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| Wiki Markup |
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| Hidden |
DO NOT EDIT THE CONTENT OF THIS PAGE DIRECTLY, UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CONTENT IS VITAL IN BEING ABLE TO EXTRACT CHANGES FROM THE PAGE AND MERGE THEM BACK INTO SERVOY SOURCE{hidden}
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The
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
can
...
be
...
used
...
to
...
publish
...
...
Forms
...
through
...
the
...
Application
...
Server.
...
User
...
can
...
open
...
the
...
...
Form,
...
fill
...
in
...
the
...
fields
...
and
...
submit
...
the
...
...
Form.
...
The
...
submitted
...
...
Form
...
is
...
sent
...
to
...
the
...
plugin
...
and
...
the
...
values
...
of
...
the
...
fields
...
are
...
extracted
...
from
...
the
...
...
Form
...
and
...
stored
...
in
...
the
...
database.
...
For
...
the
...
plugin
...
to
...
receive
...
the
...
filled
...
out
...
...
Form
...
and
...
to
...
extract
...
the
...
data,
...
the
...
following
...
is
...
required:
...
- The
...
- fields
...
- need
...
- to
...
- be
...
- uniquely
...
- named
...
- The
...
...
- Form
...
- required
...
- to
...
- have
...
- a
...
...
- button, which sends the form data back to the plugin.
The PDF Forms plugin is a 100% server side operating plugin and interacts directly with the database for retrieving the form and storing the filled in field values.
Basic Workflow
- Actual PDF Forms are uniquely stored as a record in the pdf_template table.
- For each time that an actual PDF Form needs to be filled out a pdf_action record is created
- Links to open the PDF Form for a specific action are provided to the people that need to fill out the form (for example through an application or through email)
- The user opens the PDF Form (in a browser), fills in the fields and submits the PDF Form
- The plugin receives the submitted form, reads the values from the fields and saves those as individual records with the field name and value in the pdf_form_values table, related to the pdf_action record.
- The user gets redirected to the redirect URL
- The pdf_action record is marked as closed
Creating PDF Forms
The PDF Forms plugin supports PDF Forms (both FDF and XFA) created using Adobe Acrobat.
| Note | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
The plugin supports XFA forms since Servoy 5.2.5 release. |
In order for the PDF Forms plugin to work with a specific PDF Form, it is required that the PDF Form has:
- Uniquely named fields
- A submit button
- A hidden field called 'servoy_pdf_submit_url'
...
- A
...
- hidden
...
- field
...
- called
...
- 'servoy_action_id'
...
Uniquely
...
named
...
fields
...
When
...
the
...
user
...
has
...
filled
...
out
...
a
...
form
...
and
...
submits
...
it,
...
the
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
retrieves
...
all
...
the
...
fields
...
and
...
their
...
values
...
and
...
stores
...
them
...
in
...
the
...
database.
...
For
...
each
...
field
...
name,
...
it
...
stores
...
only
...
one
...
value.
...
This
...
means
...
that
...
unless
...
each
...
field
...
is
...
uniquely
...
named,
...
values
...
will
...
get
...
lost.
...
Submit
...
button
...
The
...
...
form
...
needs
...
to
...
contain
...
a
...
submit
...
button
...
to
...
allow
...
the
...
user
...
to
...
post
...
back
...
the
...
filled
...
in
...
form
...
back
...
to
...
the
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
on
...
the
...
Application
...
Server.
...
Using
...
Adobe
...
Acrobat
...
or
...
Adobe
...
LiveCycle,
...
create
...
a
...
submit
...
button
...
on
...
the
...
form.
...
For
...
FDF
...
form
...
add
...
the
...
following
...
JavaScript
...
code
...
to
...
the
...
mouse-up
...
action
...
on
...
the
...
button:
...
| Code Block |
|---|
var ef = this.getField("servoy_pdf_submit_url");
this.submitForm(ef.value);{code}
|
For
...
XFA
...
form
...
add
...
the
...
following
...
JavaScript
...
code
...
to
...
the
...
preSubmit
...
action
...
on
...
the
...
button:
...
| Code Block |
|---|
this.resolveNode("#event").submit.target =
event.target.getField("Form[0].Page[0].servoy_pdf_submit_url[0]").value+"?action_id="+event.target.getField ("Form[0].Page[0].servoy_action_id[0]").value;{code}
|
For
...
XFA
...
form
...
the
...
form
...
must
...
be
...
submitted
...
as
...
XML
...
using
...
UTF-8
...
encoding.
...
Also
...
in
...
this
...
javascript
...
code
...
Form
...
and
...
Page
...
must
...
be
...
replaced
...
with
...
the
...
actual
...
names
...
present
...
in
...
the
...
...
document.
...
Automatic
...
submit
...
button
...
injection
...
The
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
contains
...
logic
...
to
...
automatically
...
insert
...
the
...
submit
...
button
...
into
...
the
...
...
Form.
...
The
...
automatic
...
insert
...
of
...
the
...
submit
...
button
...
is
...
only
...
supported
...
when
...
the
...
...
Form
...
is
...
opened
...
by
...
users
...
using
...
Adobe
...
Acrobat,
...
not
...
when
...
opened
...
through
...
Adobe
...
Reader.
...
Also,
...
it
...
is
...
not
...
supported
...
for
...
XFA
...
forms.
...
To
...
enable
...
automatic
...
insertion
...
of
...
the
...
submit
...
button,
...
the
...
'skip_placing_submit_button'
...
field
...
on
...
the
...
pdf_template
...
record
...
needs
...
to
...
be
...
set
...
to
...
one
...
('1').
...
When
...
set
...
to
...
zero
...
('0')
...
the
...
button
...
will
...
not
...
be
...
inserted
...
automatically.
...
Hidden
...
fields
...
The
...
...
Form
...
needs
...
to
...
contain
...
two
...
hidden
...
fields,
...
one
...
named
...
'servoy_pdf_submit_url'
...
and
...
one
...
named
...
'servoy_action_id'.
...
These
...
fields
...
will
...
be
...
automatically
...
populated
...
by
...
the
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
and
...
are
...
used
...
to
...
retrieve
...
the
...
filled
...
in
...
data
...
back.
...
For
...
XFA
...
forms,
...
these
...
hidden
...
fields
...
are
...
also
...
used
...
in
...
order
...
to
...
put
...
the
...
form
...
to
...
readonly.
...
This
...
is
...
needed
...
because
...
the
...
XFA
...
form
...
cannot
...
be
...
flattened
...
out-of-the-box,
...
just
...
as
...
the
...
FDF
...
form.
...
So,
...
this
...
javascript
...
must
...
be
...
added
...
in
...
initialize
...
event
...
of
...
the
...
form:
...
| Code Block |
|---|
if (xfa.resolveNode("Form.Page.servoy_pdf_submit_url").rawValue==null) {xfa.resolveNode ("Form.Page.submitButton").presence="invisible";Form.access = "nonInteractive";}
{code}
|
In
...
this
...
javascript
...
code
...
Form,
...
Page
...
and
...
submiButton
...
must
...
be
...
replaced
...
with
...
the
...
actual
...
names
...
present
...
in
...
the
...
...
document.
...
Also
...
this
...
code
...
only
...
works
...
for
...
...
version
...
9
...
and
...
later
...
when
...
access
...
property
...
was
...
introduced
...
for
...
form.
...
In
...
order
...
to
...
support
...
earlier
...
versions
...
all
...
fields
...
in
...
form
...
must
...
be
...
parsed
...
and
...
put
...
to
...
nonInteractive
...
(in
...
javascript
...
code).
...
Accessing
...
the
...
...
Forms
...
The
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
exposes
...
two
...
dynamic
...
url's
...
for
...
accessing
...
the
...
...
Forms:
...
- <serverUrl>/servoy-service/pdf_forms/pdf_template?template_id=
...
- {template_id}
...
Through
...
- this
...
- URL,
...
- the
...
...
- Forms
...
- can
...
- be
...
- viewed,
...
- but
...
- filling
...
- and
...
- submitting
...
- the
...
- form
...
- will
...
- not
...
- result
...
- in
...
- storing
...
- the
...
- data
...
- to
...
- the
...
- database
...
- <serverUrl>/servoy-service/pdf_forms/pdf_form/load.fdf?action_id=
...
- {action_id}
...
Through
...
- this
...
- URL,
...
- a
...
...
- Form
...
- linked
...
- to
...
- a
...
- specific
...
- pdf_action
...
- record
...
- can
...
- be
...
- opened.
...
- When
...
- submitted,
...
- the
...
- filled
...
- in
...
- form
...
- data
...
- will
...
- be
...
- stored
...
- in
...
- the
...
- database,
...
- as
...
- records
...
- in
...
- the
...
- pdf_form_values
...
- table,
...
- linked
...
- to
...
- the
...
- specific
...
- pdf_action.
...
| Note | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =
| }|||||
The pdf_template record contains one column that affects if the Form can be submitted or not. If the action_type column is set to VIEW (value=0) the Form will open in read-only mode. The fields will be read-only and the submit button will be disabled. When the action_type column is set to EDIT (value=1) the Form will open in edit-mode, allowing the fields to be edited and the Form to be submitted. {note} {note:Adobe Acrobat Reader}To view PDF Forms in the browser, Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 (or higher) - including the default web browser plugin - must be installed. Acrobat Reader 7 can be downloaded (at no charge) from Adobe: [ |
| Note | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
To view PDF Forms in the browser, Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 (or higher) - including the default web browser plugin - must be installed. Acrobat Reader 7 can be downloaded (at no charge) from Adobe: http://www.adobe.com ]{note} h4.Redirect url After submitting the PDF form, the browser will redirect to the |
Redirect url
After submitting the PDF form, the browser will redirect to the redirect_url,
...
if
...
specified.
...
If
...
no
...
redirect_url
...
is
...
specified
...
on
...
the
...
specific
...
action,
...
the
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
will
...
lookup
...
the
...
redirect_url
...
on
...
the
...
pdf_template
...
record
...
linked
...
to
...
the
...
pdf_action.
...
If
...
both
...
the
...
pdf_action
...
and
...
pdf_template
...
do
...
not
...
specify
...
a
...
redirect_url,
...
the
...
browser
...
will
...
be
...
redirected
...
to
...
a
...
default
...
page
...
that
...
displays
...
the
...
text
...
'Data
...
successfully
...
stored,close
...
this
...
window'
...
and
...
will
...
attempt
...
to
...
close
...
the
...
window.
...
Automatic
...
pdf_action
...
closing
...
When
...
the
...
user
...
submits
...
a
...
...
Form,
...
the
...
related
...
pdf_action
...
record
...
will
...
be
...
marked
...
as
...
closed.
...
When
...
the
...
user
...
would
...
try
...
to
...
re-open
...
a
...
...
Form
...
that
...
was
...
previously
...
submitted,
...
thus
...
the
...
pdf_action
...
record
...
is
...
marked
...
as
...
closed,
...
instead
...
a
...
page
...
will
...
be
...
shown
...
in
...
the
...
browser,
...
displaying
...
the
...
text
...
'Security
...
violation,
...
use
...
the
...
...
system
...
to
...
edit
...
pdfs'.
...
Re-using
...
data
...
When
...
the
...
...
Forms
...
plugin
...
opens
...
a
...
...
Form
...
linked
...
to
...
an
...
pdf_action,
...
it
...
will
...
fill
...
any
...
field
...
in
...
the
...
...
Form
...
with
...
data
...
that
...
is
...
already
...
stored
...
in
...
the
...
pdf_form_values
...
table,
...
related
...
to
...
the
...
pdf_action
...
record.
...
As
...
can
...
be
...
seen
...
in
...
the
...
ERD
...
below,
...
the
...
link
...
between
...
the
...
data
...
stored
...
in
...
the
...
pdf_form_values
...
table
...
and
...
the
...
pdf_action
...
table
...
is
...
not
...
done
...
based
...
on
...
the
...
primary
...
key
...
of
...
the
...
pdf_actions
...
table,
...
but
...
on
...
a
...
separate
...
form_id
...
column.
...
This
...
allows
...
for
...
the
...
following:
...
- Link
...
- multiple
...
- actions,
...
- possibly
...
- linked
...
- to
...
- different
...
- pdf_templates
...
- to
...
- the
...
- same
...
- set
...
- of
...
- data
...
- Provide
...
- default
...
- values
...
- for
...
- fields,
...
- by
...
- pre-populating
...
- the
...
- pdf_form_values
...
- table
...
Entity
...
Relation
...
Diagram
...
The
...
ERD
...
below
...
is
...
the
...
minimum
...
required
...
by
...
the
...
plugin
...
to
...
operate.
...
The
...
data
...
model
...
needs
...
to
...
be
...
present
...
in
...
one
...
of
...
the
...
Database
...
Servers.
...
By
...
default,
...
the
...
DataBase
...
Server
...
named
...
'pdf_forms'
...
will
...
be
...
used,
...
but
...
this
...
can
...
be
...
overwritten
...
using
...
the
...
'pdf_forms_plugin_servername'
...
setting
...
of
...
the
...
plugin,
...
available
...
on
...
the
...
Admin
...
page
...
under
...
...
...
...
.
...
| Gliffy Diagram | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
pdf_templates
The pdf_templates table stores the the actual PDF Form:
- template_id:
...
- the
...
- primary
...
- key
...
- for
...
- the
...
- table
...
- actual_pdf_form:
...
- a
...
- media
...
- field
...
- containing
...
- the
...
- actual
...
...
- Form
...
- filename:
...
- a
...
- descriptive
...
- name
...
- (excluding
...
- the
...
...
- extention),
...
- used
...
- in
...
- the
...
- URL's
...
- the
...
- plugin
...
- generates
...
- skip_placing_submit_button:
...
- flag
...
- to
...
- indicate
...
- if
...
- the
...
- plugin
...
- should
...
- automatically
...
- insert
...
- a
...
- 'submit'
...
- button
...
- into
...
- the
...
...
- Form
...
- (see
...
...
...
- below)
...
- redirect_url:
...
- the
...
- URL
...
- where
...
- the
...
- user
...
- is
...
- redirected
...
- to
...
- after
...
- submitting
...
- the
...
- form
...
pdf_actions
...
- action_id:
...
- the
...
- primary
...
- key
...
- for
...
- the
...
- table
...
- template_id:
...
- foreign
...
- key
...
- to
...
- the
...
- pdf_templates
...
- table
...
- form_id:
...
- identifier
...
- to
...
- link
...
- with
...
- the
...
- pdf_form_values
...
- table
...
- action_type:
...
- identifier
...
- indication
...
- if
...
- the
...
...
- form
...
- is
...
- editable
...
- or
...
- not.
...
- (VIEW=0,
...
- EDIT=1)
...
- closed:
...
- identifier
...
- indicating
...
- if
...
- the
...
- action
...
- is
...
- closed.
...
- Automatically
...
- set
...
- when
...
- the
...
- user
...
- submits
...
- the
...
- form.
...
- When
...
- set
...
- to
...
- closed,
...
- it
...
- overrides
...
- the
...
- action_type
...
- EDIT.
...
- (OPEN=0/null,CLOSED=1)
...
- redirect_url:
...
- the
...
- URL
...
- where
...
- the
...
- user
...
- is
...
- redirected
...
- to
...
- after
...
- submitting
...
- the
...
- form.
...
- If
...
- not
...
- specified,
...
- the
...
- plugin
...
- will
...
- lookup
...
- and
...
- use
...
- the
...
- redirect_url
...
- of
...
- the
...
- linked
...
- pdf_template
...
- record
...
Note
...
title
...
Additional
...
column
...
required
...
Before
...
Servoy
...
5.1,
...
the
...
plugin
...
also
...
requires
...
the
...
presence
...
of
...
a
...
'user_id'
...
column,
...
although
...
not
...
used
pdf_form_values
...
- fval_id:
...
- the
...
- primary
...
- key
...
- for
...
- the
...
- table
...
- form_id:
...
- foreign
...
- key
...
- to
...
- the
...
- pdf_forms
...
- table
...
- value_name:
...
- the
...
- name
...
- of
...
- the
...
- field
...
- that
...
- was
...
- filled
...
- field_value:
...
- the
...
- value
...
- of
...
- the
...
- field
...
- that
...
- was
...
- filled
...
...
Template
...
location
...
options
...
When
...
a
...
...
Form
...
is
...
shown
...
to
...
the
...
user
...
a
...
related
...
...
Form
...
template
...
is
...
automatically
...
retrieved.
...
This
...
...
Form
...
Template
...
is
...
by
...
default
...
loaded
...
from
...
the
...
"actual_pdf_form"
...
column
...
from
...
the
...
pdf_templates
...
table.
...
There
...
are
...
two
...
options
...
to
...
override
...
the
...
location
...
from
...
where
...
the
...
template
...
is
...
retrieved:
...
- Override
...
- template
...
- location
...
- for
...
- individual
...
...
- Forms
...
By
...
- appending
...
- an
...
- extra
...
- parameter
...
- named
...
- "overrideTemplateLocation"
...
- to
...
- the
...
- URL
...
- with
...
- as
...
- value
...
- the
...
- location
...
- of
...
- the
...
...
- Form
...
- Template,
...
- the
...
...
- Form
...
- Template
...
- will
...
- be
...
- loaded
...
- from
...
- the
...
- specified
...
- location.
...
Example:
...
- <serverUrl>/servoy-service/pdf_forms/pdf_form/load.fdf?action_id=
...
- {action_id}&overrideTemplateLocation=<serverUrl>/template.pdf
...
- Override
...
- template
...
- location
...
- for
...
- all
...
...
- Forms
...
The
...
...
- Form
...
- Template
...
- location
...
- can
...
- also
...
- be
...
- overridden
...
- on
...
- plugin
...
- level
...
- by
...
- setting
...
- the
...
- 'pdf_forms_plugin_template_location'
...
- property
...
- on
...
- the
...
- plugin.
...
- This
...
- will
...
- override
...
- the
...
...
- Form
...
- location
...
- for
...
- all
...
...
- Forms.
...
- As
...
- this
...
- setting
...
- affects
...
- all
...
...
- Forms,
...
- the
...
- value
...
- of
...
- the
...
- property
...
- should
...
- only
...
- specify
...
- the
...
- directory
...
- location.
...
- The
...
- name
...
- of
...
- the
...
- specific
...
...
- Template
...
- is
...
- be
...
- taken
...
- from
...
- the
...
- 'filename'
...
- column
...
- of
...
- the
...
- 'pdf_templates'
...
- table.
...
Example:
...
- if
...
- property
...
- is
...
- set
...
- to
...
- <serverUrl>
...
- the
...
- location
...
- will
...
- be:
...
- <serverUrl>/template.pdf
...
- where
...
- template.pdf
...
- is
...
- the
...
- template
...
- filename
...
The
...
overrideTemplateLocation
...
can
...
be
...
any
...
location
...
that
...
is
...
accessible
...
from
...
the
...
machine
...
where
...
the
...
Servoy
...
Web
...
Client
...
is
...
running,
...
for
...
example
...
../application_server/server/webapps/ROOT/servoy-webclient/..
...
The
...
order
...
of
...
precedence
...
for
...
...
Form
...
Template
...
location
...
is:
...
- if
...
- specified
...
- the
...
- 'overrideTemplateLocation'
...
- parameter
...
- in
...
- the
...
- url
...
- is
...
- used
...
- Otherwise
...
- if
...
- the
...
- 'pdf_forms_plugin_template_location'
...
- is
...
- set
...
- on
...
- the
...
- plugin
...
- that
...
- will
...
- be
...
- used
...
- else
...
- the
...
- default
...
- will
...
- be
...
- taken
...
- from
...
- the
...
- database
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Overview
Content Tools
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