Can PDF data be posted to a URL using only Adobe Reader on the client side WITHOUT LiveCycle?

Question

I need to submit data entered into an interactive PDF to a web server so it can be stored in a database. We have explored LiveCycle but it is prohibitively expensive and all the other solutions we have found require the client to have Acrobat installed. Is it possible to post PDF form data to a URL using just Reader on the client side without purchasing an expensive Adobe product? I have read some tantalizing things about posting FDF data to a URL but I am unclear on whether Acrobat is required for this functionality.

Answer 1

PDFs are generally not good for this. I know that recent versions of acrobat or whatever let you make fill-in forms, but this is non-standard. People on Mac OS X can open PDFs with the Preview.app, but it doesn't support forms. Likewise, I use Xpdf which doesn't support forms. So don't do this. You should use PDFs when you want people to print something out and mail it in.



Use HTML for the web; use PDF for snailmail.

Answer 2

You're making this very complicated. Why not just have someone design a form on a web page that collects the same information and stores it in the same database? This would be infinitely easier and cheaper than having people fill out a PDF, which then has to be read, parsed and stored in the database. The client only needs a web browser to fill out the form, and a couple of well-written scripts (in a server-side language like PHP) can easlily verify the data ans store it. You can even write scripts to retrieve and display or print reports about the data...all of this without getting Adobe involved in any way.

Answer 3

Adobe Reader can no longer convert documents to pdf. Adobe delivers a provider on their internet site, so as which you deliver them the document, they convert it to pdf, after which you get carry of the pdf. you additionally can get a unfastened pdf software, jointly with cutepdf.