editing PDF with form fields

[Mike De Petris]

I am using itextsharp to fill in and flatten some fields from data
filled in a web form field and all works quite well.

The question now is how to manage the pdf template that has the fields
to be filled, changing it in acrobat is slow and difficult as there
are no word processing tools. I tryed Foxit PDF Editor but cannot find
a way to name the form fields. Is there a way to mantain a source
document, for example in Word and automatically get the needed pdf
without having to go to acrobat each time to name each field again?

 

[chicks]

I am using itextsharp to fill in and flatten some fields from data
filled in a web form field and all works quite well.

The question now is how to manage the pdf template that has the fields
to be filled, changing it in acrobat is slow and difficult as there
are no word processing tools. I tryed Foxit PDF Editor but cannot find
a way to name the form fields. Is there a way to mantain a source
document, for example in Word and automatically get the needed pdf
without having to go to acrobat each time to name each field again?

NitroPDF is a good option.

Scribus is free, and I understand quite good.

I generally use FormMax for PDF templates, as it's very fast and easy,
and I've had it installed for free. Not specifically for PDF, but can
export to PDF, including form fields: http://www.acrosoftware.com/products/formmax/default.asp

 

[chicks]

Oops, meant to say "I've had it installed for years"...

 

[John V-Tracker]

Mike,

PDF-XChange Standard or PRO versions allow you to create PDF forms from
Office Web Forms fields in a Word document.

http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/

You can download an evaluation version form here :
http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/

So if you create the Word form first - then convert to PDF using the Addin
option to convert form fields - you can maintain the form in Word and just
create a new modified version as and when required from your original Word
document.

However there is no way to edit existing forms at this time.

With regards our PDF Viewer - Forms support is due in about 7-10 days
(including JavaScript) and this week build 114 adds full text search to the
existing feature set.

HTH

--
Best Regards

John Verbeeten
Tracker Software Products
PDF-XChange & SDK, PDF-XChange Viewer;
PDF-Tools & SDK, Image-XChange SDK,
TIFF-XChange & SDK, Raster-XChange.
Email : (e-mail address removed)
Support: http://www.docu-track.com/forum/index.php
Web site : http://www.docu-track.com

 

[Mike De Petris]

You can download an evaluation version form here :http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/

I now have a better picture, after trying out Foxit editor and reader.

Our specific problem is a bit hard to manage, as we are filling the
pdf fields that Foxit PDF Reader calls "annotation". We fill them with
text by code using iTextSharp library, and then "flatten" (and
encrypt) the pdf document before sending to the user.

This means there is no easy way to edit both the pdf text (and images)
together with the empty "annotation" fields. I guess we sould instead
use a 3rd party product to manage the document in word and export it
to pdf (with empty annotations) after editing, but I am still looking
for a solution, as nothing seems to let me edit the pdf directly with
a bit of basic word-processing features.

Actually we have to edit the word document, export to PDF and then
recreate all annotations again in acrobat writer, that is at least
unpractical.

Thank you for your precious help.