Re: Filling out PDF forms with data from DBI?

Merlyn,

I really like PDF::API2, having discovered it in "Perl Graphics Programming" - on *nix it has been really great! I have two big webapps using it for generating sell sheets for the travel industry. But I have had problems with it on Win32 the last few days.

I have also used PDF::Reuse(and given the troubles with PDF::API2 on Win32 am using it right now!), it is somewhat more obtuse, but there is a pretty comprehensive tutorial and whilst I haven't used it on *nix it has been very stable on Win32.

jdtoronto

Comment on Re: Filling out PDF forms with data from DBI?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Filling out PDF forms with data from DBI? by Anonymous Monk on Jun 21, 2006 at 23:26 UTC
PDF::API2 and PDF::Reuse are both great for generating pure pdf documents. Importing existing Javascript-enhanced forms and filling them out, that's another story. PDF::Reuse has the ability to fill in forms, provided that the original PDF is not "optimized" or "linearized". The module documentation does describe a procedure for "concatenating the streams" of these documents, but it seems to be version-dependent. CAM::PDF can read optimised/linearized documents but can only write single-streamed documents, so formatting might be tricky. Both modules support PDF 1.4...more or less. CAM::PDF can change document permissions to some extent. Text::PDF can produce forms but isn't great at processing them, and isn't well documented. PDF::API2 took out form-fill back in 2003.	[reply]
Re: Filling out PDF forms with data from DBI? by Anonymous Monk on Jun 21, 2006 at 21:20 UTC
I am a newcomer to Perl, but have much experience with postscript/PDF. I would imagine that the PDF::xx are for reading and generating the PDF file itself, not the trivial forms fill ins. Adobe has been working on the online forms problem for as long as there has been a web. (they went as far as to purchase a company about 7 years ago that did nothing but that) Adobe has an array of commercial solutions (trying to stabilize in the face of M$ft and open standards). although I am an implementor at heart, I little bit of money might go a long way to solve the problem well.	[reply]