I work for a website development firm.
Client's asking for the following:
We update something on the back end>click save
The saved changes AUTOMATICALLY update on a PDF that's linked to that page. P.S. the PDF is highly stylized and has been professionally designed by a graphic artist.
I am just wondering if what they're asking is even possible?
Please let me know, thanks!
Does this technology exist for PDFs?
2011-11-14 12:44:44
2011-11-14 19:41:04
#2
It depends on what you mean by "a PDF that's linked to that page".
If the PDF file is stored on a server and you wish to alter it *before* the next visitor downloads it, then you can probably do that using the various server-side PDF class libraries for PHP, ASP, Perl, Java, etc. - it will depend on what it is about the PDF files you need to change, as the libraries each have different (but limited) feature sets.
What you cannot do is update copies of the PDF file which have already been downloaded. It's possible to create a PDF file which "phones home" to check for updates (using DRM or embedded scripting), but the best you can do is prompt the user to download the updated version, and unless you use DRM there's no guarantee the user will comply. In non-Adobe software or on mobile devices they're unlikely to see any script-driven messages.
If the PDF file is stored on a server and you wish to alter it *before* the next visitor downloads it, then you can probably do that using the various server-side PDF class libraries for PHP, ASP, Perl, Java, etc. - it will depend on what it is about the PDF files you need to change, as the libraries each have different (but limited) feature sets.
What you cannot do is update copies of the PDF file which have already been downloaded. It's possible to create a PDF file which "phones home" to check for updates (using DRM or embedded scripting), but the best you can do is prompt the user to download the updated version, and unless you use DRM there's no guarantee the user will comply. In non-Adobe software or on mobile devices they're unlikely to see any script-driven messages.
The only way it could possibly work is if this change is of something like a value in a database, and the PDF is set up to read that value when it is opened.
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