[Cialug] pdf thing (again)

[Nathan C. Smith]

I'm going to come out and ask - what platform will the work ultimately be
done on?  On a Windows computer or on a server using a web interface?

Are the forms consistent?  - the same forms over and over, or will they
frequently change?

The PDF system nuance sells is supposed to be very good at this kind of
stuff - for end users on Windows.  I don't know if the free and tiny
foxreader can fill forms.

BTW - I have had experience with the PDF-tools stuff and it *is* excellent.

-Nate

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave J. Hala Jr. [mailto:dave at 58ghz.net] 
> Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 8:03 AM
> To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Cialug] pdf thing (again)
> 
> 
> 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!
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