itext5 - how to remove the empty space above a list in a PdfPCell - itext

Question

I am using iText 5. I am following the example found here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150816002422/http://itextpdf.com/sandbox/tables/ListInCell
/**
* This example was written by Bruno Lowagie for a prospective customer.
* The code in this sample works with the latest version of iText.
* It doesn't work with versions predating iText 5.
*/
package sandbox.tables;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;
import com.itextpdf.text.List;
import com.itextpdf.text.ListItem;
import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.text.Phrase;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPCell;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfPTable;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;
public class ListInCell {
public static final String DEST = "results/tables/list_in_cell.pdf";
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, DocumentException {
File file = new File(DEST);
file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
new ListInCell().createPdf(DEST);
}
public void createPdf(String dest) throws IOException, DocumentException {
Document document = new Document();
PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(dest));
document.open();
// This is how not to do it (but it works anyway):
// We create a list:
List list = new List();
list.add(new ListItem("Item 1"));
list.add(new ListItem("Item 2"));
list.add(new ListItem("Item 3"));
// We wrap this list in a phrase:
Phrase phrase = new Phrase();
phrase.add(list);
// We add this phrase to a cell
PdfPCell phraseCell = new PdfPCell();
phraseCell.addElement(phrase);
// We add the cell to a table:
PdfPTable phraseTable = new PdfPTable(2);
phraseTable.setSpacingBefore(5);
phraseTable.addCell("List wrapped in a phrase:");
phraseTable.addCell(phraseCell);
// We wrap the phrase table in another table:
Phrase phraseTableWrapper = new Phrase();
phraseTableWrapper.add(phraseTable);
// We add these nested tables to the document:
document.add(new Paragraph("A list, wrapped in a phrase, wrapped in a cell, wrapped in a table, wrapped in a phrase:"));
document.add(phraseTableWrapper);
// This is how to do it:
// We add the list directly to a cell:
PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
cell.addElement(list);
// We add the cell to the table:
PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(2);
table.setSpacingBefore(5);
table.addCell("List placed directly into cell");
table.addCell(cell);
// We add the table to the document:
document.add(new Paragraph("A list, wrapped in a cell, wrapped in a table:"));
document.add(table);
// Avoid adding tables to phrase (but it works anyway):
Phrase tableWrapper = new Phrase();
tableWrapper.add(table);document.add(new Paragraph("A list, wrapped in a cell, wrapped in a table, wrapped in a phrase:"));
document.add(tableWrapper);
document.close();
}
}
...and it gives a result similar to the sample PDF found here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140308004615/http://itextpdf.com/sites/default/files/list_in_cell.pdf
My issue is this: you can see that the text in each of the left cells ("list wrapped in a phrase...") is not lined-up horizontally with the first item of each list ("Item 1"). Specifically, I want to move up the text in the right cell's list. How do I do that?

Answer 1

Set cell.PaddingTop = -3f; to move it up a little bit.