Package com.tom_roush.pdfbox.cos

Class COSString

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    COSObjectable
    public final class COSString
extends COSBase
    A string object, which may be a text string, a PDFDocEncoded string, ASCII string, or byte string.

    Text strings are used for character strings that contain information intended to be human-readable, such as text annotations, bookmark names, article names, document information, and so forth.

    PDFDocEncoded strings are used for characters that are represented in a single byte.

    ASCII strings are used for characters that are represented in a single byte using ASCII encoding.

    Byte strings are used for binary data represented as a series of bytes, but the encoding is not known. The bytes of the string need not represent characters.

    • Field Detail

      • FORCE_PARSING

        public static final boolean FORCE_PARSING

    • Constructor Detail

      • COSString

        public COSString​(byte[] bytes)
        Creates a new PDF string from a byte array. This method can be used to read a string from an existing PDF file, or to create a new byte string.
        Parameters:
        bytes - The raw bytes of the PDF text string or byte string.

      • COSString

        public COSString​(String text)
        Creates a new text string from a Java String.
        Parameters:
        text - The string value of the object.

    • Method Detail

      • parseHex

        public static COSString parseHex​(String hex)
                          throws IOException
        This will create a COS string from a string of hex characters.
        Parameters:
        hex - A hex string.
        Returns:
        A cos string with the hex characters converted to their actual bytes.
        Throws:
        IOException - If there is an error with the hex string.

      • setValue

        public void setValue​(byte[] value)
        Sets the raw value of this string.
        Parameters:
        value - The raw bytes of the PDF text string or byte string.

      • setForceHexForm

        public void setForceHexForm​(boolean value)
        Sets whether to force the string is to be written in hex form. This is needed when signing PDF files.
        Parameters:
        value - True to force hex.

      • getForceHexForm

        public boolean getForceHexForm()
        Returns true if the string is to be written in hex form.
        Returns:
        the hex representation of this string.

      • getString

        public String getString()
        Returns the content of this string as a PDF text string.
        Returns:
        the string representation of this string using the given encoding.

      • getASCII

        public String getASCII()
        Returns the content of this string as a PDF ASCII string.
        Returns:
        the ASCII representation of this string.

      • getBytes

        public byte[] getBytes()
        Returns the raw bytes of the string. Best used with a PDF byte string.
        Returns:
        the raw bytes of this string.

      • toHexString

        public String toHexString()
        This will take this string and create a hex representation of the bytes that make the string.
        Returns:
        A hex string representing the bytes in this string.

      • accept

        public Object accept​(ICOSVisitor visitor)
              throws IOException
        Visitor pattern double dispatch method.
        Specified by:
        accept in class COSBase
        Parameters:
        visitor - The object to notify when visiting this object.
        Returns:
        any object, depending on the visitor implementation, or null
        Throws:
        IOException - If an error occurs while visiting this object.

      • hashCode

        public int hashCode()
        Overrides:
        hashCode in class Object