Draw Text

Create a page content context with startPageContentContext, load a font, and write text with coordinates measured in PDF points.

var context = pdfWriter.startPageContentContext(page);
var font = pdfWriter.getFontForFile("./fonts/arial.ttf");

context.writeText("Hello, world", 72, 720, {
  font: font,
  size: 14,
  colorspace: "gray",
  color: 0x00,
});

size, not fontSize, controls the font size. Supported color spaces are rgb, cmyk, and gray; a gray or cmyk color must be a number, as in Draw Primitives. Use q() and Q() to scope graphics-state changes, such as setOpacity(0.5).

Use font.calculateTextDimensions(text, size) when positioning needs the text bounds.

For kerned text, pass the TJ array items as separate arguments: either strings or glyph lists, not both in one call, with numeric adjustments in thousandths of a text space unit. String calls take an optional final options object, for example context.TJ("W", 120, "orld", { encoding: "text" }). Glyph lists are arrays of [glyphId, unicodeCodePoint] pairs; other items throw a TypeError.

writeText reads and converts text, coordinates, font size, color, and underline options before emitting BT or changing graphics state. If a getter or conversion throws, the original exception is propagated and the call emits no partial text or underline. Correct the input before retrying. This also applies to form contexts and writers modifying existing PDFs.