Data Extraction from Dynamic XML Form

[JBPTAC]

Hi All,

MY PROBLEM

I am looking for some assistance with extracting data from a Dynamic XML Form; I created in Designer (ver. 8.2). I am sure this is a simple fix but, as I am relatively new to Designer the solution eludes me. I have perused through many of the Forums but have not found a solution to fit my needs.

MY FORM

The form I created is an internal document that will never see the “light of day”, that is to say that it is hosted on an intranet server. The form is distributed internally and the data is “Manually collected in my email”. The form has an embedded XML file that allows user to select Name, ID and some other particulars.

Link to My Form: http://www.maineptac.org/FORMS/Test3.pdf

THE ISSUE

I cannot figure out the process of extracting data from a Distributed form that has been sent by email. I have followed the steps of properly distributing the form, but when I receive the respondents “filled form” I am unable to extract the data i.e. Export, Manage Data, SaveAs, Open Table in Spreadsheet or the other means available in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.

All ideas are welcome and appreciated.

Jeff

[Bibhu_Bikash_Na]

Hello Jeff,

Though I am not clear,still you can try this. I do not find a Submit button in your form. Ideally, you should have a submit button. This thing is quite easy if the form submit the data as XML. When you receive the completed form data as XML you can extract the data by the following method.

Open the original form in Acrobat. Click : Forms -> manage Form Data - > Import data. Now you can browse through the XML file sent.Click on OK and you can see the form data in your original form.

Thanks.

Bibhu.

[JBPTAC]

Good day Bibhu,

Thank you for your timely response, but I have already tried that technique; embedding a submit button within the form that when triggered would send either an xml data packet or PDF. I may have been unclear about my results, when attempting to extract data from my form.

When I attempt to extract the data "Click : Forms -> manage Form Data - > Import data" the data file has no content, it is either empty or the data file contains the XML data that I have embedded into the form, which is of no use to me.

Is it possible that you try to distribute the form to yourself to achieve the results you speak of? If, yes could you provide the steps you took to extract the data?

Best regards.

Jeff

[Bibhu_Bikash_Na]

Hello Jeff,

I guess you have embeded XML data to your form in the data connection.In order to work on thw form I need the XML file too. Could you please send the XML files?

Thanks.

Bibhu.

[Bibhu_Bikash_Na]

Hello Jeff,

What I found is : You are embeding the data as XML as data connection. So when the user fills the form and sends the form as XML and you again import the sent XML the fields show blank. There might be a conflict bewteen which XMl to embded. I am really sorry I do not know much about it , Anyone who knows can show you the way.

Thanks.

Bibhu.

[Bibhu_Bikash_Na]

Hello Jeff,

It worked when you submit as PDF. You can see those data in PDF format. But I cant understand why it's not working with XML as well ??

Thanks.

Bibhu.

[JBPTAC]

Hello again Bibhu,

I really appreciate your assistance on this matter. Were you able to extract the results from the PDF, if so you have achieved what I can not, could you show me the results and how you retrived the data? I am also puzzled as to why I cannot extract the XML, again I am new to Designer so I may be missing a step in formatting my XML file.

Many Thanks.

Jeff

[Bibhu_Bikash_Na]

Hello Jeff,

I am also not able to extract the data from the PDF.I was just checking whether we can shoe the data in PDF or not ; not to extract. As we are embedding the whole XML and try to extract the data only form the fields it again shows all the data again. I have asked the same question to another expert. You can refer that one . http://forums.adobe.com/thread/765809?tstart=0 . I am also trying and if in case you got the solutions kindly let me know.

Thanks.

Bibhu.

[JBPTAC]

Hi Bibhu,

I know there is a solution to extracting the data, there are several examples on Adobe TV, as well as the forums where data is extracted from a form, unfortunately I cannot complete the steps, and or apply the proper settings in Designer to accomplish the task. I really do appreciate your effort in assisting me with finding a solution.

Many Thanks.

Jeff

[Bibhu_Bikash_Na]

Hello Jeff,

Could yo please give me the link where you found those stuffs either on Adobe TV or in forums?/

Thanks.

Bibhu.