[RESOLVED] php / js form print puzzler ???

[fuzzy1]

Hey All, the following js prints an 18 page form with hundreds of text/checkboxes -- and that's all good --

function my_print() {
window.parent.MAIN.focus();
window.print();
}

BUT... how might I pass window.parent.MAIN.focus print data into the following for SERVER SIDE PRINT ???
(PS the forms/checkboxes etc. are NOT submitted in any meaningful way)

<?php 
$handle = printer_open('HP Deskjet 3840 Series'); 
printer_start_doc($handle, "My Document");
printer_start_page($handle);
printer_write($handle, "$form_data"); 
printer_end_page($handle);
printer_end_doc($handle);
//printer_abort($handle);
printer_close($handle);
?> 

Something like:

$form data = $_POST['window.parent.MAIN.focus()'];

Can I POST window.parent.MAIN.focus(); ???

[Weedpacket]

fuzzy1 wrote:

(PS the forms/checkboxes etc. are NOT submitted in any meaningful way)

Well, they'll need to be if the server is ever to see them.

Can I POST window.parent.MAIN.focus(); ???

You can call window.parent.MAIN.submit()....

[fuzzy1]

Thanks Weepacket,

Truth is, the server doesn't need to "see them." It just needs to post a copy of a printed (pdf) report to the database
along with a small handful of customer details (name and phone#).

I have attached a sample of or our report (1 page of 18) in the hope of clarifying the nature of our need.

This is comes from a Report-Writing and Contact Management Web App for use by Home Inspectors,
for delivery to Prospective Home Buyers and their Realtors.

Once the Inspector has completed the report, it is printed (and or converted to pdf) and delivered. End of story.
There really is no programming for submission or data storage required (which as you can see by the nature of the form x18 pages would be a programming nightmare -- not so terribly difficult as much as really tedious, labor intensive and generally unnecessary).

The RUB, is providing the PDF conversion of the report - ON DEMAND, without requiring Subscriber Inspectors to have to install and or configure any additional software. Currently we are utilizing Click To Convert II -- a PDF converting virtual printer which carries the additional requirement of uploading the converted report to the server for insertion into the db. Just too much to ask of home inspector types I'm afraid.

I was hoping we might print to Click To Convert server-side (either by script, or remote printer access) but not having much luck with that.

Any additional insights would be warmly welcome.

Regards

[greensweater]

Using a pre-authored PDF form, post the FDF form data via "form submit" action in the PDF to your form handler script on the server. It's the only way to do anything with the data on the server side. So in that sense it does need to "see" the form data as a "meaningful" form submission. This could be as GET data (URL encoded) or as an FDF datafile (via POST I think). This data could then be posted to the DB by the form handler, then you could serve up a "thanks for your submission" page to the browser.

The PDF can't really "upload itself" though... only the form data it contains. If you want to capture the whole PDF file itself, with form fields populated, you could use a server-side tool such as pdftk (http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/) to repopulate the form fields to the PDF locally, using the submitted form data -- then save the re-populated PDF to a local temp file, which you would then save as a CLOB in your DB, or throw on to network storage or whatever.

More server-side PDF tools here: http://www.esnips.com/web/PDFTools YMMV. HTH

[mrbaseball34]

As I said in your other thread, the article on 15seconds.com shows how to use a PDF with form fields to post data to a database. You can use the PDF as your form to fill in and the user can print it from AcroReader and the PDF has a submit button that will post the data to your server side script to post into your database..

A company I worked for did this because the forms HAD to be "clones" of government forms and we needed the capability to post the filled forms data to a database.

If you need help, just email me at eshipman at yahoo dot com and I'll try to work things out with you.

[fuzzy1]

WOW, do I have a knack for getting myself into some sticky threads!
(just when I was start feeling kinda good about my budding skills set)

As soon as I'm done choking on the prospect of a $500 investment in Adobe
(which I have fought for a while now -- being the poor/cheep bast**d I am)
I just may have to take you up on your offer of assistance mrbaseball34.
(you HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD by the way -- the forms are, necessarily, industry standard clones!)

Meanwhile -- out of curiosity -- one of the major variations on the industry standard forms, is our use of combination text-dropdown fields (a bit of js trickery) which provide the Inspector-User with the option of selecting from boilerplate responses, or manually inputing his own.

Is something like this possible in PDF forms?

On the server side printing line of reasoning, I did find a tutorial on "Creating A Windows XP VPN Server" that MIGHT afford us a Remote Print solution without TONS of programming agony (or a $500 investment in Acrobat;-)
(did I mention it took near a month getting these forms right the first time?)

First I have to WIPE VISTA off our host WAMP server, Install XP Pro (wanting to do that anyway) and then re-install the servers, DBs etc. before testing.

If THAT doesn't work out, I certainly know where to turn.

Thanks greensweater, mrbaseball34,
You guys are INTENSE!

p.s. As for the files uploading themselves, Click to Convert has an FTP option that does work, however printing (pdf converting) serverside would eliminate the need.

[mrbaseball34]

Is something like this possible in PDF forms?

Yes, but, it will require modification of the forms in Acrobat to add the options to the dropdowns. Seems you are going to have to modify them anyway to add the form fields. Maybe you could farm that process out to someone more familiar with Adobe and still not have to purchase a license.

We had the forms in PDF format and I had to add the form fields. A little tedious but we only had 2 forms so it wasn't that involved, although one for had 70 fields.

The submission is through a little javascript embedded in your PDF using a button.

[mrbaseball34]

Oh, BTW, if you have your form data posted to a database, you won't need server-side printing but a server-side reporting solution to build the reports from your database.

[fuzzy1]

Issue Resolved, See SOLUTION, and My MOST Sincere Gratitude expressed
in this Related Post.