Create online PDF forms with database backend

[Former Community Member]

I created a PDF form using LiveCycle. I want to put this form on my website so that when my users fill it out, the data goes into an online database. At the end of each month, I would like to be able to export this database as CSV for reporting purposes. How do I go about in setting this up. Please help, I have been searching this forum for over an hour now and I am not able to find the solution.



Thanks in advance.



Jen

[_Aandi_Inston_]

Do you own, or are you evaluating the product called "Adobe LiveCycle

Forms"? Or do you just have a general question about PDF forms?



Aandi Inston

[Former Community Member]

Hi Aandi,



Thank you for your reply.



I am currently evaluating Adobe LiveCycle.



Jen

[Former Community Member]

What exactly do you mean by an "online database"? It appears to me you are under the mistaken impression that LiveCycle Designer can do what you want with just a few magic waves of the wand inside the software. Searching this forum will (may) find you tips and information on how to do a few things, but there's no recipe posted here (or inside the Designer Help) that spells out how implement your solution.



Posting the form online and having the users submit their data (I'm assuming it will be in XML format) can be done a few different ways. As for the adding the ability "to export this database as CSV for reporting purposes", this has nothing to do with the LiveCycle product, so searching this forum for a solution probably won't help you.



If you would like some help from this forum, you will need to ask more specific questions.

[Former Community Member]

Hello SGreen,



Thank you so much for your reply. Let me see if I can clarify what I am trying to accomplish.



What I mean by an online database is a database that can be accessed via the internet. This way, an employee from multiple locations can download it at any time.



I understand that LiveCycle is a product that helps you build PDF forms. However, in my specific scenario, I need the PDF form to be online so that people can fill it out and the data would go into a database.



As an example, let us say that I created a contact us form using LiveCycle. I want users to fill out this LiveCycle form so that after they click on the submit button, the data goes into a database.



The question is:



1. Is this possible using LiveCycle by itself?

2. Is this possible using LiveCycle and other programming tools? If so, can you please refer me to documentation.



Thanks again,

Jen

[_Aandi_Inston_]

LiveCycle is not a product. It is a family of products, and you need

to know which of them you are using. Products include LiveCycle

Designer, LiveCycle Barcoded Forms, LiveCycle Document Security,

LiveCycle Reader Extensions (previously Document Server for Reader

Extensions and other names), LiveCycle Forms (previously Form Server),

LiveCycle Form Manager, LiveCycle Policy Server and LiveCycle

Workflow.



Each product has a forum. That's why I ask (and have to repeat the

question, sorry): do you own, or are you evaluating the product called

"Adobe LiveCycle Forms"?



Aandi Inston

[Former Community Member]

Hello Jen,



By "LiveCycle" I assume you are actually referring to "LiveCycle Designer", the desktop application used for designing forms and form templates. The term "LiveCycle" is actually the brand name for Adobe's enterprise document product suite, which includes "LiveCycle Designer" as well as "LiveCycle Forms (Server)", "LiveCycle Policy Server", and many more....



There are several ways to accomplish what you are looking to do. The simplest way is to design your form so that it submits data in either XML or URL encoded format to a servlet (Java) or ASP page (.NET) page (or the equivalent in ColdFusion, PHP, perl, etc.) which can then take the data and insert/update/etc. it in the Access database via ODBC/JDBC/ADO/etc.



There are many more ways as well, including using Adobe's LiveCycle Forms Server (sorry Adobe - I'm not calling it just "Forms") product to dynamically generate the form from a template created using Designer. Forms Server can also pre-fill the form with information as well as perform advanced processing on the data submitted from the form before sending it to the database.



Hope this helps



Rob Gabbard

Cardinal Solutions Group

LiveCycle Integration Specialists

www.cardinalsolutions.com

[Former Community Member]

Thank you for the replies.



I am not familiar with any programming language. How much should I expect to pay for something like this to have it programmed?

[Former Community Member]

Jen,



The costs depends alot on the complexity of what you need to do. If you'd like to discuss in detail offline, email us at adobe @ cardinalsolutions.com and we can setup a time to talk.



Rob Gabbard

Cardinal Solutions Group

LiveCycle Integration Specialists

www.cardinalsolutions.com

[Former Community Member]

Jen,



I have been using ACROBAT 4 5 6 7 Professional versions. The last

generation is ACROBAT 7.0 professional. There is document on the ADOBE

site that helps you to do what you are after. Ihave create a PDF in

ACROBAT 7.0 pro then opened in Life cycle then did sytem setup data binding and submit key with some java that interfaces an MS ACCESS

database to retrieve the form data to the data base as I said there is

documentation a little not very clear or how to do as a 123 or abc

procedure. I have to pdf test forms loading form data to an MS Access data base. There are system options to set ACCESS data base naming and options and table names to keep track of let alone the Java scripts.

I wrote a five page procedure a to z to train 4 other ACROBAT form

creators here. It is not easy took me several weeks of trial and error. But it does work. See page 40 of the Getting Started with Life CycleDesigner Forms " Interfacing with a Data base" at ADOBE.com they should write a book about this not just one or 2 pages as I said documentation is sparce I feel for anybody that has to go thru what I

had to to figure out the Rubick's cube they have here. The setting

in the System setup Ms Access and Lifecycle binding have to be insync

but once you get the procedure mapped as a a to z you will be able to open an existing PDF fillable previously created open in life cycle

do your binding to a ODBC MS ACCESS data save the final pdf post or save to a shared server or Share point have someone open fill out hit

the submit key then open your data base and see your dat. Yes it can be done.

[Former Community Member]

HI I am glad that i could see you people work on this. I am a complete novice to this Adobe Forms.



I created an Interactive form but now i had to create a database and have the data which is filled in the forms to be directly submitted in to the database.



Can any one of you provide me with detailed instructions as to how i should go about doing it?

[Former Community Member]

I also wanted to let you know that i have been using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.0 for doing this.



Thanks in Advance

Pinky

[Former Community Member]

Dear Adobe -



Obviously, you are having a serious branding issue with your "lifecycle" products. Instead of working towards providing a solution for Jen, you have spent several posts explaining how she isn't using the right syntax to fit your nomenclature, which tells me that *YOU* need to clean up your act. Too many products, undefined processes, unclear results is not a formula for a successful product. Be very careful, there are a lot of companies waiting to eat your lunch for you if you continue to reply to earnest postings in the same manner as you have above...



drew

[JohnShaw]

I know it's a few years later but thatnks for that. These people that wolrk for Adobe are ridiculous.

[Former Community Member]

I believe this thread really highlights a significant issue; why is it so difficult and complicated to create online forms and have the data flow over the internet into a database of the client's choosing.  We just deployed our first Adobe forms to clients, they look great, but the copy and email it back to us to get data is lurchy.  I know their are expanded capabilities there, but the process of learning them and/or hiring a programmer at $300/hour is a bit daunting, the whole idea of buying the software was that I could do it without being a programmer. Database programming/set-up will always be complicated ( I guess?); however, the various Adobe product nomenclatures and explanations of how they work together are byzantine to say the least. 

[Former Community Member]

Is it possible to query the database for a value after rendering the LiveCycle e-form?



ie. I have a LiveCycle e-form that just before printing I want some code (Java script) to run and a get a form number from the database and fill the print form field with it.

[Former Community Member]

Yes, it is possible.



Please, use Free online database
MyTaskHelper.com for creating online database and sharing it.

[Former Community Member]

Your link is wrong.




MyTaskHelper.com - this is correct link for creating and sharing online databases.

[raj2_ram]

Hi jen,

can you please explain me how to install this and i am using lifecycle server trial. and what are the thing we needed to install,

can you please.

thanks