com.lowagie.text.pdf
Class PdfObject

java.lang.Object
  com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfObject

Direct Known Subclasses:

PdfArray, PdfBoolean, PdfDictionary, PdfIndirectReference, PdfLiteral, PdfName, PdfNull, PdfNumber, PdfString

public abstract class PdfObject
extends Object

PdfObject is the abstract superclass of all PDF objects.

PDF supports seven basic types of objects: Booleans, numbers, strings, names, arrays, dictionaries and streams. In addition, PDF provides a null object. Objects may be labeled so that they can be referred to by other objects.
All these basic PDF objects are described in the 'Portable Document Format Reference Manual version 1.3' Chapter 4 (pages 37-54).

See Also:

PdfNull, PdfBoolean, PdfNumber, PdfString, PdfName, PdfArray, PdfDictionary, PdfStream, PdfIndirectReference

Field Summary

static int	ARRAY A possible type of PdfObject
static int	BOOLEAN A possible type of PdfObject
protected byte[]	bytes The content of this PdfObject
static int	DICTIONARY A possible type of PdfObject
static int	INDIRECT A possible type of PdfObject
protected PRIndirectReference	indRef Holds the indirect reference.
static int	NAME A possible type of PdfObject
static String	NOTHING An empty string used for the PdfNull-object and for an empty PdfString-object.
static int	NULL A possible type of PdfObject
static int	NUMBER A possible type of PdfObject
static int	STREAM A possible type of PdfObject
static int	STRING A possible type of PdfObject
static String	TEXT_PDFDOCENCODING This is the default encoding to be used for converting Strings into bytes and vice versa.
static String	TEXT_UNICODE This is the encoding to be used to output text in Unicode.
protected int	type The type of this PdfObject

Constructor Summary

protected	PdfObject(int type) Constructs a PdfObject of a certain type without any content.
protected	PdfObject(int type, byte[] bytes) Constructs a PdfObject of a certain type with a certain content.
protected	PdfObject(int type, String content) Constructs a PdfObject of a certain type with a certain content.

Method Summary

boolean	canBeInObjStm() Whether this object can be contained in an object stream.
byte[]	getBytes() Gets the presentation of this object in a byte array
PRIndirectReference	getIndRef() Get the indirect reference
boolean	isArray() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfArray.
boolean	isBoolean() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfBoolean.
boolean	isDictionary() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfDictionary.
boolean	isIndirect() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfIndirectObject.
boolean	isName() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfName.
boolean	isNull() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfNull.
boolean	isNumber() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfNumber.
boolean	isStream() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfStream.
boolean	isString() Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfString.
int	length() Returns the length of the actual content of the PdfObject.
protected void	setContent(String content) Changes the content of this PdfObject.
void	setIndRef(PRIndirectReference indRef) Set the indirect reference
void	toPdf(PdfWriter writer, OutputStream os) Writes the PDF representation of this PdfObject as an array of bytes to the writer.
String	toString() Returns the String-representation of this PdfObject.
int	type() Returns the type of this PdfObject.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

BOOLEAN

public static final int BOOLEAN

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

NUMBER

public static final int NUMBER

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

STRING

public static final int STRING

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

NAME

public static final int NAME

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

ARRAY

public static final int ARRAY

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

DICTIONARY

public static final int DICTIONARY

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

STREAM

public static final int STREAM

A possible type of PdfObject

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Constant Field Values

NULL

public static final int NULL

A possible type of PdfObject

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Constant Field Values

INDIRECT

public static final int INDIRECT

A possible type of PdfObject

See Also:

Constant Field Values

NOTHING

public static final String NOTHING

An empty string used for the PdfNull-object and for an empty PdfString-object.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

TEXT_PDFDOCENCODING

public static final String TEXT_PDFDOCENCODING

This is the default encoding to be used for converting Strings into bytes and vice versa. The default encoding is PdfDocEncoding.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

TEXT_UNICODE

public static final String TEXT_UNICODE

This is the encoding to be used to output text in Unicode.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

bytes

protected byte[] bytes

The content of this PdfObject

type

protected int type

The type of this PdfObject

indRef

protected PRIndirectReference indRef

Holds the indirect reference.

Constructor Detail

PdfObject

protected PdfObject(int type)

Constructs a PdfObject of a certain type without any content.

Parameters:

type - type of the new PdfObject

PdfObject

protected PdfObject(int type,
                    String content)

Constructs a PdfObject of a certain type with a certain content.

Parameters:

type - type of the new PdfObject

content - content of the new PdfObject as a String.

PdfObject

protected PdfObject(int type,
                    byte[] bytes)

Constructs a PdfObject of a certain type with a certain content.

Parameters:

type - type of the new PdfObject

bytes - content of the new PdfObject as an array of byte.

Method Detail

toPdf

public void toPdf(PdfWriter writer,
                  OutputStream os)
           throws IOException

Writes the PDF representation of this PdfObject as an array of bytes to the writer.

Parameters:

writer - for backwards compatibility

os - The OutputStream to write the bytes to.

Throws:

IOException

toString

public String toString()

Returns the String-representation of this PdfObject.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

a String

getBytes

public byte[] getBytes()

Gets the presentation of this object in a byte array

Returns:

a byte array

canBeInObjStm

public boolean canBeInObjStm()

Whether this object can be contained in an object stream. PdfObjects of type STREAM OR INDIRECT can not be contained in an object stream.

Returns:

true if this object can be in an object stream. Otherwise false

length

public int length()

Returns the length of the actual content of the PdfObject.

In some cases, namely for PdfString and PdfStream, this method differs from the method pdfLength because pdfLength returns the length of the PDF representation of the object, not of the actual content as does the method length.

Remark: the actual content of an object is in some cases identical to its representation. The following statement is always true: length() >= pdfLength().

Returns:

The length as int

setContent

protected void setContent(String content)

Changes the content of this PdfObject.

Parameters:

content - the new content of this PdfObject

type

public int type()

Returns the type of this PdfObject. May be either of: - NULL: A PdfNull - BOOLEAN: A PdfBoolean - NUMBER: A PdfNumber - STRING: A PdfString - NAME: A PdfName - ARRAY: A PdfArray - DICTIONARY: A PdfDictionary - STREAM: A PdfStream - INDIRECT: >PdfIndirectObject

Returns:

The type

isNull

public boolean isNull()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfNull.

Returns:

true or false

isBoolean

public boolean isBoolean()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfBoolean.

Returns:

true or false

isNumber

public boolean isNumber()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfNumber.

Returns:

true or false

isString

public boolean isString()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfString.

Returns:

true or false

isName

public boolean isName()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfName.

Returns:

true or false

isArray

public boolean isArray()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfArray.

Returns:

true or false

isDictionary

public boolean isDictionary()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfDictionary.

Returns:

true or false

isStream

public boolean isStream()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfStream.

Returns:

true or false

isIndirect

public boolean isIndirect()

Checks if this PdfObject is of the type PdfIndirectObject.

Returns:

true if this is an indirect object, otherwise false

getIndRef

public PRIndirectReference getIndRef()

Get the indirect reference

Returns:

A PdfIndirectReference

setIndRef

public void setIndRef(PRIndirectReference indRef)

Set the indirect reference

Parameters:

indRef - New value as a PdfIndirectReference