well i have been looking for a java based PDF solutions...we dont have a clean way i guess-still.. all solutions are primitive and kind of workarounds... No easy solution for this requirement - 1. Designing a PDF template using a IDE (eg. Livecycle designer ..which is not free) 2. Then at runtime using java, populate data into this PDF template...either using xml or other datasources... such a simple requirement and NONE has a good "open-source and free" solution yet ! Is anyone aware of any ? I have been searching for since 3-4 years now..for a clean way out... Eclipse BIRT comes close.. but does not handle Barcode elements ..OOB. Jasper - ireport is also good but that tool does not have a table concept and is kind of annoying ! Also barcode support is not good. XSL-FO has not free IDE for design . Looking for a better answer .. got one ?