Using SDK to Extract Form Data to XML

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

Dear All,

I am having same requirement for a new project in our company, and I am facing difficulty in proceeding forward.

I want to use OLE or Acrobat IAC from .NET, but I am new to this area, and the project is very urgent.

We will accept professional service as the User in Charge confirm to me that they can contract with 3rd party developers to support us in that regard.

Any one can help will be appreciated.

Following is a quick spec of the required .NET program :

1. Enumerate through all the PDF Files in a given folder (based on Adobe LiveCycle 7.1 Form),

2.For Each PDF File:

2.1. Open the PDF and Extract the XML Data from the form,

2.2. Convert the XML String to XML Document,

2.3. Extract the single fields and repeating group of fields and update the Database,

2.4. Generate Key Values.

2.5. Send email Notification to the sender of the form, to confirm receiving the form and start initial processing.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Tarek.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Tarek,

(I am not offering professional services, just trying to get more
needed information).

Is this a project to run on a server? It sounds like it. If so, what
library/server software/objects have you chosen/tested for the
project.

Aandi Inston

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

Thank you Aandi,

We are using:

1. Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7.1 to design the form,

2. Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions Server 7.2 to Reader Enable the form,

3. Adobe Reader to use the form, and deploy it by publishing the form as Email Attachment or as a Link on the Web Site,

4. On the form, there is a Submit Button to Submit the Form as XDP Package with Datasets and PDF embedded to the server as Email Attachment or to a URL,

5. ASP.NET to be used to receive the Submitted form to the URL and extract the XML Datasets (Form Field Values) and update the Database,

6. The same ASP.NET Page in 5 above, will extract the PDF Binary version from the XML and save it to a local folder with a unique name,

7. VB .NET to process the saved PDF Files on a Local Folder, using OLE/IAC to open the file and extract the XML same like in step 5 above.

I hope that you can help me.

Thank you in advance.

Tarek.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Ok, more questions.

>
>6. The same ASP.NET Page in 5 above, will extract the PDF Binary version from the XML and save it to a local folder with a unique name,

I am not sure what you mean by "PDF binary version".

>
>7. VB .NET to process the saved PDF Files on a Local Folder, using OLE/IAC to open the file and extract the XML same like in step 5 above.

Now, here is the key: what software have you chosen/tested/purchased
for this part of the task?

Aandi Inston

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

Aandi Inston, "Using SDK to Extract Form Data to XML" #13, 31 Aug 2008 9:01 am </webx?14@@.59b4be28/12>

7. VB .NET to process the saved PDF Files on a Local Folder, using OLE/IAC
to open the file and extract the XML same like in step 5 above. Now, here
is the key: what software have you chosen/tested/purchased
for this part of the task?





We are using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Adobe LiveCycle Desinger 7.1, and Acrobat 7.x.

Tarek.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

>We are using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Adobe LiveCycle Desinger 7.1, and Acrobat 7.x.

There is nothing suitable in this list to perform the task.

Visual Studio is not involved.
LiveCycle Designer is for form design, not runtime use.
Acrobat is not for use on a server, so you cannot use any part of the
Acrobat SDK.

You may find that the LiveCycle Forms server product will work at this
point. Since you have LiveCycle Reader Extensions Server 7.2, you may
already have a license for this.

I realise you are looking for someone to provide a solution, not just
technical comments, but I hope this will be useful information for you
in your planning.

Aandi Inston

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

Aandi Inston, "Using SDK to Extract Form Data to XML" #15, 2 Sep 2008 3:01 am </webx?14@@.59b4be28/14>

There is nothing suitable in this list to perform the task. Visual Studio
is not involved.
LiveCycle Designer is for form design, not runtime use.
Acrobat is not for use on a server, so you cannot use any part of the
Acrobat SDK





Well, I am not sure if you understood my requirement in my first post above. I am almost sure that using Acrobat OLE/IAC from .NET (VS2005) will do the job, if you have Acorbat installed on the machine where .NET Program is running.

You may find that the LiveCycle Forms server product will work at this
point. Since you have LiveCycle Reader Extensions Server 7.2, you may
already have a license for this.





This could be another solution, but requires technical skills I do not have, and requires some "not easy effort" to install, deploy and operate the the LiveCycle Forms Server. Just to install/deploy LiveCycle RES 7.2, it took me a very ling time to complete it, and I can show you the screen snapshots of the installation steps .... VERY COMPLICATED - unless I was not aware of an easier method !

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

Well, I am not sure if you understood my requirement in my first post
above. I am almost sure that using Acrobat OLE/IAC from .NET (VS2005)
will do the job, if you have Acorbat installed on the machine where .NET
Program is running.




You can use IAC to extract XML data from a form, but not on a server (as Aandi mentioned). This is a violation of the Acrobat license, which is why he suggested LC Forms server. You can develop a solution to do what you want, but it has to be initiated by a licensed user for each form, it cannot be an automated process kicked off by the webservice receiving a form.

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

You can use IAC to extract XML data from a form, but not on a server (as
Aandi mentioned). This is a violation of the Acrobat license, which is
why he suggested LC Forms server. You can develop a solution to do what
you want, but it has to be initiated by a licensed user for each form,
it cannot be an automated process kicked off by the webservice receiving
a form




Yes, I already know about this licensing requirement.

The application which will interact with the PDF Form is to be developed using VB.NET as a Windows Client Application, not a Web or Web Service Based Application.

But the question remains the same: How I can do that ?

Please help.

Regards ...

Tarek.

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

You can use the JSObject to make calls to Acrobat's JS engine from VB.NET so that you can call methods like Doc.exportXFAData which will export data to an XML file. You can also use things like Doc.exportXFDFStr to skip the external file step and return a string of XML directly into your VB.NET app.

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

You can use the JSObject to make calls to Acrobat's JS engine from VB.NET
so that you can call methods like Doc.exportXFAData which will export
data to an XML file. You can also use things like Doc.exportXFDFStr to
skip the external file step and return a string of XML directly into your
VB.NET app




Great ! We are getting there ...!

I am interested in the method which will retrieve the XML into a String Variable in the VB.NET Program.

I hope you could give me sample code, or guide me to web location where I can have complete details/documentation about using Acrobat IAC/OLE.

It seems it is not possible to get 3rd part support for this development work, and no one is coming back to me. So, I will have to spend extra effort to make it happen.

Tarek.

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

I hope you could give me sample code, or guide me to web location where
I can have complete details/documentation about using Acrobat IAC/OLE.




I really don't provide sample code when examples already exist. You can find full documentation and examples in the JavaScript for Acrobat API Reference, and in the SDK there are Visual Studio example projects that show how to use the JSObject with VB.NET.

It seems it is not possible to get 3rd part support for this development
work, and no one is coming back to me. So, I will have to spend extra
effort to make it happen.




Uh, not sure where you've been looking, but you can open a single-incident Developer Support case with Adobe for $195. They can also provide sample code if there are no examples that are currently available for the given project (however they will not provide production-ready code or assemble given samples into a single project that basically "does your work for you" - not suggesting you would do that, just letting you know up front).

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

>I hope you could give me sample code, or guide me to web location where I can have complete details/documentation about using Acrobat IAC/OLE.

This is all in the Acrobat SDK. Do you have the Acrobat SDK?

>
>It seems it is not possible to get 3rd part support for this development work

Where have you tried? This forum isn't a good place for recruitment.

Aandi Inston

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

Thank you PDL and Aandi,

Well, I was looking for 3rd party support, and you just told me that it is possible via Adobe. I hope you could kindly give me a link (or tell me how) for the following:

1. Download SDK for Adobe Acrobat 7.0.5 or later ?

2. Get single-incident Developer Support case with Adobe ?

Regards ...

Tarek.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

>Well, I was looking for 3rd party support, and you just told me that it is possible via Adobe.

I still don't understand, sorry. I would take "3rd party" to mean
someone else (not you and not Adobe). By definition, then, Adobe won't
be offering third party support, because they aren't a third party.

So, what do you mean? What are you looking for?

Aandi Inston

[Bernd Alheit]

You can look here:
<http://partners.adobe.com>

[PDL@adobeforums.com]

Download SDK for Adobe Acrobat 7.0.5 or later ?




<http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/>

Get single-incident Developer Support case with Adobe




The number from North America is 1-800-642-3623. Make sure you are very clear that you want a Developer Support incident for Acrobat SDK.

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

I still don't understand, sorry. I would take "3rd party" to mean someone
else (not you and not Adobe). By definition, then, Adobe won't
be offering third party support, because they aren't a third party.
So, what do you mean? What are you looking for?
Aandi Inston





I am sorry if I mis expressed the requirement. Any development support from any part, 2nd or 3rd party would be fine. So, 1st party in this case means us !.

And also, even if any one out there is interested to provide paid support, we will also consider that.

The problem is that I am managing 4 projects at the same time, and I do not have extra time to do research and experiments to find a solution, and the resources I am in charge of do not like to try new techniques, and they need a sample code or clear instruction for programming such requirement.

Tarek.

[Tarek_Adnan_Faham@adobeforums.com]

The number from North America is 1-800-642-3623. Make sure you are very
clear that you want a Developer Support incident for Acrobat SDK.




Thank you PDL.

Apologies for coming back ! Could you please help me to get contact details (email or phone no.) for calling them from overseas ? Just give me a URL to start with and I will continue from there.

Tarek.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Developer Support operates in three areas: Pacific, Europe and
Americas. The contact is different for each one.

Aandi Inston