Change AcroFields order in existing PDF with iText? -

i have pdf text form fields @ layered 1 on top of other. when fill fields via itext , flatten form, form field had created on top of other form field on bottom.

for instance, have text field named "number_field" , underneath second text field titled "name_field". when set value fields via itext (so 10 number_field , 'john' name_field), number_field on top of name_field.

how change order on page of these fields itext? possible?

link example pdf: https://freecompany.sharefile.com/d-s84f6d63e7d04fe79

i have made following ticket in issue tracker @ itext group:

a problem caused fact itext reads field items hashmap, hence there no way predict in order flattened. isn't problem. don't think problem occurs in case don't flatten pdf, because in case, appearance stored in widget annotations , it's pdf viewer decide field covers 1 in case of overlapping fields.

however, if form fields overlap, can't predict field cover when flattening.

suppose we'd use treemap instead of hashmap, solve problem? not really, because comparator use? tab-order defined, not always. if it's not defined, should order fields in order in appear in /fields array? or make more sense order them based on order of widget annotations in /annots array? option order them based on position on page. in short: not decision itext should make.

however, if solve problem, create comparator member variable pdfstamperimp. if such comparator provided (we provide implementations), flattening process executed in order defined comparator.

this ticket has received low priority (i assume you're not customer of 1 of itext software companies), while writing ticket, had idea.

i referred underline portion of text using itextsharp in comments. in case, you'd field positions (using getfieldpositions() method) , draw contents in right order using columntext. approach has several disadvantages: in order font, font size, font color correct, you'd have examine fields. requires programming.

i posting answer, because have better alternative: fill out form in 2 passes! shown in fillformfieldorder example. fill out form src resulting in flattened form dest this:

public void manipulatepdf(string src, string dest) throws documentexception, ioexception {     go2(go1(src), dest); } 

as can see, execute go1() method first:

public byte[] go1(string src) throws ioexception, documentexception {     pdfreader reader = new pdfreader(src);     bytearrayoutputstream baos = new bytearrayoutputstream();     pdfstamper stamper = new pdfstamper(reader, baos);     acrofields form = stamper.getacrofields();     form.setfield("sunday_1", "1");     form.setfield("sunday_2", "2");     form.setfield("sunday_3", "3");     form.setfield("sunday_4", "4");     form.setfield("sunday_5", "5");     form.setfield("sunday_6", "6");     stamper.setformflattening(true);     stamper.partialformflattening("sunday_1");     stamper.partialformflattening("sunday_2");     stamper.partialformflattening("sunday_3");     stamper.partialformflattening("sunday_4");     stamper.partialformflattening("sunday_5");     stamper.partialformflattening("sunday_6");     stamper.close();     reader.close();     return baos.tobytearray(); } 

this fills out sunday_x fields , uses partial form flattening flatten only fields. go1() method takes src parameter , returns byte[] partially flattened form.

the byte[] used parameter go2() method, takes dest second parameter. going fill out sunday_x_notes fields:

public void go2(byte[] src, string dest) throws ioexception, documentexception {     pdfreader reader = new pdfreader(src);     pdfstamper stamper = new pdfstamper(reader, new fileoutputstream(dest));     acrofields form = stamper.getacrofields();     form.setfield("sunday_1_notes", "it's sunday today, let's go sea");     form.setfield("sunday_2_notes", "it's sunday today, let's go park");     form.setfield("sunday_3_notes", "it's sunday today, let's go beach");     form.setfield("sunday_4_notes", "it's sunday today, let's go woods");     form.setfield("sunday_5_notes", "it's sunday today, let's go lake");     form.setfield("sunday_6_notes", "it's sunday today, let's go river");     stamper.setformflattening(true);     stamper.close();     reader.close(); } 

as can see, flatten fields. result looks this:

now, no longer have worry order of fields, not in /fields array, not in /annots array. fields filled out in exact order want to. notes cover dates now, instead of other way round.