Generate PDF document with Unicode characters using java and itext

Question

I try to adapt a standard code from the itext examples printing some additional Unicode symbols. Although the used font supports these characters, I do not get any result. (the last character "\☉" is not printed to pdf)

Thanks in advance!

    /*
     * These examples are written by Bruno Lowagie in the context of an article about fonts.
     */
    package sandbox.fonts.tutorial;

    import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
    import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
    import com.itextpdf.text.Font;
    import com.itextpdf.text.FontFactory;
    import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
    import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.BaseFont;
    import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

    import java.io.File;
    import java.io.FileOutputStream;
    import java.io.IOException;
    import sandbox.WrapToTest;

    /**
     * @author Bruno Lowagie (iText Software)
     */
    @WrapToTest
    public class F07_Unicode {
        public static final String DEST = "results/fonts/tutorial/f07_unicode.pdf";
        public static final String FONT = "resources/fonts/FreeSans.ttf";

        public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, DocumentException {
            File file = new File(DEST);
            file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
            new F07_Unicode().createPdf(DEST);
        }

        public void createPdf(String dest) throws IOException, DocumentException {
            Document document = new Document();
            PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(dest));
            document.open();
            Font font = FontFactory.getFont(FONT, BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
            document.add(new Paragraph("Vous \u00eates d'o\u00f9?", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u00c0 tout \u00e0 l'heure. \u00c0 bient\u00f4t.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Je me pr\u00e9sente.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("C'est un \u00e9tudiant.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u00c7a va?", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Il est ing\u00e9nieur. Elle est m\u00e9decin.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("C'est une fen\u00eatre.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("R\u00e9p\u00e9tez, s'il vous pla\u00eet.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Odkud jste?", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Uvid\u00edme se za chvilku. M\u011bj se.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Dovolte, abych se p\u0159edstavil.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("To je studentka.", font));
        document.add(new Paragraph("V\u0161echno v po\u0159\u00e1dku?", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("On je in\u017een\u00fdr. Ona je l\u00e9ka\u0159.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Toto je okno.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("Zopakujte to pros\u00edm.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u041e\u0442\u043a\u0443\u0434\u0430 \u0442\u044b?", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u0423\u0432\u0438\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0441\u044f \u0432 \u043d\u0435\u043c\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e. \u0423\u0432\u0438\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0441\u044f.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u041f\u043e\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0435 \u043c\u043d\u0435 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u042d\u0442\u043e \u0441\u0442\u0443\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0442.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u0425\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u043e?", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u041e\u043d \u0438\u043d\u0436\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0440. \u041e\u043d\u0430 \u0434\u043e\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u042d\u0442\u043e \u043e\u043a\u043d\u043e.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("\u041f\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0435, \u043f\u043e\u0436\u0430\u043b\u0443\u0439\u0441\u0442\u0430.", font));
            document.add(new Paragraph("and \u2609 what?",font));
            document.close();
        }
    }

Answer 1

You want to use the \☉ character, known as the SUN character. This character is not present in the font you are using. You are using FreeSans.ttf and that font doesn't contain the SUN symbol.

You claim Although the used font supports these characters , but you don't provide any proof for this allegation. There are 1,114,112 code points available in Unicode, but a composite font can only contain 65,535 characters. It is physically impossible to store 1,114,112 glyphs in a font when you only have 65,535 characters available.

You need to provide a font that knows how to render the \☉ and FreeSans.ttf isn't such a font. Please take a look at the SunCharacter example:

public static final String FONT = "resources/fonts/Cardo-Regular.ttf";
public static final String TEXT = "The Cardo family of fonts supports this character: \u2609";

public void createPdf(String dest) throws IOException, DocumentException {
    Document document = new Document();
    PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(dest));
    document.open();
    BaseFont bf = BaseFont.createFont(FONT, BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
    Font f = new Font(bf, 12);
    Paragraph p = new Paragraph(TEXT, f);
    document.add(p);
    document.close();
}

In this case, we use a font that knows how to draw the ☉ character, as can be checked when you open sun_character.pdf :

The fact that this character doesn't appear when you replace Cardo-Regular.ttf with FreeSans.ttf is proof that FreeSans.ttf doesn't contain the ☉ character.