How to view XML data with the same form that generated it?

[lmwalker]

I'm an inexperienced "developer", so bare with me please.  I just created an interactive form that my users are going to fill out and give back to me.  I really like the email button that let's them just click a button to send it - because it's so seemless.  However, all I get back is XML data that I don't know what to do with.  Is there some way that I can just open the form that I send my users and have the XML data automatically populate it? If not, suggestions?  I am starting a company - so it's just me with no other resources (or fancy SQL DBs to pull this stuff in, etc).

[Niall_O_Donovan · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You could set up a button in the form with the following Javascript on the click event:

xfa.host.importData();

This will open a window, which will allow you to browse to where you have saved the returning XML file.Note this button will not work in forms extended through Acrobat.

Depending on which version of Acrobat you are using (the menus change slightly) you can go to the Forms menu and select Manage Form Data / Import Data.

Third option; you could also distribute the forms through Acrobat, which will set up a response file, which will import the responses for you.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[lmwalker]

Niall - your recommendation: "go to the Forms menu and select Manage Form Data / Import Data" worked perfectly.  I thought I had tried every option like that, but apparently I missed this one.  Thanks!  One last question - is this just as efficient as the 3rd option you mentioned (it involved distributing forms with Acrobat) if I'm only dealing with 10 or so incoming responses per week?

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

We were working through this a few days ago and there may be some pointers in the screen shots for you (http://forums.adobe.com/thread/427434?tstart=30).

With a low response rate it is probably a personal preference.

Manually importing the XML is not a hardship. On the other hand, setting up Acrobat to distribute the forms, streamlines the process by placing each response in the "yourFileName_responses.pdf" file.

I suggest that you give it a try first and see which approach suits your needs best.

Good luck,

Niall

[lmwalker]

Thanks again for the helpful and quick responses!