How to create savable PDF's with Coldfusion 9 - pdf-generation

I am creating a PDF file with in Coldfusion 9 by merging several PDF files together into one and then offering the resulting file as a download to the user. I need to be able to make the resulting file into a Savable, Fillable PDF. Meaning that the user can enter info into the PDF file an email it back.
I know how to do this in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9: Advanced -> Extend Features in Adobe Reader...
I also know that the user will not likely have Adobe Acrobat.
I need to be able to perform the "Extend Features in Adobe Reader..." option in Coldfusion 9. Anyone know how to do that?

That is not possible, outside of a Very Expensive server app from Adobe. The extended features are an Acrobat thing not a PDF thing. Acrobat signs the PDF with Adobe's secret key and reader sees this and flips on all the appropriate features.
If you want it, you must do it manually, or pay Adobe a big pile of cash.
Rather than submitting by email, why not just use the regular PDF submit mechanism?
EDIT: doc.submitForm() can submit as:
FDF (default)
XFDF
HTML
XDP
arbitrary XML (the contents of another parameter)
XFD
PDF (the whole file, save rights required)

Related

programmatical GForge upload and download

INTRODUCTION
I am part of a project team which uses an old GForge system (community edition v5.6.1) to host our source code and provide some further services. One builtin service is the upload and download feature. Thus users can easily get the generated application version. In order to provide this downloadable version, we as developers have to use a browser (e.g. IE or FF) to navigate into the appropriate GForge page, then tick some buttons, fill some text boxes and finally hit an "upload" button which opens a file dialog to specify any file to be uploaded into the GForge download area. For a download, the procedure is similar. Additionally, from time to time there comes a separate WEB page to request a session login.
Now, as we as developers are in a "hot phase" and need to provide downloadable versions with high frequency, the procedure described above is much too error-prone concerning essential parts of the release, and too slow. Besides that, there is always a real person necessary in front of the screen to click around.
QUESTION
How can we manage to programmatically upload and download generated software versions into and out of GForge's download area while overcoming the password page on the first hand (of course using a valid user account)?
WHAT WE'VE TRIED SO FAR
Using a Python script. Python provides very helpful modules like "urllib", "urllib2" and "requests", with which any HTTP access (even the ones with session password protection) should be managable. After many hours of trying, the GForge system only returns the password request page. Not any of the interesting files. Even far away from uploading anything.
Using an AutoIt script. AutoIt can automate mouse movements and keyboard presses as well as direct access of visible elements on the screen. It provides a "Window Info" application to identify any window element. But e.g. buttons and text fields within WEB pages (HTML) are not recognized. So we don't know how to correctly identify GForge's password text field in order to move the mouse there, and type in the necessary text. And from there go on imitating the person sitting in front of the screen.
Does anybody have some experience regarding the solution of our problem?
I'd upgrade your system to v6.4.2 (current GForge version). From there you will have access to the SOAP interface which will make all this possible. When GForgeNEXT is released, https://next.gforge.com, the SOAP interface will be replace by a REST-ful API making this integration even easier.
The upgrade to v6.4.2 from 5.6.x will be a bit painful but our team would be happy to help, just create an account on gforge.com and then open a free support ticket here:
https://gforge.com/gf/project/gforge5/tracker/?action=TrackerItemBrowse&tracker_id=10345
Disclaimer: My company manages GForge so the advice given above I'd give to any paying client. For further clarity, files in GForge are stored in the file system. The SOAP interface allows you to reach into the database for any ticket or document grab the appropriate document and even replace it. Programatically, it is the cleanest answer.

Generate custom Finder thumbnails for some file types

I'd like to be able to generate my own thumbnails for some image files with custom extensions (say, a .canon file that is really a TIFF), so that Finder would use them.
I don't want to change the file contents (nor am I interested in the embedded tiff thumbnail).
Creating the thumbnail from the file's contents would be easy, the tricky part is integration. Does anyone know if it's possible?
The custom extensions won't be associated to any/other app.
I've done a lot of iOS development but know very little about OS X components.
If it's not possible to use Finder at all, is it at least possible to store the thumbnails in resource forks and have them used by, say, a custom filesystem browser?
File thumbnails, as well as full-size previews (which are displayed when you tap the space bar), can be generated dynamically by Quick Look plugins for any file type that they're registered for. The thumbnails do not need to be stored in the file, although you can certainly use pregenerated thumbnails if they're already in there.
For more information on Quick Look, please refer to Apple's Quick Look Programming Guide.

PDF Form - Allow Reader to insert Jpegs

I am working on an Adobe Form for my customers to allow them to place photos into a PDF Form.
I am currently using
event.target.buttonImportIcon();
Which is allowing me to place an image if I have full Acrobat but when I go to a computer with Reader Only (version 11) it will only let me select PDFs to place.
I need the browse option to be able to select Jpeg from the drop down menu.
Please help.
That does not appear to be possible in Reader, only in Acrobat. You can read more (and a few possible work-arounds) here:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1072747?start=0&tstart=0

Images are not uploading in forms created by adobe livecycle design that are opened in adobe reader 11.0.02

Forms created in adobe livecycle designer are not supported in adobe reader 11.0.02 and 10.1.4
The form has an image field that allows users to upload images and save them in the form. The images are not saving in adobe 11 and adobe 10.
I have tried saving the form in adobe reader 9.5.0 and there is no issues with the images.
I have also tried setting the form to be compatible with versions 10 and above in the form properties in adobe livecycle designer. However, this did not solve the problem.
I would appreciate some assistance with this issue if anyone has experienced the same problem. Thanks.
There doesn't seem to be anything on Adobe's known issues for either reader or Livecycle regarding this but if you can share the file I'd be happy to have a look and see if there's anything I can do.
I have had issues in the past with images not displaying and it's worth checking the binding properties are set to Normal rather than None in the object properties because this was previously an issue I encountered.
I had the same issue. For me I had named all of the field names imagefield1. After changing them to a unique name like imagefield1 and imagefield2 the image would save. I think that this is due to the data being binded to the imagefield name.
Regarding the Image Field in Adobe Live Cycle: The image is linked by default. You need to embed the image if you want it to save with the form. Simply check the box next to Embed Image.

What is the easiest way to customize PDF document with a serial number

I have several PDF documents. Users of my Windows application want to print these PDF files. An additional requirement is to add auto incremented serial number to each printed PDF. The serial number is used for accounting purposes, not for security reasons as someone asked here.
What is the easiest way to implement above functionally?
I know that I can buy commercial license of iText and edit PDF files. However I would like to know if there is a simpler solution. E.g. Add a form field to PDF document, distribute it to my users, and then use some Acrobat Reader command line option to fill in the form field with serial number generated by my application.
PDFTK (The PDF Toolkit) is a command-line app that allows you to edit PDFs with ease. For example, you could use the update_info command to change the meta-data, or apply a background (which isn't all that easy, as it requires another PDF to get the background from)...
Another option is to use the FREE Quick PDF Library Lite.
QP.LoadFromFile(Filename);
QP.SetOrigin(1); // set origin coordinate system to top right corner
QP.DrawText(10,10, mySerialNumber);
QP.SaveToFile(newFilename);
You can find more information at http://www.quickpdflibrary.com/free/lite.php
"Quick PDF Library Lite is available as an ActiveX component and works with C, C++, C#, Delphi, PHP, Visual Basic, VB.NET, ASP, PowerBASIC, Pascal or any other language that supports ActiveX."
Disclaimer : I do consulting work for the QuickPDF products.

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