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USING IRONPDF FOR JAVA

Java PDF Stamper (Beginner Tutorial)

IronPDF - Java PDF Library

IronPDF is a Java PDF Library for generating, reading, and editing PDF documents. It allows users to work with PDF documents with ease and accuracy. IronPDF for Java is built on the success of IronPDF for .NET and provides efficiency across different platforms. IronPDF for Java uses IronPdfEngine, which is fast and optimized for performance.

IronPDF helps extract text and images from PDFs and other objects from PDF files. It helps create PDFs from HTML String, URL, and images. It also allows conversion between different file formats. You can easily add new content and add digital signatures to PDFs along with document metadata to existing PDF documents. It is designed especially for Java 8+, Scala, and Kotlin, on any Windows, Linux, and Cloud platforms.

Steps to Create PDF Stamper using IronPDF in Java Application

Prerequisites

To make a PDF Stamper, you will need the following prerequisites:

1. Java IDE

You can use any Java-supported IDE. There are a bunch of IDEs available for Java development. This demonstration will be using IntelliJ IDE. You can use NetBeans, Eclipse, etc.

2. Maven Project

Maven is a dependency manager and allows control over the Java project. Maven for Java can be downloaded from the official Maven website. IntelliJ IDE for Java contains Maven support.

3. IronPDF

You can download and install IronPDF for Java in multiple ways.

  • Adding IronPDF dependency in the pom.xml file in the Maven project.
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf</artifactId>
    <version>LATEST_VERSION</version> <!-- Make sure to replace LATEST_VERSION with the actual version number -->
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.ironsoftware</groupId>
    <artifactId>ironpdf</artifactId>
    <version>LATEST_VERSION</version> <!-- Make sure to replace LATEST_VERSION with the actual version number -->
</dependency>
XML

4. Slf4j

This dependency is also required to stamp content on an existing PDF document. It can be added using the Maven dependencies manager in IntelliJ or directly downloaded from the Maven website. Add the following dependency to the pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
    <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
    <version>2.0.5</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
    <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
    <version>2.0.5</version>
</dependency>
XML

Adding Necessary Imports

Once all the prerequisites are installed, the next step is to import the necessary IronPDF packages to work with PDF documents. Add the following code on top of the Main.java file:

import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.License;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.PdfDocument;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.edit.PageSelection;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.metadata.MetadataManager;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.security.PdfPrintSecurity;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.security.SecurityManager;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.security.SecurityOptions;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.stamp.*;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.Date;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.License;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.PdfDocument;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.edit.PageSelection;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.metadata.MetadataManager;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.security.PdfPrintSecurity;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.security.SecurityManager;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.security.SecurityOptions;
import com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.stamp.*;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.Date;
JAVA

License Key

Some methods available in IronPDF require a license to be used. You can purchase a license or try IronPDF for free with a trial license. You can set the key as follows:

// Set the IronPDF license key
License.setLicenseKey("YOUR-KEY");
// Set the IronPDF license key
License.setLicenseKey("YOUR-KEY");
JAVA

Open an Existing PDF Document

To import an existing document for stamping new content, PdfDocument class is used. Its static fromFile method is used to load a file from a specific path with the actual file name. The code goes as follows:

// Load an existing PDF document
PdfDocument pd = PdfDocument.fromFile(Paths.get("sample.pdf"));
// Load an existing PDF document
PdfDocument pd = PdfDocument.fromFile(Paths.get("sample.pdf"));
JAVA

Loaded original document:

Java PDF Stamper (Beginner Tutorial), Figure 1: The sample document
The sample document

Add New HTML Content

IronPDF provides a stamp package. It allows a bunch of useful stamping options like BarcodeStamper, HtmlStamper, ImageStamper, TextStamper, and others for content alignment. To add new HTML content to this PDF document HtmlStamper class will be used. Let's use the file in the previous section and add some content to it. The following code helps to achieve this task:

// Create an HtmlStamper and set its content
HtmlStamper htmlStamper = new HtmlStamper();
htmlStamper.setHtml("New content added!");
// Create an HtmlStamper and set its content
HtmlStamper htmlStamper = new HtmlStamper();
htmlStamper.setHtml("New content added!");
JAVA

A HtmlStamper object is created and then used its setHtml method to attach new HTML code. The next step is to apply it to the existing PDF document to create a new PDF version.

Adding all the Interactive Elements to PDF Document

Using the PdfDocument object created earlier to add the HTML code to the existing document. It provides applyStamp with two overloads, one that accepts only the content as a Stamper object and the other with page selection as well.

// Apply the stamper to the PDF document
pd.applyStamp(htmlStamper);
// Apply the stamper to the PDF document
pd.applyStamp(htmlStamper);
JAVA

This will add the string description to the existing document.

Saving the Changes to the PDF

To save the file, use the saveAs method of the PdfDocument object.

// Save the modified PDF document
pd.saveAs("stamped.pdf");
// Save the modified PDF document
pd.saveAs("stamped.pdf");
JAVA

Java PDF Stamper (Beginner Tutorial), Figure 2: The stamped PDF file
The stamped PDF file

The HTML string is added to every page of the PDF document and at the middle of every page.

Stamp to Specific Pages

You can use another overload of the applyStamp method to add the content to a specific page.

// Stamp content to a specific page
pd.applyStamp(htmlStamper, PageSelection.singlePage(1));
// Stamp content to a specific page
pd.applyStamp(htmlStamper, PageSelection.singlePage(1));
JAVA

PageSelection class provides different methods to control the page number. firstPage, lastPage, allPages, and pageRange are some methods available to add the content appropriately.

Aligning the Content

You can use setVerticalAlignment, setHorizontalAlignment, setWidth, setHeight methods in each Stamper class to adjust the position of the content added to the existing PDF document. The following example code will help to place the text at the bottom left of the page:

// Set the alignment of the stamper
htmlStamper.setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignment.LEFT);
htmlStamper.setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.BOTTOM);
// Set the alignment of the stamper
htmlStamper.setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignment.LEFT);
htmlStamper.setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignment.BOTTOM);
JAVA

Java PDF Stamper (Beginner Tutorial), Figure 3: The output PDF file with stamper alignment
The output PDF file with stamper alignment

You can use setVerticalOffset, setHorizontalOffset method to further adjust the positioning of the content.

For more information on working with PDF files using IronPDF visit this code example for HTML to PDF conversion in Java.

Stamp Metadata, Signature, and Security Options to Existing Document

IronPDF for Java is a versatile library and provides the facility to add file descriptions in the form of metadata, user permissions, user password, add digital signature, and create signed documents to save the version of the PDF document.

Metadata

// Edit file metadata
MetadataManager metadata = pd.getMetadata();
metadata.setAuthor("Satoshi Nakamoto");
metadata.setKeywords("SEO, Friendly");
metadata.setModifiedDate(new Date().toString());
// Edit file metadata
MetadataManager metadata = pd.getMetadata();
metadata.setAuthor("Satoshi Nakamoto");
metadata.setKeywords("SEO, Friendly");
metadata.setModifiedDate(new Date().toString());
JAVA

Security Options

You can also control the security options of your PDF file so that data is saved from unauthorized use. It provides options to set setAllowUserPrinting, setAllowUserEdits, setAllowUserCopyPasteContent, setAllowUserAnnotations, setUserPassword, setAllowUserFormData parameters to true or false. The following sample code will help to set all the objects properties mentioned above.

// Edit file security settings
SecurityOptions securityOptions = new SecurityOptions();
securityOptions.setAllowUserCopyPasteContent(false);
securityOptions.setAllowUserAnnotations(false);
securityOptions.setAllowUserPrinting(PdfPrintSecurity.FULL_PRINT_RIGHTS);
securityOptions.setAllowUserFormData(false);
securityOptions.setOwnerPassword("top-secret");
securityOptions.setUserPassword("sharable");
// Edit file security settings
SecurityOptions securityOptions = new SecurityOptions();
securityOptions.setAllowUserCopyPasteContent(false);
securityOptions.setAllowUserAnnotations(false);
securityOptions.setAllowUserPrinting(PdfPrintSecurity.FULL_PRINT_RIGHTS);
securityOptions.setAllowUserFormData(false);
securityOptions.setOwnerPassword("top-secret");
securityOptions.setUserPassword("sharable");
JAVA

User Password

// Change or set the document encryption password
SecurityManager securityManager = pd.getSecurity();
securityManager.removePasswordsAndEncryption();
securityManager.makePdfDocumentReadOnly("secret-key");

securityManager.setSecurityOptions(securityOptions);
pd.saveAs(Paths.get("assets/secured.pdf"));
// Change or set the document encryption password
SecurityManager securityManager = pd.getSecurity();
securityManager.removePasswordsAndEncryption();
securityManager.makePdfDocumentReadOnly("secret-key");

securityManager.setSecurityOptions(securityOptions);
pd.saveAs(Paths.get("assets/secured.pdf"));
JAVA

For stamping digital signatures on the actual file, you can see this detailed code example for PDF signatures.

Summary

This article discussed how to stamp content on an existing PDF document in Java. There is a stamp package with a bunch of useful stamping classes, which can be used to add multiple format content to PDF at any desired location in the original document.

IronPDF is a versatile library as it can be seen from the above code examples as well. It is quite simple but yet a very powerful PDF generation and manipulation tool. This helps developers to easily integrate all PDF functionalities in a single Java application program.

IronPDF is free for single development and provides a free trial license without a watermark to test out its complete functionality. However, for commercial use, it should be licensed with IronPDF.

Lastly, IronPDF offers a special promotion to purchase Iron Software suites in which developers can buy all five Iron Software products for the price of two licenses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Java PDF library used for generating, reading, and editing PDF documents?

IronPDF for Java is a library for generating, reading, and editing PDF documents, offering ease and accuracy in working with PDF files. It is built on the success of IronPDF for .NET and is optimized for performance across different platforms.

What are the prerequisites for creating a PDF stamper in Java?

To create a PDF stamper, you need a Java IDE, a Maven project to manage dependencies, and the IronPDF library. Additionally, Slf4j is required for stamping content on existing PDF documents.

How do I add a PDF library to a Maven project?

You can add IronPDF to a Maven project by including the IronPDF dependency in the pom.xml file. You can also download the package from the Maven repository or directly from IronPDF's official website.

What is the purpose of the HtmlStamper class in a PDF library?

The HtmlStamper class in IronPDF is used to add new HTML content to an existing PDF document. It provides functionality to set and align HTML content on a PDF.

How can I save changes to a PDF document using a PDF library?

You can save changes to a PDF document using the PdfDocument object by calling the saveAs method with the desired file name.

Can I apply a stamp to specific pages in a PDF using a PDF library?

Yes, you can apply a stamp to specific pages in a PDF using the applyStamp method with the PageSelection class to specify the pages.

How can I adjust the alignment of stamped content in a PDF?

You can adjust the alignment of stamped content in a PDF by using methods like setVerticalAlignment and setHorizontalAlignment in the Stamper class to position the content as desired.

What features does a PDF library offer for PDF security?

IronPDF offers features for PDF security such as setting user permissions, adding passwords, and controlling user access to printing, editing, and copying content.

Does a PDF library require a license for commercial use?

Yes, IronPDF requires a license for commercial use. However, it offers a free trial license without a watermark for testing its full functionality.

What platforms are supported by a PDF library for Java?

IronPDF for Java is designed for Java 8+, Scala, and Kotlin, and it supports Windows, Linux, and Cloud platforms.

Darrius Serrant
Full Stack Software Engineer (WebOps)

Darrius Serrant holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Miami and works as a Full Stack WebOps Marketing Engineer at Iron Software. Drawn to coding from a young age, he saw computing as both mysterious and accessible, making it the perfect medium for creativity and problem-solving.

At Iron Software, Darrius enjoys creating new things and simplifying complex concepts to make them more understandable. As one of our resident developers, he has also volunteered to teach students, sharing his expertise with the next generation.

For Darrius, his work is fulfilling because it is valued and has a real impact.

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