFBox
- Cryptography is provided by BouncyCastle
- latest releases