Before we start: installing iText Core | .NET

All the examples explained in this tutorial are available on our web site from this URL: Examples for the iText jump-start tutorial

Before we start using iText 7 for this tutorial, we need to install it if you have not already done so. See the installation guide for .NET which describes using NuGet to install the core iText 7 modules and automate dependency management.

Every dependency corresponds with a jar in Java and with a DLL in C#/.NET.

• kernel and io: contain low-level functionality.

• layout: contains high-level functionality.

• forms: needed for all the AcroForm examples.

• pdfa: needed for PDF/A-specific functionality.

• pdftest: needed for the examples that are also a test.

• In this tutorial, we won't use the following modules that are also available:

• barcodes: use this if you want to create bar codes.

• hyph: use this if you want text to be hyphenated.

• font-asian: use this is you need CJK functionality (Chinese / Japanese / Korean)

• sign: use this if you need support for digital signatures.

All the DLLs listed above are available under the AGPL license. Additional iText 7 functionality is available through add-ons, which are delivered as DLLs under a commercial license. If you want to use any of these add-ons, or if you want to use iText 7 with your proprietary code, you need to obtain a commercial license key for iText 7 (see the legal section of our web site).

You can import such a license key using the license-key library, which can be installed by following the instructions in the license-key library installation guide.

Some functionality in iText is closed source. For instance, if you want to use pdfCalligraph, you need the typography module. This module won't work without an official license key.