Generate PDF reports on Android

With Nutrient, you can use templates to create a PDF report on a mobile device and without an internet connection. This is useful in business intelligence and can potentially amend applications such as Crystal Reports or SQL Server Reporting Services.

Generating PDF documents

With a combination of features like Document Editor and annotations, Nutrient can create professional reports based on a template and include custom cover and final pages. See the GenerateReportExample.java example from the Catalog for more information.

Adding text and images

You can add text with free text annotations and images using stamp annotations, like so:

// Create a free text annotation.
val freeTextAnnotation = FreeTextAnnotation(
	0,
	RectF(228f, 1024f, 828f, 964f),
	"Some Annotations"
)
freeTextAnnotation.textSize = 40f

// Add the free text annotation to the document.
document.annotationProvider.addAnnotationToPage(titleFreeTextAnnotation)

 // Create an image stamp annotation.
val image = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(context.assets.open("images/android.png"))

val imageStampAnnotation = StampAnnotation(
	0,
	RectF(60f, 400f, (60 + image.width / 4).toFloat(), (400 - image.height / 4).toFloat()),
	image
)

// Add the image stamp annotation to the document.
document.annotationProvider.addAnnotationToPage(imageStampAnnotation)

// Create a free text annotation.
FreeTextAnnotation freeTextAnnotation = new FreeTextAnnotation(
	0,
    new RectF(228, 1024, 828, 964),
    "Some Annotations"
);
freeTextAnnotation.setTextSize(40);

// Add the free text annotation to the document.
document.getAnnotationProvider().addAnnotationToPage(freeTextAnnotation);

// Create an image stamp annotation.
Bitmap image = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(context.getAssets().open("images/android.png"));

StampAnnotation imageStampAnnotation = new StampAnnotation(
	0,
	new RectF(60, 400, 60 + image.getWidth() / 4, 400 - image.getHeight() / 4),
	image
);

// Add the image stamp annotation to the document.
document.getAnnotationProvider().addAnnotationToPage(imageStampAnnotation);

Adding PDF pages/content into existing PDF pages

Stamp annotations allow you to embed and freely place/scale PDF pages into other PDF pages, like so:

// Create the vector stamp annotation.
val vectorStampAnnotation = StampAnnotation(
	0,
	RectF(50f, 724f, 250f, 524f),
	"Stamp with custom AP stream"
)
// Set the PDF from assets containing the vector logo as the annotation's appearance stream generator.
vectorStampAnnotation.appearanceStreamGenerator = AssetAppearanceStreamGenerator("images/PSPDFKit_Logo.pdf")

// Add the vector stamp annotation to the document.
document.annotationProvider.addAnnotationToPage(vectorStampAnnotation)

// Create the vector stamp annotation.
StampAnnotation vectorStampAnnotation = new StampAnnotation(
	0,
	new RectF(50, 724, 250, 524),
	"Stamp with custom AP stream"
);
// Set the PDF from assets containing the vector logo as the annotation's appearance stream generator.
vectorStamp.setAppearanceStreamGenerator(new AssetAppearanceStreamGenerator("images/PSPDFKit_Logo.pdf"));

// Add the vector stamp annotation to the document.
document.getAnnotationProvider().addAnnotationToPage(vectorStampAnnotation);

Refer to the appearance streams guide for details.

Adding form elements

Nutrient allows you to add, remove, and modify interactive form elements to allow things like user input or requesting a signature. These elements include text input, radio buttons, and checkboxes:

// Create the configuration for a new radio button.
val radioButtonFormConfiguration = RadioButtonFormConfiguration.Builder(
	0,
	RectF(30f, 500f, 60f, 470f)
).select().build()

// Add the radio button to a document.
val radioButtonFormField = document
	.formProvider
	.addFormElementToPage(
		"RadioButton",
		radioButtonFormConfiguration
    ) as RadioButtonFormField

// Create the configuration for a new radio button.
RadioButtonFormConfiguration radioButtonFormConfiguration = new RadioButtonFormConfiguration.Builder(
	0,
    new RectF(30, 500, 60, 470)
).select().build();

// Add the radio button to a document.
RadioButtonFormField radioButtonFormField = (RadioButtonFormField) document
	.getFormProvider()
	.addFormElementToPage(
		"RadioButton",
		radioButtonFormConfiguration
	);

Refer to the form creation guide for details.

Flatten annotations

You can flatten annotations to prevent users from modifying them. Here’s how to flatten all annotation types except for link annotations:

val task: PdfProcessorTask = ...

// We flatten all annotations.
task.changeAllAnnotations(PdfProcessorTask.AnnotationProcessingMode.FLATTEN)
// And then explicitly keep link annotations.
task.changeAnnotationsOfType(AnnotationType.LINK, PdfProcessorTask.AnnotationProcessingMode.KEEP)

PdfProcessorTask task = ...

// We flatten all annotations.
task.changeAllAnnotations(PdfProcessorTask.AnnotationProcessingMode.FLATTEN);
// And then explicitly keep link annotations.
task.changeAnnotationsOfType(AnnotationType.LINK, PdfProcessorTask.AnnotationProcessingMode.KEEP);

Refer to the document processing guide for more details.

Securing your PDF document

Nutrient allows you to secure a document against being opened by adding a password:

val task: PdfProcessorTask = ...
val outputFile: File = ...

// Only allow opening by users who know the password.
val password = "password"
val saveOptions = DocumentSaveOptions(
	password,
	EnumSet.of(DocumentPermissions.PRINTING),
	false,
	null
)

// Create the resulting document.
PdfProcessor.processDocument(task, outputFile, saveOptions)

PdfProcessorTask task = ...
File outputFile = ...

// Only allow opening by users who know the password.
final String password = "password";
final DocumentSaveOptions saveOptions = new DocumentSaveOptions(
	password,
	EnumSet.of(DocumentPermissions.PRINTING),
	false,
	null
);

// Create the resulting document.
PdfProcessor.processDocument(task, outputFile, saveOptions);

Refer to the creating a password-protected document guide for details.