Using Adobe LiveCycle Designer with ASP (not .net) to populate PDF Forms from Server Database.sav

[Former Community Member]

My question is very similar to the post about ASP.NET (http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc38246), but I am interested in ASP (not .net).



I have done as they have done and searched Google and Adobe for an answer. It is easy to get lost in a sea of terminology and worthless links.



In a nutshell, I am looking for the ability to take an interactive PDF created with Adobe LiveCycle Designer and use ASP to take data from a database and create flattened PDF files. I found a product called CutePDF Form SDK (http://www.cutepdf.com/solutions/formsdk.asp) that does what I want, but I was hoping for an Adobe solution. Plus with the odd naming convention of topmostSubform[0].Page1[0].Name[0], it can be difficult to manage large forms. I would prefer to just be able to reference the field with "Name". Either way, is there an Adobe (or other product) that will do the same thing as CutePDF?



Also, is there a way to display an interactive PDF in a web page, allow the users to edit the fields within their browser and a) either be able to capture the data in ASP or b) save it to the server as a flattened PDF? The latter would be ideal.



Thanks

[_Aandi_Inston_]

Are you sure that the CutePDF product does this? Have you tested it?

Reading the description it seems to be designed for Acrobat forms, not

for Designer forms.



Adobe's LiveCycle Server products include tools for server-side

flattening of Designer forms.



> a) either be able to capture the data in ASP



Isn't that what you are already doing/planning? Without flattening,

things are much simpler.



Aandi Inston

[Former Community Member]

Maybe I am confusing terms. Let me walk you through what I am trying to do in more detail so maybe someone can see where I might need to change what I am doing and help me with the problem areas.



What I want to do is:

A. have a PDF online where people can input data into its form.

B. submit the form and data back to an ASP page.

C. take that form and save it to the server as a completed PDF (original form and inputted data).

D. take the data from the form and put it into a database.

E. allow user to come back and edit the PDF later if they did not get it complete the first time.



To accomplish this I do the following:

A. take an existing PDF (with a form) and use Adobe LiveCycle Designer to make the form interactive and add a submit button. I put this on the website and access it with a browser.

B. I fill in the form and click the PDF submit button.

C. The ASP page will take the posted data and using CutePDF Form SDK, I will open the original PDF, merge in the posted data and save it to a new document.

D. the same ASP page will take the posted data and save it to a database.

E. if the user comes back allow them to edit their saved PDF.



I have accomplished ABD, but am running into a problem with CE.



Problem with (C) is that the names of the posted fileds coming into ASP from the submitted PDF are as I set them in document (Name, City, State, etc), but when CutePDF tries to set the PDF form field of, say City, to the posted value, it fails because the field name to CutePDF looks like topmostSubform[0].Page1[0].City[0]. How do I get around this naming convention? I cannot merge the fields back in if they post with one name and use another name somewhere else. (this may be something new to version 8 of Acrobat.)



Problem with (E) is that once CutePDF saves the PDF with the merged data it messes up the submit button and now it no longer submits when accessed in a browser.



Hopefully that is clear. I feel I am so close. Any help will be greatly appreciated.