tools to merge FDF and PDF

Gary

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Apr 1, 2003, 2:56:50 AM4/1/03

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I created a PDF form with field definitions. If I use FDF toolkit to put
values into those fields, I'll get a FDF file. The original PDF form is
there intact. Is there a way to combine the FDF file and the original PDF
form into one single PDF file and strip the field infomation such that the
file will not be as big as the original pdf template? As far as I know,
Acrobat Approval and third party component like FDFMerge can accomplish
that. But they are a bit expensive. Any other alternatives?

Thanks in advance,
Gary Wu

Aandi Inston

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Apr 1, 2003, 4:13:32 AM4/1/03

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"Gary" <cha_...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Acrobat Approval is $39. What is your budget for this?
----------------------------------------
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Paulo Soares

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Apr 1, 2003, 4:46:41 AM4/1/03

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www.lowagie.com/iText can merge and flatten. It's free.

Best Regards,
Paulo Soares

William Alexander Segraves

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Apr 1, 2003, 10:50:37 AM4/1/03

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"Gary" <cha_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6Dbia.287388$L1.81773@sccrnsc02...

> I created a PDF form with field definitions. If I use FDF toolkit to put
> values into those fields, I'll get a FDF file.

First, you do not need to use FDF toolkit to generate an FDF file.

> The original PDF form is
> there intact. Is there a way to combine the FDF file and the original PDF
> form into one single PDF file and strip the field infomation such that the
> file will not be as big as the original pdf template?

Yes. Import the form data into the PDF. Print to a Postscript file, saving
same in a folder that is "watched" by Distiller. The PDF produced by
Distiller will be absent the form fields from the PDF that was used to
generate the input to Distiller.

BTW, you haven't stated what you're really trying to do. You must have the
full distribution of Acrobat to create a fillable PDF; so I've given you a
way to do what you want with the full distribution of Acrobat.

Cheers.

Bill Segraves

Gary Wu

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Apr 1, 2003, 3:02:19 PM4/1/03

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Many thanks for the info. I spent a few hours trying to find the
function in iText that can merge and flatten FDF but failed. Does
anyone have experience using iText and know where the FDF related
functions are?

To clarify my previous message, I said that Acrobat Approval is a bit
expansive is in the sense of royalty.

Thanks,
Gary Wu

Paulo Soares <var...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<3e895fd4...@news.telepac.pt>...

Gary Wu

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Apr 1, 2003, 3:32:44 PM4/1/03

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"William Alexander Segraves" <wseg...@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:<b6cco5$4jd$1...@slb3.atl.mindspring.net>...

Thanks Bill. What I'm looking for is a royalty-free solution. Acrobat
can definitely do the job but like Approval and FDFMerge, it's royalty
based.

I found that there are classes called FdfReader and FdfWriter in
iText. Does anyone know how I should use them to flatten a FDF file?

Many thanks,
Gary Wu

William Alexander Segraves

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Apr 1, 2003, 3:57:36 PM4/1/03

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"Gary Wu" <cha_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:29f622d5.03040...@posting.google.com...
<snip>

> Thanks Bill. What I'm looking for is a royalty-free solution. Acrobat
> can definitely do the job but like Approval and FDFMerge, it's royalty
> based.

<snip>

O.K. From your response, I infer you're looking for a solution you can
deploy for use by others, without requiring the use of anything Acrobat
except perhaps Reader.

There *are* ways to generate a PDF file that do not require the use of
Acrobat, e.g., see www.fpdf.org.

Bill Segraves

Paulo Soares

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Apr 2, 2003, 5:27:13 AM4/2/03

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Check the examples at www.geocities.com/itextpdf.

Best Regards,
Paulo Soares