Is it possible to add 'Open a web link action' action to acroform field programmatically using iText?

Question

In Adobe Acrobat there is a possibility to add 'Open a web link action' to acroform. Is it possible to do so with iText usind already existing acroform?

I was unable to find any mention about it at iText docs and therefore tried to create new acrofield programmatically and add this action to it, but without success. Here's my code:

PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(templateStream);
        PdfStamper stamper = new PdfStamper(pdfReader, new FileOutputStream("delivery.pdf"));
        stamper.setFormFlattening(true);
        stamper.getAcroFields().setField("package", packages);
        stamper.getAcroFields().setField("purchase_id", purchaseId);
        stamper.getAcroFields().setField("activation_code", activationCode);
        if (partner != "") {
            PdfFormField field = PdfFormField.createTextField(stamper.getWriter(), false,
                    false, 100);
            field.setFieldName("partner");
            PdfAction action = new PdfAction(partner);
            field.setAction(action);
            field.setColor(new BaseColor(0,0,255));
            PdfAppearance appearance = stamper.getUnderContent(1).
                    createAppearance(200, 20);
            appearance.setFontAndSize(BaseFont.createFont(BaseFont.HELVETICA, BaseFont.WINANSI, BaseFont.NOT_EMBEDDED), 12f);
            appearance.setColorFill(BaseColor.BLUE);
            field.setAppearance(PdfAnnotation.APPEARANCE_DOWN, appearance);
            field.setDefaultAppearanceString(appearance);
            stamper.getAcroFields().setField("partner", "Click here to show partner's web site");
        }

The resulting PDF document is shown without partner field. Please point me to some docs or to mistake at my code.

Bruno Lowagie · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-26T07:39:20.367

You are trying to add interactivity to a form. However, you are also throwing away all interactivity by using this line:

stamper.setFormFlattening(true);

You also claim that you are adding an extra field. As far as I can see, that claim is false. You create a field name field (and you create it the hard way; I would expect you to use the TextField class instead). However, I don't see you adding that field anywhere. I miss the following line:

stamper.addAnnotation(field, 1);

Note that this line doesn't make sense:

stamper.getAcroFields().setField("partner", "Click here to show partner's web site");

Why would you create a field first (and possibly add a caption) and then change it immediately afterwards? Why not create the field correctly from the start?

Finally, it seems that you want to create a button that can be clicked by people. Then why are you creating a text field? Wouldn't it make more sense to create a push button?

This is an example of a question to which a machine would respond: Too many errors... Maybe you should consider reading the documentation before trying to fix your code.

Is it possible to add 'Open a web link action' action to acroform field programmatically using iText?

1 Answers1