Question

Our company using iText to stamp some watermark text (not image) on some pdf forms. I noticed 95% forms shows watermark correctly, about 5% does not. I tested, copy 2 original pdf files, one was marked ok, other one does not ok, then tested in via a small program, same result: one got marked, the other does not. I then tried the latest version of iText jar file (version 5.0.6), same thing. I checked pdf file properties, security settings etc, seems nothing shows any hint. The result file does changed size and markd “changed by iText version….” after executed program.

Here is the sample watermark code (using itext jar version 2.1.7), note topText, mainText, bottonText parameters passed in, make 3 lines of watermarks show in the pdf as watermark.

Any help appreciated !!

public class WatermarkGenerator {

    private static int TEXT_TILT_ANGLE = 25;
    private static Color MEDIUM_GRAY = new Color(160, 160, 160);
    private static int SUPPORT_FONT_SIZE = 42;
    private static int PRIMARY_FONT_SIZE = 54;

    public static void addWaterMark(InputStream pdfInputStream,
        OutputStream outputStream, String topText, 
        String mainText, String bottomText) throws Exception {
        PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(pdfInputStream);
        int numPages = reader.getNumberOfPages();

        // Create a stamper that will copy the document to the output
        // stream.
        PdfStamper stamp = new PdfStamper(reader, outputStream);
        int page=1;

        BaseFont baseFont = 
            BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA_BOLDOBLIQUE,
                BaseFont.WINANSI, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);

        float width;
        float height;

        while (page <= numPages) {
            PdfContentByte cb = stamp.getOverContent(page);
            height = reader.getPageSizeWithRotation(page).getHeight() / 2;
            width = reader.getPageSizeWithRotation(page).getWidth() / 2;

            cb = stamp.getUnderContent(page);
            cb.saveState();
            cb.setColorFill(MEDIUM_GRAY);

            // Top Text
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(baseFont, SUPPORT_FONT_SIZE);
            cb.showTextAligned(Element.ALIGN_CENTER, topText, width,
                    height+PRIMARY_FONT_SIZE+16, TEXT_TILT_ANGLE);
            cb.endText();

            // Primary Text
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(baseFont, PRIMARY_FONT_SIZE);
            cb.showTextAligned(Element.ALIGN_CENTER, mainText, width,
                    height, TEXT_TILT_ANGLE);
            cb.endText();

            // Bottom Text
            cb.beginText();
            cb.setFontAndSize(baseFont, SUPPORT_FONT_SIZE);
            cb.showTextAligned(Element.ALIGN_CENTER, bottomText, width,
                    height-PRIMARY_FONT_SIZE-6, TEXT_TILT_ANGLE);
            cb.endText();
            cb.restoreState();

            page++;
        }

        stamp.close();
    }
}

Answer 1

We solved problem by change Adobe LifecycleSave file option. File->Save->properties->Save as, then look at Save as type, default is Acrobat 7.0.5 Dynamic PDF Form File, we changed to use 7.0.5 Static PDF Form File (actually any static one will work). File saved in static one do not have this watermark disappear problem. Thanks Mark for pointing to the right direction.