Czym jest iText? (Alternatywy biblioteki PDF C# i Java przy użyciu IronPDF)

iText Group NV

Grupa iText jest światowym pionierem w dziedzinie technologii PDF (Portable Document Format), oferującym takie produkty jak iText 7 Suite, iText pdf2Data oraz oprogramowanie aplikacyjne iText DITO.

iText 7 Core to biblioteka PDF typu open source, którą można włączyć do własnych aplikacji w celu tworzenia interaktywnych formularzy. Jest to nowe podejście do sprawdzonego silnika używanego w iText 5, z modułową strukturą kodu, która pozwala na przyszłe ulepszenia i rozbudowę, a także ułatwia tworzenie skryptów.

Funkcje biblioteki oprogramowania iText

Biblioteka iText oferuje wiele funkcji dla użytkowników biznesowych:

1. Tworzenie, odczytywanie i edycja dokumentów PDF
2. Dodawanie podpisów cyfrowych do dokumentów PDF
3. Wypełnianie i spłaszczanie interaktywnych formularzy PDF
4. Dodawanie tagów do dokumentów PDF
5. Tworzenie map i książek
6. Dodawanie zakładek, numerów stron, znaków wodnych i innych funkcji do istniejących dokumentów PDF
7. Obsługuje dokumenty PDF zgodne z:
   • Specyfikacje PDF, w tym PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2)
   • PDF/A (ISO 19005; PDF/A-1a/b, PDF/A-2a/b/u, PDF/A-3a/b/u)
   • PDF/UA (ISO 14289)

O iText

iText to firma technologiczna działająca w branży dokumentów cyfrowych. Flagowym produktem firmy jest biblioteka Java typu open source oraz biblioteka .NET służąca do tworzenia i edycji dokumentów PDF w środowiskach Java i C#.

Tworzenie dokumentów PDF przy użyciu iText 7

Przyjrzyjmy się przykładowemu kodowi źródłowemu "hello world" służącemu do generowania dokumentów PDF za pomocą iText.

// Import iText7 libraries
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;
using iText.Layout;
using iText.Layout.Element;

// Create a writer instance with the destination file path
var writer = new PdfWriter("destination.pdf");

// Create a PdfDocument instance which uses the writer
var pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);

// Create a Document instance for high-level manipulation
var document = new Document(pdf);

// Add a paragraph with "Hello World!" text
document.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World!"));

// Close the document to ensure changes are saved
document.Close();

// Import iText7 libraries
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;
using iText.Layout;
using iText.Layout.Element;

// Create a writer instance with the destination file path
var writer = new PdfWriter("destination.pdf");

// Create a PdfDocument instance which uses the writer
var pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);

// Create a Document instance for high-level manipulation
var document = new Document(pdf);

// Add a paragraph with "Hello World!" text
document.Add(new Paragraph("Hello World!"));

// Close the document to ensure changes are saved
document.Close();

' Import iText7 libraries
Imports iText.Kernel.Pdf
Imports iText.Layout
Imports iText.Layout.Element

' Create a writer instance with the destination file path
Private writer = New PdfWriter("destination.pdf")

' Create a PdfDocument instance which uses the writer
Private pdf = New PdfDocument(writer)

' Create a Document instance for high-level manipulation
Private document = New Document(pdf)

' Add a paragraph with "Hello World!" text
document.Add(New Paragraph("Hello World!"))

' Close the document to ensure changes are saved
document.Close()

Ograniczenia

iText 7 jest płatny i ma ograniczoną funkcjonalność. Nie zapewniają one wszystkich funkcji w jednym pakiecie. Musimy używać różnych bibliotek do różnych celów. Na przykład:

Tworzenie i generowanie plików PDF jest obsługiwane przez iText 7, natomiast konwersja HTML na PDF jest obsługiwana przez pdfHTML. Z drugiej strony, pliki PDF, w tym usuwanie poufnych danych z plików PDF, są obsługiwane przez pdfSweep.

Data extraction such as extraction of images, tables, and text from PDF documents is provided by the pdf2Data library. RUPS supports PDF debugging to manipulate PDF documents.

Similarly, other features have libraries to support them, which are part of the iText 7 Suite. So, it is very difficult for the developer to manage so many DLLs.

Its commercial license is also very expensive. They have not mentioned the price on their iText 7 license and pricing page. We need to contact their sales department for the quotation, which will cost us time.

Let's suppose, if we are working on generating PDF documents, and at the same time we need to extract images, tables, or text from the existing PDF. In this case, we need to buy iText 7 Suite as well as iText pdf2Data which will cost us more.

Is there any alternative to iText software with comprehensive features which provides all the mentioned features in a single library with a reasonable commercial license? The answer is Yes.

IronPDF

Explore IronPDF Funkcjas and Capabilities is a .NET and Java Library developed and maintained by Iron Software. IronPDF is the most popular C# and Java PDF library for creating and editing PDFs. Its simple API enables developers to quickly generate professional, high-quality PDFs from HTML in .NET projects. It prioritizes accuracy, ease of use, and speed.

The features of the IronPDF include:

1. Generate PDF from HTML, String, URL, Razor, ASPX, and MVC view
2. Extract images, tables, and text without using any other library
3. Convert images such as scanned documents into PDF and vice versa
4. It provides functions for adding page numbers, custom headers and footers, digital signatures, file attachments, password protection and security measures
5. It provides high performance by providing full multithreading capabilities and async processing support
6. Other 50+ features which we cannot list here
7. Compatible with all .NET languages such as C#, VB.NET, and F#.
8. Compatible with all .NET versions including .NET Standard, .NET Core, .NET 5, 6, & 7.
9. Discover IronPDF for Java which also provides all the above-mentioned features and is compatible with Java, Kotlin, and Scala.
10. Supports every operating system including Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems.
11. Supports every app type such as Web, Mobile, and desktop.

Let's discuss a bit about its licensing.

Licencja IronPDF

IronPDF is free for development and does not require any license. However, its commercial license is required for using it in production. You can always avail free trial of IronPDF at any time. Its commercial license varies from 749 USD to 2999 USD. You can select the package as per your need and start working. You don't have to contact their sales which saves time. Moreover, their commercial license includes 24/7 support.

Wnioski

IronPDF provides all the functionalities in a single package. It is like an all-in-one solution. We need to use different packages for the different features in the case of iText 7. IronPDF's commercial license can easily be purchased with full support without contacting sales. On the other hand, we need to contact sales to request a quote to use iText 7 for commercial purposes.

We have kept this article simple and comprehensive. Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section.