ITextSharp PDF library and VB Controls. Need some help ...

Question

Hi there everybody.
Mainly for those who are into pdf and in particular iTextSharp library.
In this example I have a very simple Label control on Form, with text in it.
I want to build a very simple pdf test file with just one A4 page, and draw Label's Rectangle and Text exactly as I see on Form. Should be a simple task, as I've always read iTextSharp to be quite powerful library. In fact it's not as simple as it seems.
Here is the code I use for my test :
Dim fullPdfFileName As String = Application.StartupPath & "\" & "test.pdf"
'The FileStream
Dim FS As New System.IO.FileStream(fullPdfFileName, IO.FileMode.Create)
'The Document
Dim DOC As New iTextSharp.text.Document(iTextSharp.text.PageSize.A4, 0, 0, 0, 0)
'The PdfWriter
Dim PdfW As iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfWriter = iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfWriter.GetInstance(DOC, FS)
DOC.Open()
'The PdfContentByte
Dim PdfCB As iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfContentByte = PdfW.DirectContent
'Set Stroke properties
With PdfCB
.SetRGBColorStroke(255, 0, 0) 'RED
.SetLineWidth(1)
End With
'Draw the Label Rectangle
Dim X As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(100)
Dim Y As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(100)
Dim W As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(lbl_test.Width)
Dim H As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(lbl_test.Height)
PdfCB.Rectangle(X, Y, W, H)
PdfCB.Stroke()
'Draw the Label's Text
Dim BS As iTextSharp.text.pdf.BaseFont = _
iTextSharp.text.pdf.BaseFont.CreateFont(iTextSharp.text.pdf.BaseFont.HELVETICA, _
iTextSharp.text.pdf.BaseFont.CP1252, False)
With PdfCB
.BeginText()
.SetFontAndSize(BS, lbl_test.Font.Size)
.SetTextMatrix(X, Y)
.ShowText(lbl_test.Text)
.EndText()
End With
DOC.Close()
FS.Close()
And this is the very simple GetDotsFromPixels Function that makes 100 Pixels of the Label as one Inch on pdf file and paper, and it works for me :
Private Function GetDotsFromPixels(ByVal pPixels As Integer) As Integer
Return Convert.ToInt32(72 / 100 * pPixels)
End Function
The output is a pdf file with a red rectangle that is exactly 3 Inches in width and 1 Inch in height, while the Label
lbl_test is 300x100.
The problem is the way iTextSharp draws strings and uses Fonts.
The string is printed in black and in the lower-left corner of the rectangle.
The Font of the Label is Arial - Bold and top-left aligned, but there's no Arial or many else windows fonts named in BaseFont standard Fonts...
I need to be able to print out the exact string shown in the label, with its original Font, Size, Color and Position.
I know X Y coordinates are different with pdf page, and Y = 0 is at the bottom of the page, but if I add rectangle's height to string Y coordinate, then the string would be printed above the rectangle and not inside of it, and I would have to "calculate
string's height" too...
Another thing about the Font. iTextSharp's BaseFont seems to lack in properties : where are styles, colors, etc... ?
Maybe there are others Objects and Methods in the library allowing to do what I want...
Thanks to everyone able to help.

Answer 1

Ok, no problem.
Anyway, I've found myself a possible solution, without any use of the BaseFont.
It's based on the following Classes/Methods :
iTextSharp.text.Font
iTextSharp.text.FontFactory.GetFont()
iTextSharp.text.pdf.ColumnText
iTextSharp.text.pdf.ColumnText.SetSimpleColumn()
I post here the complete code :
Dim fullPdfFileName As String = Application.StartupPath & "\" & "test.pdf"
'The FileStream
Dim FS As New System.IO.FileStream(fullPdfFileName, IO.FileMode.Create)
'The Document
Dim DOC As New iTextSharp.text.Document(iTextSharp.text.PageSize.A4, 0, 0, 0, 0)
'The PdfWriter
Dim PdfW As iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfWriter = iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfWriter.GetInstance(DOC, FS)
DOC.Open()
'The PdfContentByte
Dim PdfCB As iTextSharp.text.pdf.PdfContentByte = PdfW.DirectContent
'Set Stroke properties
With PdfCB
.SetRGBColorStroke(255, 0, 0) 'RED
.SetLineWidth(1)
End With
'Draw the Label Rectangle
Dim X As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(200)
Dim Y As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(100)
Dim W As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(lbl_test.Width)
Dim H As Integer = GetDotsFromPixels(lbl_test.Height)
PdfCB.Rectangle(X, Y, W, H)
PdfCB.Stroke()
'Draw the Label's Text
Dim F As iTextSharp.text.Font = iTextSharp.text.FontFactory.GetFont(lbl_test.Font.Name, _
lbl_test.Font.Size)
Dim CT As New iTextSharp.text.pdf.ColumnText(PdfCB)
CT.SetSimpleColumn(New iTextSharp.text.Phrase(lbl_test.Text, F), _
GetDotsFromPixels(200), _
GetDotsFromPixels(100), _
GetDotsFromPixels(200 + lbl_test.Width), _
GetDotsFromPixels(100 + lbl_test.Height), _
GetDotsFromPixels(Convert.ToInt32(F.Size) + 5), _
iTextSharp.text.Element.ALIGN_LEFT)
CT.Go()
DOC.Close()
FS.Close()
I think this is one of the best ways to put some text with desired font and position.
Thanks for attention.