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Xojo FPDF - Pure Xojo PDF Generation with Full Unicode Support

Jean-Yves POCHEZ Free

Why Another PDF Library?

If you've ever tried to generate PDFs in Xojo with extensive Unicode text (Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Mathematical symbols, etc.), you know the challenges. While Xojo's built-in PDFDocument class works across platforms, it has significant limitations:

❌ ANSI Encoding Only - No true Unicode support, special characters and CJK languages don't work properly ❌ No Font Subsetting - Embeds entire 20MB font files instead of just the glyphs you use (massive file sizes) ❌ Closed Source - Can't inspect internals, fix bugs, or extend functionality yourself ❌ Limited Extensibility - Harder to customize for advanced PDF features

Xojo FPDF changes everything. 🚀

Get it here : Xojo FPDF on Github

If you like this library and would like to help me maintain it, you can make a donation

🌟 What Makes Xojo FPDF Special?

✅ Full Unicode Support

// Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Mathematical symbols - ALL WORKING!
pdf.AddUTF8Font("Arial", "", "/path/to/ArialUnicode.ttf")
pdf.SetFont("Arial", "", 14)
pdf.Cell(0, 10, "Hello World! 你好世界! مرحبا بالعالم! שלום עולם!")

✅ Arabic Text Shaping

Automatic contextual forms for proper cursive rendering - isolated, initial, medial, and final letter forms are handled transparently for all Arabic-script languages.

✅ Automatic Font Subsetting

Massive file size savings! Our TrueType font subsetter embeds only the glyphs you actually use:

  • 📉 98% size reduction - 20MB Arial Unicode to 400KB subset
  • 🎯 Sparse glyph IDs - Preserves original character encoding
  • ⚡ Automatic - Happens transparently during font embedding
  • 📦 Smaller PDFs - Perfect for web delivery and email

Xojo’s PDFDocument embeds entire font files, bloating your PDFs unnecessarily.

✅ Two APIs in One

VNSPDFDocument gives you two complementary APIs on the same object:

🔄 Xojo PDFDocument-compatible API - Drop-in replacement for Xojo’s built-in class:

  • Same properties: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Language, CurrentPage, PageHeight, PageWidth, Landscape, Compressed
  • Same methods: Save(), ToData(), AddFonts(), ClearCache(), Template()
  • Graphics property returns VNSPDFGraphics (PDFGraphics-compatible wrapper)

⚙️ go-fpdf methods - Full access to the powerful FPDF API ported from Go:

  • Text: Cell, MultiCell, Write, Text, Cellf, Writef
  • Graphics: Line, Rect, Circle, Ellipse, Arc, Curve, CurveBezierCubic, Arrow, Polygon
  • Transformations: TransformBegin, TransformEnd, TransformRotate, Transform
  • Images: Image, ImageFromPicture, RegisterImage
  • Links: AddLink, SetLink, Link, LinkString, Bookmark
  • Attachments: AddAttachment, AddAttachmentAnnotation, AddEmbeddedFile
  • And many more advanced PDF operations

Both APIs work together seamlessly on the same VNSPDFDocument instance.

✅ 100% Open Source & Pure Xojo

  • No black boxes - Read and modify every line of code
  • No declares - Works everywhere (Desktop, Web, iOS, Console)
  • Community-driven - Contribute features, fix bugs, adapt to your needs
  • Based on proven libraries: go-pdf/fpdf and original PHP FPDF

✅ Cross-Platform by Design

One codebase, four platforms:

  • 🖥️ Desktop (Mac/Windows/Linux)
  • 🌐 Web (Server-side generation)
  • 📱 iOS (Native mobile PDFs)
  • ⚙️ Console (Automated workflows)

90%+ shared code across all platforms! Tested on macOS, Windows 11, and Linux ARM64.

📦 

Current Feature Set (v1.2)

Core Features

  • ✅ UTF-8/Unicode - TrueType font support with full Unicode and Arabic text shaping
  • ✅ Multiple Page Formats - A3, A4, A5, Letter, Legal, Custom sizes
  • ✅ Text Methods - Cell, MultiCell, Write, Text with alignment and word wrapping
  • ✅ Printf-Style Formatting - Cellf(), Writef() with %s/%d/%f format strings
  • ✅ Graphics Primitives - Line, Rect, Circle, Ellipse, Arc, Bezier curves, Arrows, Polygons
  • ✅ Transformations - Rotate, Translate, Scale, Transform matrix, TransformBegin/TransformEnd
  • ✅ Image Support - JPEG, PNG (RGB/Grayscale/CMYK), ImageFromPicture for programmatic graphics
  • ✅ Colors - RGB for text, fill, and draw operations
  • ✅ Compression - FlateDecode/zlib (27-60% file size reduction, Desktop/Web/Console)
  • ✅ Links & Bookmarks - Internal links, external URLs, hierarchical outlines
  • ✅ Header/Footer Callbacks - Automatic page headers and footers with page count
  • ✅ Metadata - Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Language
  • ✅ PDF Import - Import pages from existing PDF files as XObject templates with full parsing and nested XObject support
  • ✅ File Attachments - Document-level and page-level annotation attachments (E-Invoice/Factur-X ready)
  • ✅ PDFGraphics Wrapper - VNSPDFGraphics provides complete Xojo PDFGraphics API compatibility (41 features)
  • ✅ GraphicsPath - Curves, arcs, round rectangles, clipping, hit testing via VNSPDFGraphicsPath
  • ✅ Annotations - Text annotations and attachment annotations on pages
  • ✅ Error Handling - Go-style error accumulation (Ok/Err/GetError)
  • ✅ Bounds Checking - Optional exception mode for out-of-bounds drawing detection

PDFGraphics Compatibility (VNSPDFGraphics)

Full drop-in replacement for Xojo’s PDFGraphics class:

  • ✅ Drawing - DrawLine, DrawRectangle, FillRectangle, DrawOval, FillOval, DrawPolygon, FillPolygon
  • ✅ Text - DrawText (with optional rotation), TextWidth, TextHeight
  • ✅ State - SaveState, RestoreState
  • ✅ Transforms - Rotate, Translate, Scale
  • ✅ Clipping - ClipToRectangle, Clip, ClipEnd
  • ✅ Object2D Rendering - RectShape, OvalShape, RoundRectShape, ArcShape, CurveShape, FigureShape, TextShape, PixmapShape, Group2D
  • ✅ DrawTextBlock - Word-wrap with CJK character-based line breaking (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)

🔒 Security (Free Version)

  • ✅ Xojo-Compatible Permissions - PDFPermissions property, same API as Xojo PDFDocument
  • ✅ RC4-40 Encryption - Password protection with owner/user passwords (auto-upgrades to AES-128 with premium)
  • ✅ PDF Permissions - Print, copy, modify restrictions

🎯 33 Working Examples

Every feature has a working example that generates a real PDF:

  1. Simple Shapes - Lines, rectangles, circles, Bezier curves, arrows
  2. Text Layouts - Cell, MultiCell, Write with alignment
  3. Multiple Pages - Multi-page documents with various shapes
  4. Line Widths - Different line styles, caps, joins, dash patterns
  5. UTF-8 & TrueType Fonts - Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Mathematical symbols
  6. Text Measurement - Precise alignment with GetStringWidth()
  7. Document Metadata - Title, Author, Subject, Keywords
  8. Error Handling - Ok(), Err(), GetError() patterns
  9. Image Support - JPEG, PNG files, programmatically drawn graphics
  10. Header/Footer Callbacks - Automatic headers with page count
  11. Links and Bookmarks - TOC, clickable links, PDF outline
  12. Custom Page Formats - Mixed page sizes in one document
  13. PDF/A Compliance - ICC color profiles for archival
  14. Document Encryption - RC4-40 password protection and permissions (free version)
  15. Watermark - Rotated diagonal background watermarks (45 degrees)
  16. Formatting Features - Printf-style formatters, font metrics
  17. Utility Methods - Version info, unit conversions, page size helpers
  18. Plugin Architecture - Premium feature separation
  19. Table Generation - Professional tables with pagination (premium demo)
  20. PDF Import - Import pages from existing PDFs as XObject templates
  21. Transformations - All 18 transform methods demonstration
  22. VNS PDF Graphics - Compares Xojo PDFDocument with VNSPDFDocument, full Unicode, rotations, transformations
  23. File Attachments - Document-level and page-level attachment annotations
  24. Bug Tests - Cross-platform testing suite for reported bugs
  25. HTML Import - Convert HTML file to PDF via LoadHTML() (Premium)
  26. Markdown Import - Convert Markdown file to PDF via LoadMarkdown() (Premium)
  27. GraphicsPath - Curves, arcs, round rectangles, clipping, hit testing
  28. E-Invoice - Factur-X/ZUGFeRD EN 16931 compliant invoice with embedded CII XML (Premium)
  29. E-Invoice Checker - Open PDF to check Factur-X/ZUGFeRD conformity (Premium)
  30. Digital Signatures - PAdES-B-B PDF signing + XAdES-BES XML signing (Premium)
  31. Barcodes - QR, Code128, EAN-13, DataMatrix, PDF417, and more (Premium)

All examples generate PDFs you can inspect in the pdf_examples/ folder!

💎 Premium Modules

Extend Xojo FPDF with optional premium modules. Each module is delivered as full, unencrypted Xojo source code - no black boxes, no compiled libraries. Same transparency as the free version. More information here.

🔐 Encryption Module - 50 EUR

Free version includes RC4-40 encryption + permissions. Premium adds:

  • ✅ AES-256 - Strongest PDF encryption available (Revisions 5-6)
  • ✅ AES-128 - Modern encryption without Acrobat warnings (Revision 4) - RECOMMENDED
  • ✅ RC4-128 - Enhanced legacy support (Revision 3)
  • 🔒 All encryption levels work with full permission control (print, copy, modify restrictions)

📊 Table Module - 50 EUR

  • ✅ SimpleTable - Quick equal-width columns from RowSet data
  • ✅ ImprovedTable - Custom column widths, automatic number alignment
  • ✅ FancyTable - Styled headers, alternating row colors
  • ✅ Multi-Page Tables - Automatic page breaks with header repetition
  • ✅ Footer Calculations - Configurable footer with sum/count/average via VNSPDFTableFooterConfig
  • ✅ Database Integration - Direct RowSet support from SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.

🗜️ Zlib Module - 50 EUR

Free version uses system zlib with Declares (Desktop/Web/Console only, iOS blocked by sandboxing).

Premium is 100% pure Xojo code - no declares, works everywhere:

  • ✅ Pure Xojo Zlib - Complete DEFLATE/INFLATE implementation in Xojo
  • ✅ iOS Support - Works on iOS where system zlib is blocked by sandboxing
  • ✅ 60% Smaller PDFs - FlateDecode compression on all platforms
  • ✅ No Dependencies - No system libraries, no declares, no third-party plugin, fully portable

🔮 PDF/A Module - Coming Soon

  • Advanced archival features with full ISO compliance
  • Automatic compliance validation
  • Long-term preservation support

📝 Forms Module - Coming Soon

  • Interactive PDF AcroForms
  • Fillable text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns
  • Form validation and calculation

🧾 E-Invoice Module - 50 EUR

  • Factur-X / ZUGFeRD - Hybrid PDF/XML invoices (French/German/EU standard)
  • EN 16931 compliance - 5 conformance profiles (MINIMUM to EXTENDED)
  • CII XML generation - Automatic CrossIndustryInvoice XML
  • PDF/A-3b - Self-contained hybrid PDF with embedded XML
  • Digital Signatures - PAdES-B-B PDF signing + XAdES-BES XML signing, Adobe Acrobat validated
  • Barcode Module - QR, Code128, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, Code 39, ITF, Codabar, DataMatrix, PDF417
  • ReadEInvoice Checker - Validate conformity of received e-invoices

📄 HTML & Markdown Import Module - 50 EUR

  • LoadHTML() - Convert HTML to PDF (headings, text formatting, tables, images, lists, links)
  • LoadMarkdown() - Convert Markdown to PDF (headings, code blocks, pipe tables, images)
  • Word HTML cleaning - Automatically removes bloat from pasted Word content
  • 130+ HTML entities - Full entity support
  • Custom tag handlers - Extensible parser for custom HTML tags and Markdown patterns
  • Free converter apps - HtmlToPdf and MarkdownToPdf standalone apps for testing

💰 Pricing

  • Individual modules: 50 EUR each
  • Bundle: Buy 2, Get 1 Free = 100 EUR (save 50 EUR)
  • Payment: PayPal only, manual delivery within 2-3 business days
  • License: Lifetime, no subscriptions, all platforms, 12 months free updates

💡 Important: Premium modules are delivered as full, unencrypted source code - no black boxes, no compiled libraries. Same transparency as the free version!

💰 Flexible Pricing: You don’t need to buy all premium modules! Each module can be purchased individually based on your specific needs. Only pay for the features you’ll actually use!

🚀 Quick Start

// Create document (first page is added automatically)
Dim pdf As New VNSPDFDocument(VNSPDFModule.ePageOrientation.Portrait, _
                              VNSPDFModule.ePageUnit.Millimeters, _
                              VNSPDFModule.ePageFormat.A4)

// Set font (core font - no file needed)
pdf.SetFont("Helvetica", "", 16)

// Output text
pdf.Cell(0, 10, "Hello from Xojo FPDF!")

// Or use Unicode with TrueType font
pdf.AddUTF8Font("Arial", "", "/System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/Arial Unicode.ttf")
pdf.SetFont("Arial", "", 14)
pdf.Cell(0, 10, "Hello! 你好世界! مرحبا بالعالم! שלום עולם!")

// Save PDF
If pdf.Ok() Then
  Dim f As FolderItem = SpecialFolder.Desktop.Child("output.pdf")
  pdf.Save(f)
Else
  MsgBox "Error: " + pdf.GetError()
End If

📚 Architecture Highlights

Smart Code Sharing

  • All PDF logic in shared PDF_Library/ folder
  • Platform-specific only for file I/O and UI
  • Conditional compilation for platform differences
  • Module-based organization (VNSPDFModule, VNSPDFExamplesModule)

Clean API Design

  • Consistent naming - All classes prefixed with VNS
  • Go-style error handling - Ok/Err pattern
  • Delegate callbacks - Header/Footer functions
  • Printf formatting - Cellf(), Writef() for convenience
  • PDFDocument compatible - Drop-in replacement for Xojo’s built-in class

Reference Implementations

Based on proven libraries with millions of downloads:

  • go-pdf/fpdf (Go) - Primary reference
  • PHP FPDF (PHP) - Original library (2000)

🚧 Known Limitations & Roadmap

We’re transparent about what doesn’t work yet:

Web Platform

  • ❌ Color Emoji Support - Server-side Graphics API cannot access system emoji fonts
    • 📋 Planned: Direct font file parsing (SBIX, COLR/CPAL, CBDT/CBLC formats)

iOS Platform

  • ⚠️ No third-party plugins on iOS - iOS sandboxing prevents plugin usage
  • ⚠️ Compression (Free) - System zlib uses Declares, blocked by iOS sandboxing
    • ✅ Solution: Premium Pure Xojo Zlib (no declares) works perfectly on iOS!

Desktop/Console

  • ✅ No known limitations - All features fully working

Bottom Line: Desktop and Console are 100% feature-complete. Web and iOS have minor limitations with workarounds available or in development.

Xojo FPDF Free v1.1.1 - Pure Xojo, Full Unicode, Cross-Platform - Xojo 2025r3.1 API2

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