FDF Toolkit and pdf conversion

[Former Community Member]

yes, this is a newbie question...sorry if the answer is obvious.



I am trying to design a form solution for my employer, and through some investigation have been given access to, and downloaded the FDF toolkit for Java from Adobe.

The good news is the samples in the toolkit all work!

The bad news is that I can't seem to create any new forms and get them to work. I also can't open, or import the sample form pdfs from the toolkit into Designer 7, save them, and have them work.



I didn't want to disturb the Java-side components as they are functional. So, using a pdf from the toolkit I created my own form pdf with all the same fields, and the same Names in the Binding sections using Designer 7. I put that form on the server in place of the toolkit version, and tried the demo. My form pdf arrived, but the fields are not filled in. I've traced the network between my client and the server, and the server is giving me the same fdf data.



Questions:

1. Is there something I need to do to make the fdf deliverd by the java servlet compatible with the desinger 7 form?

2. Is there something wrong with my approach?

3. I'm using the Adobe Designer 7 Tryout, which reports "Version 7,0,041126, 0. Should this work?



Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

[Former Community Member]

The PDF samples that comes with you FDF toolkit are acro PDF forms.

Designer 7 creates xfa PDF forms which are completely different type of PDF. In other word, acro forms and xfa forms are not compatible.

[Former Community Member]

Just so I understand, are you saying that the XFA forms created by Designer 7 are not compatible with the FDF files created using the FDF Toolkit?



If this is true, is there equivalent functionality in the xfa pdf forms, and where/how can I find out more about it?



Thanks

[_Aandi_Inston_]

Absolutely, completely, incompatible. But why are you using Designer

at all, if you want to work with FDF. Has Adobe trapped another

person into assuming that "how forms are done" now? In fact, most

forms continue to be done in Acrobat Professional.



Aandi Inston

[Former Community Member]

You can find XFA specifications from this link below:



http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/xml/index_arch.html



I would also check out the Adobe LiveCycle Designer Developer Center from this link:



http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/livecycle/designer/devcenter.html

[Former Community Member]

I am jumping in here, but I think I may be falling into the same trap.

I want to produce pdf v1.4 form files and am struggling tofind out how to make Designer save in this format.... should I not be using Designer ?

I need pdf forms as version 1.4 because the form field reading software we are using won't support anything higher



Mike Jones

[_Aandi_Inston_]

>I want to produce pdf v1.4 form files and am struggling tofind out how to make Designer save in this format.... should I not be using Designer ?



Absolutely, definitely not.



>I need pdf forms as version 1.4 because the form field reading software we are using won't support anything higher



Your form reading software won't understand the entirely new and

differrent Designer forms format.



You should be using Acrobat Professional to create the forms, and

Advanced > PDF Optimizer to save back to PDF 1.4 format.



Aandi Inston

[Former Community Member]

Designer is a tool for generating and designing XFA-based forms.

You can not generate acroform with Designer.

[Former Community Member]

I undestand now. So what is the target market for Designer generated forms (which presumably are more powerfull in capabilities) and what tools are available to extract data from these forms



Mike Jones

[_Aandi_Inston_]

> So what is the target market for Designer generated forms (which presumably are more powerfull in capabilities)



I'd say "different" rather than "more powerful". I think Designer

forms are aimed firmly at the corporate market, and for people using

Adobe Form Server.



Others may take a different view.



The history is that it is a different technology that Adobe purchased,

so it doesn't necessarily mean that there are two different planned

strategies.



Aandi Inston