public abstract class

AbstractPdfStamperView

extends AbstractUrlBasedView
java.lang.Object
   ↳ org.springframework.context.support.ApplicationObjectSupport
     ↳ org.springframework.web.context.support.WebApplicationObjectSupport
       ↳ org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractView
         ↳ org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractUrlBasedView
           ↳ org.springframework.web.servlet.view.document.AbstractPdfStamperView

Class Overview

Abstract superclass for PDF views that operate on an existing document with an AcroForm. Application-specific view classes will extend this class to merge the PDF form with model data.

Thanks to Bryant Larsen for the suggestion and the original prototype!

See Also

Summary

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Inherited Constants
From class org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractView
[Expand]
Inherited Fields
From class org.springframework.context.support.ApplicationObjectSupport
From interface org.springframework.web.servlet.View
Public Constructors
AbstractPdfStamperView()
Protected Methods
boolean generatesDownloadContent()
Return whether this view generates download content (typically binary content like PDF or Excel files).
abstract void mergePdfDocument(Map<StringObject> model, PdfStamper stamper, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
Subclasses must implement this method to merge the PDF form with the given model data.
PdfReader readPdfResource()
Read the raw PDF resource into an iText PdfReader.
final void renderMergedOutputModel(Map<StringObject> model, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
Subclasses must implement this method to actually render the view.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractUrlBasedView
From class org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractView
From class org.springframework.web.context.support.WebApplicationObjectSupport
From class org.springframework.context.support.ApplicationObjectSupport
From class java.lang.Object
From interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNameAware
From interface org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean
From interface org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextAware
From interface org.springframework.web.context.ServletContextAware
From interface org.springframework.web.servlet.View

Public Constructors

public AbstractPdfStamperView ()

Protected Methods

protected boolean generatesDownloadContent ()

Return whether this view generates download content (typically binary content like PDF or Excel files).

The default implementation returns false. Subclasses are encouraged to return true here if they know that they are generating download content that requires temporary caching on the client side, typically via the response OutputStream.

protected abstract void mergePdfDocument (Map<StringObject> model, PdfStamper stamper, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)

Subclasses must implement this method to merge the PDF form with the given model data.

This is where you are able to set values on the AcroForm. An example of what can be done at this level is:

 // get the form from the document
 AcroFields form = stamper.getAcroFields();

 // set some values on the form
 form.setField("field1", "value1");
 form.setField("field2", "Vvlue2");

 // set the disposition and filename
 response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; FILENAME=someName.pdf");

Note that the passed-in HTTP response is just supposed to be used for setting cookies or other HTTP headers. The built PDF document itself will automatically get written to the response after this method returns.

Parameters
model the model Map
stamper the PdfStamper instance that will contain the AcroFields. You may also customize this PdfStamper instance according to your needs, e.g. setting the "formFlattening" property.
request in case we need locale etc. Shouldn't look at attributes.
response in case we need to set cookies. Shouldn't write to it.
Throws
Exception any exception that occured during document building

protected PdfReader readPdfResource ()

Read the raw PDF resource into an iText PdfReader.

The default implementation resolve the specified "url" property as ApplicationContext resource.

Returns
  • the PdfReader instance
Throws
IOException if resource access failed
See Also

protected final void renderMergedOutputModel (Map<StringObject> model, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)

Subclasses must implement this method to actually render the view.

The first step will be preparing the request: In the JSP case, this would mean setting model objects as request attributes. The second step will be the actual rendering of the view, for example including the JSP via a RequestDispatcher.

Parameters
model combined output Map (never null), with dynamic values taking precedence over static attributes
request current HTTP request
response current HTTP response
Throws
Exception