well i have been looking for a java based PDF solutions…we dont have a clean way i guess-still.. all solutions are primitive and kind of workarounds… No easy solution for this requirement –
1. Designing a PDF template using a IDE (eg. Livecycle designer ..which is not free)
2. Then at runtime using java, populate data into this PDF template…either using xml or other datasources…
such a simple requirement and NONE has a good “open-source and free” solution yet ! Is anyone aware of any ? I have been searching for since 3-4 years now..for a clean way out…
Eclipse BIRT comes close.. but does not handle Barcode elements ..OOB.
Jasper – ireport is also good but that tool does not have a table concept and is kind of annoying ! Also barcode support is not good.
XSL-FO has not free IDE for design .
Looking for a better answer .. got one ?
What are your key requirements? Does your input have to be a PDF? If so, you’ll be probably working uphill for a long time still. Obviously you want to inject data and output a PDF.
If your templates can be something other than PDF, you could try using the OpenOffice API to get OpenOffice to do manipulate documents and produce a PDF. JODReports or Docmosis would be better ways of interacting with OpenOffice and Docmosis allows you to treat documents (doc and odt) as templates.