com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.form

Class FormManager

java.lang.Object

com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.form.FormManager

public class FormManager
extends Object

Class used to read and write data to AcroForms in a PdfDocument.

See: PdfDocument.getForm()

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
FormManager(com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.internal.staticapi.InternalPdfDocument internalPdfDocument) Please get FormManager by PdfDocument.getForm() instead.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	disableFormFontFallback() Suppresses the automatic Tahoma/Arial fallback embed for non-ASCII form values without registering any replacement font.
void	flatten() Flattens a document (make all form fields non-editable).
void	flatten(PageSelection pageSelection) Flattens a document (make all form fields non-editable).
FormFieldsSet	getFields() Get a collection of the user-editable form fields within a PDF document
String	renameField(String currentFieldName, String newFieldName) Rename a FormField
void	setFieldReadOnly(String fieldName, boolean value) Set the is read only value of a FormField
void	setFieldValue(String fieldName, String value) Set the string value of a FormField
void	setFormFont(String fontName) Sets the document-wide form font by name only.
void	setFormFont(String fontName, byte[] fontData) Sets the document-wide form font without forcing a re-embed.
void	setFormFont(String fontName, byte[] fontData, boolean forceEmbed) Sets the document-wide font for all subsequent form-field fills on this document.
void	setFormFontFromFile(Path fontFilePath) Loads a TrueType/OpenType font from disk and applies it as the document-wide form font.
void	setFormFontFromFile(Path fontFilePath, String fontName, boolean forceEmbed) Loads a TrueType/OpenType font from disk and applies it as the document-wide form font.
void	setTextFieldFont(String textFieldName, FontTypes font, int fontSize) Deprecated. This method is deprecated and no longer has any effect. Set the font of a TextField

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

FormManager

public FormManager(com.ironsoftware.ironpdf.internal.staticapi.InternalPdfDocument internalPdfDocument)

Please get FormManager by PdfDocument.getForm() instead.

Parameters:

internalPdfDocument - the internal pdf document

Method Detail

flatten

public final void flatten()

Flattens a document (make all form fields non-editable).

flatten

public final void flatten(PageSelection pageSelection)

Flattens a document (make all form fields non-editable).

Parameters:

pageSelection - Selected page indexes. Default is all pages.

getFields

public FormFieldsSet getFields()

Get a collection of the user-editable form fields within a PDF document

Returns:

FormFieldsSet

renameField

public String renameField(String currentFieldName,
                          String newFieldName)

Rename a FormField

Parameters:

currentFieldName - Current fully qualified field name

newFieldName - New partial field name Please use a fully qualified field name for CurrentFieldName, and a partial field name for NewFieldName

Returns:

New fully-qualified field name

setFieldValue

public void setFieldValue(String fieldName,
                          String value)

Set the string value of a FormField

Parameters:

fieldName - Fully qualified field name

value - New value

setFieldReadOnly

public void setFieldReadOnly(String fieldName,
                             boolean value)

Set the is read only value of a FormField

Parameters:

fieldName - Fully qualified field name

value - is read only

setTextFieldFont

public void setTextFieldFont(String textFieldName,
                             FontTypes font,
                             int fontSize)

Deprecated. This method is deprecated and no longer has any effect. Set the font of a TextField

Parameters:

textFieldName - Fully qualified field name

font - New font

fontSize - New font size

setFormFont

public void setFormFont(String fontName,
                        byte[] fontData,
                        boolean forceEmbed)

Sets the document-wide font for all subsequent form-field fills on this document.

The engine only auto-embeds the Tahoma/Arial fallback when a form value containing non-ASCII characters is set. Every other field update (renaming, toggling read-only, etc.) leaves fonts untouched, so this method is only useful when at least one of your fills contains non-ASCII characters.

If your form fields reference more than one font variant (e.g. Poppins-Regular and Poppins-Bold), call this method once per variant.

File-size impact

• Name-only mode (fontData is null/empty): zero bytes added; the font must already be in the document.
• Bytes mode and the font is already embedded with usable glyph data: zero bytes added.
• Bytes mode and the font is missing or has no glyph data: the full font is embedded.
• Bytes mode with forceEmbed = true: a fresh font copy is added alongside any existing copy; the document grows by the size of the new font on every call. Use sparingly.

Parameters:

fontName - PDF font name to register (e.g. "Poppins-Regular"). Allowed characters: letters, digits, '-', '_', '.', '+'.

fontData - Raw TrueType/OpenType bytes; pass null or empty for name-only mode (the font must already be in the document).

forceEmbed - When true, embed fontData even if a font with the same name and usable glyph data is already present. Has no effect in name-only mode.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - when fontName or fontData fails validation

setFormFont

public void setFormFont(String fontName,
                        byte[] fontData)

Sets the document-wide form font without forcing a re-embed. Equivalent to setFormFont(fontName, fontData, false).

Parameters:

fontName - PDF font name to register

fontData - Raw font bytes, or null/empty for name-only mode

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - when fontName or fontData fails validation

setFormFont

public void setFormFont(String fontName)

Sets the document-wide form font by name only. The font must already be in the document (e.g. embedded by the template, or added via a previous call with bytes).

Parameters:

fontName - PDF font name as it appears in the document

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - when fontName fails validation

setFormFontFromFile

public void setFormFontFromFile(Path fontFilePath)
                         throws IOException

Loads a TrueType/OpenType font from disk and applies it as the document-wide form font. The PDF font name is derived from the file name (without extension).

Parameters:

fontFilePath - Path to a TTF/OTF/TTC font file

Throws:

IOException - when the font file cannot be read

IllegalArgumentException - when the file or derived font name fails validation

setFormFontFromFile

public void setFormFontFromFile(Path fontFilePath,
                                String fontName,
                                boolean forceEmbed)
                         throws IOException

Loads a TrueType/OpenType font from disk and applies it as the document-wide form font.

Parameters:

fontFilePath - Path to a TTF/OTF/TTC font file

fontName - Optional PDF font name to register the font under. When null, the file name without extension is used.

forceEmbed - When true, embed even if the font is already present.

Throws:

IOException - when the font file cannot be read

IllegalArgumentException - when the file or derived font name fails validation

disableFormFontFallback

public void disableFormFontFallback()

Suppresses the automatic Tahoma/Arial fallback embed for non-ASCII form values without registering any replacement font. Use when zero file-size growth is required and the template's existing font references are sufficient for the values being filled.

Rendering of non-ASCII characters then depends entirely on the viewer's font substitution — best for ASCII or Latin-Extended fills where the template already references suitable fonts. For broader character ranges, use setFormFont(String, byte[], boolean) instead.