SPUG: help with dynamic pdf forms

Alan alan at ufies.org
Tue Jul 15 11:12:55 CDT 2003


I can't go into the details too much due to NDA, but they are wanting to
produce print quality items with user input in them.  I have talked to
some other people and they suggested using FDF files which may solve the
problem (from what I understand it's a text file with form field
contents and a link to the pdf itself, and that is displayed onscreen
with the fields filled out), but it does not allow people to save the
"final" pdf (with user input).  The design is all in PDF form (as artsy
types like) but I'll take a look at pdf->ps->[fill in fields]->pdf.  The
project is just in the planning research stage right now anyway.

Thanks for the idea though.

alan

On Tue, Jul 15, 2003 at 08:52:51AM -0700, Jay Scherrer wrote:
> Alan,
> This is exactly how we produce our tax forms using Practical Tax.
> Can you use PostScript?
> We had found that if we were to convert the form from PDF to PostScript and 
> anded our variables ($var) into the form entry point. If you play around with 
> your PostScript you'll find that your entries will be contained within  a set 
> of parenthisis "( )". Create a template that contains your variables within 
> those parenthisis. Then all you have to do is assign values to those $vars 
> and have Perl print the file.
> This enabled us to parse print the .ps page through Perl. Basicly replacing 
> any ($var) with your inputed value. We had to extend it a little by creating 
> an XML file for our records allowing us to traverse the hash and replacing 
> the tagged entry with the matched $variable. 
> 
> Jay
> On Monday 14 July 2003 12:08 pm, Alan wrote:
> > Howdy folks.  I have a project coming up involving filling data into PDF
> > forms created by a design firm.  I'm pretty sure that this can be done,
> > and hopefully relatively easily.
> >
> > Basically what I need to do is take user input and insert it into a
> > pre-set position / form field in an already created static PDF.  I'm not
> > all that familiar with acrobat, but it has a "form field" tool that
> > allows creation of text fields, checkboxes, etc.  All I need to do is
> > take user input and stick it into those form fields (I only care about
> > the text fields).
> >
> > Obviously creating the pdfs from scratch via PDF-Lib isn't an option.
> > Can anyone point me at whatever the in vogue tool / library for this is?
> >
> > Regards and thanks from up north
> >
> > alan
> 
> -- 
> Personalized e-mail and domain names:
> <http://netidentity.com/BI3CCYFM

-- 
Alan <alan at ufies.org> - http://arcterex.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"There are only 3 real sports: bull-fighting, car racing and mountain 
climbing. All the others are mere games."                -- Hemingway



More information about the spug-list mailing list