How to add a border to a checkbox and make it always visible

Question

When I create my PDF the checkbox at first doesn\'t have any appearence. After I click on it (onBlur) there is some kind of shade visible and when it is focussed it isn\'t v

Answer 1

Try this - it creates appearance streams for the check box, i.e. content streams for the "Yes" and "Off" display. I also modified the way you used the widgets, so that the file is simpler. The strategy you used (widget separate from the field) is useful only if you have several widgets for one field.

To see what the operators do (that's the gibberish), have a look at the PDF specification, search for "operator summary".

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
{
    PDDocument document = new PDDocument();
    PDPage page = new PDPage();
    document.addPage(page);

    // just a rectangle to be able to locate the checkbox
    PDPageContentStream contentStream = new PDPageContentStream(document, page, AppendMode.APPEND, false);
    contentStream.addRect(100, 100, 50, 50);
    contentStream.setLineWidth(1);
    contentStream.setNonStrokingColor(Color.WHITE);
    contentStream.setStrokingColor(Color.BLACK);
    contentStream.stroke();
    contentStream.close();

    PDAcroForm acroForm = new PDAcroForm(document);
    PDCheckBox checkBox = new PDCheckBox(acroForm);
    checkBox.setPartialName("xxx");


    //PDAnnotationWidget widget = new PDAnnotationWidget();
    PDAnnotationWidget widget = checkBox.getWidgets().get(0);
    widget.setRectangle(new PDRectangle(100, 100, 10, 10));
    widget.setAnnotationFlags(4);
    widget.setPage(page);
    //widget.setParent(checkBox);

    // inspired by annot 92 of file from PDFBOX-563
    // annot 172 has "checkmark" instead, but more more complex, needs ZaDb

    String offNString = "1 g\n"
            + "0 0 9.5 9.5 re\n"
            + "f\n"
            + "0.5 0.5 9.5 9.5 re\n"
            + "s";
    String offDString = "0.75 g\n"
            + "0 0 9.5 9.5 re\n"
            + "f\n"
            + "0.5 0.5 9.5 9.5 re\n"
            + "s";
    String yesNString = "1 g\n"
            + "0 0 9 9.5 re\n"
            + "f\n"
            + "0.5 0.5 9.5 9.5 re\n"
            + "s\n"
            + "q\n"
            + "  1 1 9 9 re\n"
            + "  W\n"
            + "  n\n"
            + "  2 8 m\n"
            + "  8 2 l\n"
            + "  8 8 m\n"
            + "  2 2 l\n"
            + "  s\n"
            + "Q";
    String yesDString = "0.75 g\n"
            + "0 0 9 9.5 re\n"
            + "f\n"
            + "0.5 0.5 9.5 9.5 re\n"
            + "s\n"
            + "q\n"
            + "  1 1 9 9 re\n"
            + "  W\n"
            + "  n\n"
            + "  2 8 m\n"
            + "  8 2 l\n"
            + "  8 8 m\n"
            + "  2 2 l\n"
            + "  s\n"
            + "Q";

    COSDictionary apNDict = new COSDictionary();
    COSStream offNStream = new COSStream();
    offNStream.setItem(COSName.BBOX, new PDRectangle(10, 10));
    offNStream.setItem(COSName.FORMTYPE, COSInteger.ONE);
    offNStream.setItem(COSName.TYPE, COSName.XOBJECT);
    offNStream.setItem(COSName.SUBTYPE, COSName.FORM);
    offNStream.setItem(COSName.MATRIX, new Matrix().toCOSArray());
    offNStream.setItem(COSName.RESOURCES, new COSDictionary());
    OutputStream os = offNStream.createOutputStream();
    os.write(offNString.getBytes());
    os.close();
    apNDict.setItem(COSName.Off, offNStream);

    COSStream yesNStream = new COSStream();
    yesNStream.setItem(COSName.BBOX, new PDRectangle(10, 10));
    yesNStream.setItem(COSName.FORMTYPE, COSInteger.ONE);
    yesNStream.setItem(COSName.TYPE, COSName.XOBJECT);
    yesNStream.setItem(COSName.SUBTYPE, COSName.FORM);
    yesNStream.setItem(COSName.MATRIX, new Matrix().toCOSArray());
    yesNStream.setItem(COSName.RESOURCES, new COSDictionary());
    os = yesNStream.createOutputStream();
    os.write(yesNString.getBytes());
    os.close();
    apNDict.setItem(COSName.getPDFName("Yes"), yesNStream);

    COSDictionary apDDict = new COSDictionary();
    COSStream offDStream = new COSStream();
    offDStream.setItem(COSName.BBOX, new PDRectangle(16, 16));
    offDStream.setItem(COSName.FORMTYPE, COSInteger.ONE);
    offDStream.setItem(COSName.TYPE, COSName.XOBJECT);
    offDStream.setItem(COSName.SUBTYPE, COSName.FORM);
    offDStream.setItem(COSName.MATRIX, new Matrix().toCOSArray());
    offDStream.setItem(COSName.RESOURCES, new COSDictionary());
    os = offDStream.createOutputStream();
    os.write(offDString.getBytes());
    os.close();
    apDDict.setItem(COSName.Off, offDStream);

    COSStream yesDStream = new COSStream();
    yesDStream.setItem(COSName.BBOX, new PDRectangle(16, 16));
    yesDStream.setItem(COSName.FORMTYPE, COSInteger.ONE);
    yesDStream.setItem(COSName.TYPE, COSName.XOBJECT);
    yesDStream.setItem(COSName.SUBTYPE, COSName.FORM);
    yesDStream.setItem(COSName.MATRIX, new Matrix().toCOSArray());
    yesDStream.setItem(COSName.RESOURCES, new COSDictionary());
    os = yesDStream.createOutputStream();
    os.write(yesDString.getBytes());
    os.close();
    apDDict.setItem(COSName.getPDFName("Yes"), yesDStream);

    PDAppearanceDictionary appearance = new PDAppearanceDictionary();
    PDAppearanceEntry appearanceNEntry = new PDAppearanceEntry(apNDict);
    appearance.setNormalAppearance(appearanceNEntry);

    // push appearance doesn't look nice enough, has weird effect when pushing
//        PDAppearanceEntry appearanceDEntry = new PDAppearanceEntry(apDDict);
//        appearance.setDownAppearance(appearanceDEntry);

    widget.setAppearance(appearance);

    // MK (appearance characteristics dictionary)
    COSDictionary acdDict = new COSDictionary();
    acdDict.setItem(COSName.CA, new COSString("8")); // 8 is X, 4 is checkmark
    COSArray bcArray = new COSArray();
    bcArray.add(COSInteger.ZERO);
    acdDict.setItem(COSName.BC, bcArray);
    COSArray bgArray = new COSArray();
    bgArray.add(COSInteger.ONE);
    acdDict.setItem(COSName.BG, bgArray);
    PDAppearanceCharacteristicsDictionary acd = new PDAppearanceCharacteristicsDictionary(acdDict);
    widget.setAppearanceCharacteristics(acd);

//        List<PDAnnotationWidget> widgets = new ArrayList<>();
//        widgets.add(widget);
    page.getAnnotations().add(widget);
//        checkBox.setWidgets(widgets);

    checkBox.setValue("Yes");

    acroForm.getFields().add(checkBox);
    document.getDocumentCatalog().setAcroForm(acroForm);

    File file = new File("checkbox.pdf");

    document.save(file);
    document.close();
}

Update 17.1.2019: I've created a more flexible version of this code (dynamic calculations, support colors and different contents) and added it to the source code repository.