I have to generate a simple PDF document from a little java batch (Java 7). The generated document will contain a list and a couple of tables (nothing fancy). Aside from license problems (AGPL is not an issue in this case), which library is faster/easier to implement and has better performances between iText and Apache FOP for the desired output?
As you said , you don't need fancy tables and you need faster and easier library to implement, I'd prefer iText because it is very much simpler than Apache FOP. It is very easy to add list and tables to your PDF document by using iText. Apache FOP is much concerned about generating PDF documents in which the data to be written is stored in XML. Basically Apache FOP's main objective is to convert XML files to PDF ones. You can visit here for more details:- http://blog.xebia.com/comparing-apache-fop-with-itext/