Elements

Bands and stacks hold elements in their content. The type property says which element it is:

Type
text	Text, with {expressions} interpolated.
image	A PNG or JPEG image.
rect	A rectangle, drawn with background and border.
line	A straight line from (x, y) spanning width and/or height.
stack	A container for nesting flow layouts; with border/background it doubles as a box.
table	Repeats rows over a secondary dataset (invoice lines, order items).
barcode	A barcode or 2D code, drawn as vector graphics.
chart	A chart of a dataset’s rows, drawn as vector graphics.
pageBreak	Starts a new page.
subreport	Another template laid out in place.

Properties of every element

Every element has these, and the style properties.

id

Type: text

An optional identifier, for people and tools.

style

Type: text

A named style for the element.

x

Type: length

Position inside an absolute band; ignored in flow layouts.

y

Type: length

Vertical position inside an absolute band.

width

Type: length

Width in pt (or another unit), % of the container, fr (a share of the space left in a row) or auto.

height

Type: length

Fixed height. When omitted the element is as tall as its content.

minHeight

Type: length

Minimum height; the element still grows to fit its content.

visible

Type: expression

Leaves the element out where this is false.

tag

Type: keyword

Overrides the default structure role (text → P, image → Figure, …).

One of:

• p
• h1
• h2
• h3
• h4
• h5
• h6
• caption
• note
• figure
• artifact: Decoration or pagination: excluded from the structure tree and screen readers.

language

Type: text

The language of the element’s content (BCP 47, e.g. “ar” or “hi-IN”) when it differs from the document’s. Tagged PDF records it for screen readers, and shaping uses its language-specific forms.

link

Type: text

Hyperlink target (text template).

bookmark

Type: text

Text template for a PDF outline entry pointing at this element.