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
• CLI Test Commands
  • PDFBox Version
  • PDFToImage Test
  • Embed Timestamp Signature
  • Read Acroform Output Json File
  • Fill Acroform From Json File
• Sample Code
  • Sample Read Acroform Json File Result
  • Generate Certificates and KeyStore
• API
  • PDFToImage
  • Timestamp Signature
  • Encrypt
  • Decrypt
  • add-image
  • copy-fields
  • rename-fields
  • translate-fields
  • read
  • fill
• Resources

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.

See pdfbox.apache.org#pdftoimage

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.

See pdfbox.apache.org#encrypt

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.

See pdfbox.apache.org#decrypt

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