[Cialug] pdf thing (again)

[Dave J. Hala Jr.]

Basically what I did when trying out pdf-tools' form filling tool was to
load the pdf form into acrobat professional. Then I defined the data
fields and saved the form.

To fill the form, I read the data from the database, and passed the
information to the form filling tool on the command line. Their tool
took the original pdf and the data and created a new, filled out pdf. It
was slick and it worked well. Smoking fast, with almost no overhead.

I'm not against forking out $2k for pdf-tools's software. However, I
have all dual cpu machines and possibly a quad coming in the future.
That will raise my licensing fees considerably. Don't get me wrong,
pdf-tools is well worth the money and they have excellant support.
However, if I can find a lower cost alternative, I could be more
competitive.

:) Dave





On Fri, 2006-11-03 at 07:42, carl-olsen at mchsi.com wrote:
> From what I see, it looks like it would be possible to build the FDF
> file using PHP and data from a database.  I'm not too familiar with
> running command line instructions using PHP, but I'm sure that its not
> difficult.  I'm wondering if I can create the form using Acrobat and
> then use this tool to fill in the form fields, or whether the PDF has
> to be created using this tool.  I know how to create a form with fill
> in fields using Acrobat, but I'd be lost if I had to create one from a
> command line.
> 
>  
> 
> I know how to capture form fields from a PDF and put the data into a
> database, but I never could figure out how to populate the fields from
> the database later when I wanted to print out a copy of a form that
> someone filled out using a web browser.  The options I found at that
> time were very expensive.  I looked at the IRS website and found the
> tool they were using was about half the price of the Adobe tools, but
> it was still several thousand dollars.
> 
>  
> 
> Carl Olsen
> 
> Web Developer
> 
> Drake University
> 
> 
>         -------------- Original message from "Dave J. Hala Jr."
>         <dave at 58ghz.net>: -------------- 
>         
>         
>         > I've been experimenting with a trial version of PDF Tools
>         form filling 
>         > tool. (www.pdf-tools.com) It takes an existing pdf, and
>         allows you to 
>         > insert data into the form fields in the pdf. 
>         > 
>         > It works awesome. However, its priced by CPU. This makes it
>         a little 
>         > pricey on a dual cpu server or a dual core server. I'm
>         looking for a 
>         > lower cost alternative. 
>         > 
>         > I found something called pdftk or PDF Toolkit 
>         >
>         http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/04/17/1943230&tid=47 
>         > 
>         > It seems to be the solution I'm looking for. Has anyone had
>         any 
>         > experience with it before? 
>         > 
>         > 
>         > :) Dave 
>         > 
>         > -- 
>         > 
>         > Open Source Information Systems, Inc. (OSIS) 
>         > Da ve J. Hala Jr., President 
>         > 641.485.1606 www.osis.us 
>         > Save a life: Adopt a shelter animal! 
>         > 
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> 
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Open Source Information Systems, Inc. (OSIS)
Dave J. Hala Jr., President <dave at osis.us>
641.485.1606 www.osis.us
Save a life: Adopt a shelter animal!