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Any way to have a form submit into a database?

nvasilius
Registered: Jun 25 2009
Posts: 8
Answered

Hi I'm new to the forum so please be patient,

I was wondering if there is anyway to have a distributed form submit directly to a database? In my mind this would be similar to the adobe.com functionality but to our own database.

Thanks for your time!

nixopax
Registered: Feb 6 2009
Posts: 105
You certainly can, although it doesn't have to be Acrobat.com distributed. It's just a matter of understanding the database technology and server side language that your server will be using and how to integrate it into your PDF.

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nvasilius
Registered: Jun 25 2009
Posts: 8
Where do you put the information to have it interact with the server? How secure is this method of input? Any tips/tricks I should know? Any good books or manuals on this?

Thanks for your help,
nvasilius
nixopax
Registered: Feb 6 2009
Posts: 105
In the example, it all comes down to the function: submitForm();
The best place to learn about this is the Adobe Acrobat Javascript Reference. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/js_api_reference.pdf

The security of this method of input is as secure as you want to make it. It's basic HTTP, so it's as susceptible to a man-in-the-middle attack as a web site, an FTP client, or e-mail using standard POP3 and SMTP. If you are dealing with sensitive data such as credit card information, you MUST use an SSL certificate to encrypt data. It would only change one character in your code, simply add an '[b]S[/b]' to the URL that your submitForm is sending to. so it would be [url]http[b]s[/b]://www.domain.com[/url] instead of http://www.domain.com

The information on the server, that deals with the information is another story. It requires a web developer that understands how to accept data, and how to reply back to the PDF. How you process it is completely dependent on your server technology, database and server side language. For most people, it's not as simple as reading a book or manual, but rather devoting time to learn a web programming language, databases and how to make it work for PDF, or hiring someone to do it for you. It's out of the scope of a single forum thread, that's for sure.
nvasilius
Registered: Jun 25 2009
Posts: 8
Thanks for your help!