help about Asp.net web application with PDF

Take a look at this thread,

http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?pid=42194#p42194

The discussion is about php, but the idea is the same. The PDF is displayed in Acrobat on the client side. It uses a "doc.submitForm()" call to make send an HTTPRequest to a sever script. The server script then processes the incoming data and creates an HTTPResponse where the body of the response contians a data format that is understood by Acrobat. When Acrobat recieves the response it merges the data into the PDF. This is really very simple. It's just a matter of getting the details correct.

You could also look at an ASP library like: http://www.asppdf.com/

The document by Scott Macdonald is about using the LiveCycle ES Form Services. There's a lot of useful information in the artical, but Form Services is way overkill for 90% of PDF form/data handling applications. So before you go down this path there are a couple questions. Do you already own Form Services? The LC servers are Java, so are you prepared to learn Java, and install and support the servers? Is your form task sufficiently complex to warrant such a heavy solution?

If you are only moving data in and out of a few PDFs, then it is much simpler, and cheaper, to write an ASP scirpt that sends and recieves the PDF data, without all the fancy accutriments.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
[url=http://www.pdfScripting.com]pdfscripting.com[/url]

The Acrobat JavaScript Reference, Use it Early and Often
[url=http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php]http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php[/url]

Hi Thom:

Thank you very much for your reply.

We are going to put some empty PDF forms on the web (like our tax form). A clients will login, fill the form and submit the form. Then the application will capture the input and save data into the database. When the client login the next time and check his/her history records, the application pull out the old form filled with client's data.


Will the simple mechanism you mentioned handle this case?

Current, I only have LiveCycle Designer 8.0. I know java, but am not familiar with it.

This is an ergent task. If I try the simple solution, I will do it first. When I have time, I will try the fancy solution.

Jun

The fastest most reliable way to put together a back end data solution is to buy one off the shelf (EX: www.formrouter.net), or to buy a server like UltimatePDF(www.techedsolutions.com) or www.activePDF.com. And there are many more.

But if you have the tools and knowledge to write ASP.NET, then you are way better off writing a simple script to handle the interaction between Acrobat and the database.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
[url=http://www.pdfScripting.com]pdfscripting.com[/url]

The Acrobat JavaScript Reference, Use it Early and Often
[url=http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php]http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php[/url]