pdf form creation and processing

[promania]

hi

i want to write a script to;

*user fill the form (in pdf)

*in the form for example 1 field takes age of the user; when the user write 25 to it my document shows him another question, when he types 40 document shows him another question. like that; (so i should use javascript)

*user will submit this of course to my php;

the third 0ne is so easy but i have no experience about first 2 for pdf.

thank u for your help.

note: which modules i need libpdf, fdf; please tell me

[weekender]

pdf files are not dynamic, ie you cant have a second question appear depending on the answer to a first - to do this, you'd want to use dhtml

[promania]

ok dynamic form not important but how can i make pdf forms, and how can i take inputs and save;

which modules php should have for this
(fdf,phplib...)

[promania]

hi now i can save and know which modules needed.

but how can i create pdf forms with php

[foofoobar]

Ok I don't know who is feeding you this bullshit but yes, PDF's can be dynamic. You use an FDF file to create a PDF (or to populate one). Here's a brief example I created for some Microsoft developers who were helping me overcome one of their gimpy patches that disabled this functionality for awhile...

<?php

$outfdf = fdf_create();

fdf_set_value($outfdf, "fname", "Bob", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "mi", "A", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "lname", "Dillon", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "address", "5692 148th Ave S", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "city", "Bellevue", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "state", "WA", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "zip", "98007", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "email", "[e-mail]", 0);

fdf_set_value($outfdf, "contact_n", "Yes", 0);

fdf_set_value($outfdf, "h_ph", "555-555-1212", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "w_ph", "555-555-1212", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "dob_m", "11", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "dob_d", "24", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "dob_y", "1969", 0);
fdf_set_value($outfdf, "timestamp", "12-12-2004 216.205.78.251", 0);

fdf_set_value($outfdf, "sex_m", "Yes", 0);

fdf_set_file($outfdf, "http://www.yoursite.com/your.pdf");
Header("Content-type: application/vnd.fdf");
header("Cache-Control: public");

fdf_save($outfdf);
fdf_close($outfdf);

?>

This would populate the "your.pdf" file with the data that is contained within the php script.

Always include a header("Cache-control:public") or else IE defaults to no-cache.

And these are about the basics. I myself populate from a database to these forms all the time and it works great. Very useful for a company that wants to use it's own forms and maintain a paper trail (either physically or electronically).

[weekender]

I don't know who is feeding you this bullshit

what i said was that you cannot have part of a pdf change based on a form inside that pdf without regenerating the pdf, which is correct

if someone posts something you disagree with, feel free to discuss - but don't accuse people of feeding bullshit. Everyone on this board gives help for free, so lose the attitude

[foofoobar]

Doh! Good point. My most sincere apologies. I misread the post. Actually, I just 'skim read' the post so fault lies completely with me.

[foofoobar]

Oh but wait a second. I'm pretty sure he can do that too. PDF's can have embedded Javascript in them which would enable him to do this client side. However, since this isn't a javascript support site. I won't go into it.

I can however briefly recommend the book:

Extending Acrobat Forms with Javascript from Adobe Press (ISBN 0-321-17238-8)

This will go into greater detail about how to perform just what you are trying to do.

Now I don't feel so bad as I'm still right 🙂