Saving PDF Form

[oharab]

I'm sure this has been asked many times, but I can't find anything that does just what I want.
What I want is:
A PDF form that end users fill in through their browser.
They submit the form to a process which saves the data as a text file on the server, then serves back to the user a PDF which looks exactly like the PDF form, but instead of having form fields, it has the data. It would be helpful if the served back PDF could be protected against tinkering too.

This will either be running on a windows machine, using ASP, or a linux machine running whatever is required!

Can this be done? What do I need?

Ben

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Ben O'Hara

http://www.RobotParade.co.uk

"Where are all the stupid people from...
...And how'd they get so dumb?"

NoFX-The Decline
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[tgreer]

Yes this can be done. The server just needs to serve back an FDF. The FDF will go get the PDF.

This exact topic is dicussed here:

http://www.tgreer.com/fdfServe.html

 

[oharab]

That kinda seems to do what I'm after, but I can't save the pdf with the form data merged. Is this possible? Am I missing something?

Ben

----------------------------------------------
Ben O'Hara

http://www.RobotParade.co.uk

"Where are all the stupid people from...
...And how'd they get so dumb?"

NoFX-The Decline
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Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at F

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

...but I can't save the pdf with the form data merged

Print the data merged pdf through a freeware pdf driver and thus create another pdf complete with data merged.

FAQ184-2483 - answering getting answered.​

Chris
PDFcommander^tm.net
PDFcommander^tm.co.uk

 

[oharab]

I'd like to do this all server side & just give the user the PDF to save onto their machine.


----------------------------------------------
Ben O'Hara

http://www.RobotParade.co.uk

"Where are all the stupid people from...
...And how'd they get so dumb?"

NoFX-The Decline
----------------------------------------------
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at F

 

[tgreer]

Well, Reader doesn't allow the user to save a PDF with form data embedded. You can serve it to them, but they can't save it. The technique described in that link is to serve an FDF, which will go get the referenced PDF to "frame" the data.

To show a fully merged PDF/FDF, you would need to use the FDF Toolkit from Adobe.

Or, you can use the technique Chris describes, which is to "print" the PDF/FDF server side to a new PDF. The problem with that is that Acrobat isn't licensed for server use, and their server products are prohibitively expensive.

Given the limitations, you might need to rethink the problem.

For example, why serve back a PDF? How about serving back an HTML page that contains the data submitted, nicely formated with CSS styles? The user can save that, print it, even convert it to a PDF.



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting

 

[oharab]

The forms that they are filling in are legal documents and are producable in court if necessary so the end user needs a copy that cannot easily be altered.
Ideally the solution we go with will be able to digitally sign and protect the produced PDF too.

There may be money available to get the solution we need.
Will the FDF toolkit let me build do exactly what I need?

Ben

----------------------------------------------
Ben O'Hara

http://www.RobotParade.co.uk

"Where are all the stupid people from...
...And how'd they get so dumb?"

NoFX-The Decline
----------------------------------------------
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[tgreer]

My suggestion, based on my work experience, is to:

1) Create a data-entry form. Could be PDF, could be HTML.
2) User submits the data
3) Server authors a PDF, data-inclusive
4) Server returns the PDF to user.

How can this be accomplished? A number of ways, including:

1) server produces PostScript, and renders the PostScript to a PDF with activePDF Server, adding security with activePDF Toolkit

2) server authors a PDF natively with a 3rd party PDF tool. There are several of them, it depends on the server language you want to use and the complexity of the PDF you wish to create.

If you tell me what server language you know or can use, as well as post a link to a typical PDF, I could give more specific advice.



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting

 

[oharab]

Thomas,
Your 1-4 is exactly what I want to do.
I'm not yet sure what server this will be running on, it could be either linux or windows, I'm very much in the early stages of investigation & I can't send a form as it's confidential, but you've at least given me a starting point with ActivePDF and FDF toolkit.
I'll look into them closer.

Cheers

Ben

----------------------------------------------
Ben O'Hara

http://www.RobotParade.co.uk

"Where are all the stupid people from...
...And how'd they get so dumb?"

NoFX-The Decline
----------------------------------------------
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at F

 

[tgreer]

No problem. You're welcome.

If you go with a Linux/Apache server, then your host will likely support PHP. Many PHP hosting solutions include PDFLIB, a programming API for producing PDFs. Search for "PDBLIB". Be careful with versions, PHP hosts are usually several versions behind the current release.

With Windows, you'll either get classic ASP or ASP.NET. I'd suggest ASP.NET, and there are a number of tools for making PDFs with .NET components:

http://www.aspose.com/

http://www.componentone.com/

http://www.tallcomponents.com/

and so on. A Google search for "ASP.NET PDF" will reveal more.




Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting