How to change a PDF's title?

[jon-m-craig]

So I have a template PDF (it's a medical claim form), with fields for everything that needs filled in. This part is easy, I can easily fill in the required data from my application. But even poring over the Javadocs I cannot figure out how to change the Stamper-generated PDF's title. There is no setTitle() method or similar...anywhere.

[Lonzak]

What kind of title do you mean? You can set the PDF metadata if you want. There are two types of metadata: the DID (document information dictionary) and XMP metadata.

DID:
It is the PdfStamper.setMoreInfo(...) method you want to take a look at.

XMP (a bit more effort since you have to edit/create it by yourself. You might want to use adobe's XMP lib for that):
PdfStamper/PdfWriter setXmpMetadata(...)

[jon-m-craig]

Good question - the title shown in this screen clip as "CMS 1500 Template" - I'd like to change that on the fly to something like "Invoice #10000" or whatever I need.

[jon-m-craig]

So looking at the moreInfo() methods; they're deprecated. The infoDictionary() methods are what we're supposed to use instead. Both of the gets return nothing, so the title I'm needing to change is not in those. Where is that "CMS-1500 Template" title shown in that screen cap coming from??!!?!

[Lonzak]

Where is that "CMS-1500 Template" title shown in that screen cap coming from??!!?!

It is either the file name or it is the PDF title defined in the XMP metadata. Do you have *dobe Reader installed? Then open it and under File\Properties\Document Properties\Descripton (Tab) you'll find it. Or post the file here and we can check...

[jon-m-craig]

Yeah - it is the XMP metadata apparently, it is in the bytes returned by reader.getMetadata() - so now I have to figure out how to alter this.

[Lonzak]

As mentioned above I used *dobe's XML lib for that which makes it a bit more convenient...

[jon-m-craig]

Yeah, I've added that to my project -- any quick-n-dirty snippet/example of using it to get/set metadata using a PdfStamper/etc. I'm not finding many great examples online.

[jon-m-craig]

In fact 'dobe only talks publicly about a C++ implementation; I can't find Java info anywhere.

[Lonzak]

In fact 'dobe only talks publicly about a C++ implementation; I can't find Java info anywhere.

This is indeed another topic :-(
adobe/XMP-Toolkit-SDK#5

[Lonzak]

But I am still using version 5.X so it might need some changes if you use the latest version:

 //reading
 public static XMPMeta getXMPMetaData(PdfReader pdfReader) throws SystemException {

    byte[] xmpMeta = null;
    try {
        xmpMeta = pdfReader.getMetadata();

        if (xmpMeta == null || xmpMeta.length == 0) {
            return null;
        }

        //set the parsing options to the most compatible/lax settings
        ParseOptions po = new ParseOptions();
        po.setAcceptLatin1(true);
        po.setDisallowDoctype(false);
        po.setFixControlChars(true);
        po.setOmitNormalization(true);
        po.setRequireXMPMeta(false);
        po.setStrictAliasing(false);

        return XMPMetaFactory.parseFromBuffer(xmpMeta,po);
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
        //Exceptionhandling
    }
}

 //writing
public static void setXMPMetaData(PdfStamper pdfstamper, final List<Namespaces> namespaces, final List<XMPMetaDTO> meta) throws Exception{

    // register namespaces
    XMPSchemaRegistry registry = XMPMetaFactory.getSchemaRegistry();
    Iterator<NamespaceDTO> iter = namespaces.iterator();
    while (iter.hasNext()) {
        NamespaceDTO act = iter.next();

        try {
            registry.registerNamespace(act.getNamespace(), act.getPrefix());
        }
        catch (XMPException e) {
            //handle
        }
    }

    // convert metadata to *dobe
    XMPMetaImpl xmpMeta = new XMPMetaImpl();
    Iterator<XMPMetaDTO> mIter = meta.iterator();
    while (mIter.hasNext()) {
        XMPMetaDTO act = mIter.next();
        try {
            xmpMeta.setProperty(act.getNamespace(), act.getElementName(), act.getElementValue());
        }
        catch (XMPException e) {
            //handle
        }
    }

    // serialize metadata and write it to the pdf
    byte[] serializedMeta;
    try {
        serializedMeta = XMPSerializerHelper.serializeToBuffer(xmpMeta, null);
    }
    catch (XMPException e) {
       //handle
    }

    pdfstamper.setXmpMetadata(serializedMeta);
}

[jon-m-craig]

This is rather bizarre; I'm obviously missing something.

            XMPMetaImpl xmp = new XMPMetaImpl();
            xmp.setProperty("http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "title", "TITLE");
            xmp.setProperty("http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "creator", "CREATOR");
            byte[] newXMP = XMPSerializerHelper.serializeToBuffer(xmp, null);

            flatStamper.setXmpMetadata(newXMP);

            flatStamper.setFormFlattening(true);
            flatStamper.close();

Does not change the metadata... it still shows all the same as before.

[jon-m-craig]

Whoa - it gets weirder - if I call getMetadata() on the generated PDF, and log it, it is:

<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
<x:xmpmeta x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 6.1.11" xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/">
  <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
    <rdf:Description dc:creator="CREATOR" dc:title="TITLE" rdf:about="" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"></rdf:Description>
  </rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
<?xpacket end="w"?>

However viewing the PDF still shows the old title and hitting "Properties" still shows the old title/creator/etc.

Uhhh... what is happening here?

[Lonzak]

Yes doesn't look too bad.
You need to use correct namespace. I mean what is the result of your original file with the title from your screenshot? Read it and then try to create it... I created one with *dobe and it looks like this:

<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 9.1-c001 79.2a0d8d9, 2023/03/14-11:19:46        ">
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
	<rdf:Description rdf:about="" 
	xmlns:pdf="http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/" 
	xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/" 
	xmlns:xmpRights="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/rights/" 
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" 
		<pdf:Producer>openPDF</pdf:Producer>
		<pdf:Keywords>keywords; </pdf:Keywords>
		<xmp:ModifyDate>2023-12-18T16:11:45+01:00</xmp:ModifyDate>
		<xmp:MetadataDate>2023-12-18T16:11:45+01:00</xmp:MetadataDate>
		<xmp:CreateDate>2023-12-18T16:11:45+01:00</xmp:CreateDate>
		<xmpRights:Marked>True</xmpRights:Marked>
		<xmpRights:WebStatement>copyright url  </xmpRights:WebStatement>
		<dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
		<dc:title>
			<rdf:Alt>
				<rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">document title  </rdf:li>
			</rdf:Alt>
		</dc:title>
		<dc:creator>
			<rdf:Seq>
				<rdf:li>author </rdf:li>
			</rdf:Seq>
		</dc:creator>
		<dc:description>
			<rdf:Alt>
				<rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">description  </rdf:li>
			</rdf:Alt>
		</dc:description>
		<dc:subject>
			<rdf:Bag>
				<rdf:li>keywords</rdf:li>
				<rdf:li></rdf:li>
			</rdf:Bag>
		</dc:subject>
	</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

</x:xmpmeta>

[jon-m-craig]

The full metadata dump is,

<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
<x:xmpmeta x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 6.1.11" xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/">
  <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
    <rdf:Description adhocwf:state="1" adhocwf:version="1.1" dc:format="application/pdf" pdf:Keywords="" pdf:Producer="1500CMS.COM[[[000000" rdf:about="" xmlns:adhocwf="http://ns.adobe.com/AcrobatAdhocWorkflow/1.0/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:pdf="http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/" xmlns:xmpMM="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/" xmp:CreateDate="2006-06-05T12:52:48Z" xmp:CreatorTool="" xmp:MetadataDate="2022-01-27T15:34:36-05:00" xmp:ModifyDate="2022-01-27T15:34:36-05:00" xmpMM:DocumentID="uuid:3a0604a5-6a7e-4ddd-8b13-5e56c5031c15" xmpMM:InstanceID="uuid:2b442251-ef6e-4451-b97d-cca6c32e0521">
      <dc:creator>
        <rdf:Seq>
          <rdf:li>1500CMS.COM</rdf:li>
        </rdf:Seq>
      </dc:creator>
      <dc:title>
        <rdf:Alt>
          <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">CMS-1500 Template</rdf:li>
        </rdf:Alt>
      </dc:title>
      <dc:description>
        <rdf:Alt>
          <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default"></rdf:li>
        </rdf:Alt>
      </dc:description>
    <pdf:Producer>1500CMS.COM[[[000000; modified using OpenPDF 1.3.34</pdf:Producer><xmp:ModifyDate>2023-12-18T10:37:30-05:00</xmp:ModifyDate></rdf:Description>
  </rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
<?xpacket end="w"?>

And that's AFTER the code that should have changed the title and creator.

[jon-m-craig]

It gets EVEN WEIRDER! Here is a metadata dump, after getting it to write correctly:

<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
<x:xmpmeta x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 6.1.11" xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/">
  <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
    <rdf:Description adhocwf:state="1" adhocwf:version="1.1" dc:format="application/pdf" pdf:Keywords="" pdf:Producer="MedFlex[[[000000" rdf:about="" xmlns:adhocwf="http://ns.adobe.com/AcrobatAdhocWorkflow/1.0/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:pdf="http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/" xmlns:xmpMM="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/" xmp:CreateDate="2006-06-05T12:52:48Z" xmp:CreatorTool="" xmp:MetadataDate="2022-01-27T15:34:36-05:00" xmp:ModifyDate="2022-01-27T15:34:36-05:00" xmpMM:DocumentID="uuid:3a0604a5-6a7e-4ddd-8b13-5e56c5031c15" xmpMM:InstanceID="uuid:2b442251-ef6e-4451-b97d-cca6c32e0521">
      <dc:creator>
        <rdf:Seq>
          <rdf:li>MedFlex</rdf:li>
        </rdf:Seq>
      </dc:creator>
      <dc:title>
        <rdf:Alt>
          <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">IT IS FINISHED</rdf:li>
        </rdf:Alt>
      </dc:title>
      <dc:description>
        <rdf:Alt>
          <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default"></rdf:li>
        </rdf:Alt>
      </dc:description>
    <pdf:Producer>1500CMS.COM[[[000000; modified using OpenPDF 1.3.34</pdf:Producer><xmp:ModifyDate>2023-12-18T11:02:31-05:00</xmp:ModifyDate></rdf:Description>
  </rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
<?xpacket end="w"?>

However viewing this PDF, it shows...

[Lonzak]

Ok that doesn't make sense. Sure you got the correct document (reloaded)?

[jon-m-craig]

AHA! I figured it out. Even though the InfoDictionary is empty in the Reader, creating a Stamper from the Reader moves the original XMP data into the corresponding keys in the InfoDictionary in the Stamper. So setting the InfoDictionary in the Stamper... does finally work. Apparently that overrides the XMP data in viewers. VERY CONFUSING.