Addressable field completion help

[andy-ds]

Using OpenPdf 1.4.2 I have a class which places TextField areas on a pdf (as a byte array). I am using that as a template and have another class to produce another pdf with the TextField populated.

Text field definition.

TextField tf = new TextField( writer, new com.lowagie.text.Rectangle(llXPt, llYPt, llXPt + widthPt, llYPt + heightPt), fieldName);

  tf.setRotation(90);
  tf.setBorderColor(Color.BLACK);
  tf.setBackgroundColor(null);
  tf.setBorderWidth(0); // do not draw the built-in border`

template is the incoming byte array
(PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(template)) PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader, <byte array output>);

AcroFields form = stamper.getAcroFields(); form.setGenerateAppearances(true);

form.setField(fieldName, value);

No matter what I try, the resultant Pdf when opened only displays the content in the text field when I click on it. Soon as the field loses focus, text is not visible.

Can anyone help please? What else do you need to know?

[andreasrosdal]

The issue you're encountering — where the text field content is only visible on focus — is typically caused by a missing or improperly generated appearance stream (/AP) in the PDF form field.

Solution

To fix this, you need to ensure that OpenPDF generates the appearance stream when setting the field value. Here's a working code example:

PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(template);
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(reader, baos);

AcroFields form = stamper.getAcroFields();
form.setGenerateAppearances(true); // Important to regenerate appearance

// Set field value
form.setField(fieldName, value);

// Optional: flatten the form if you don't need it to be editable
// stamper.setFormFlattening(true);

stamper.close();
reader.close();