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WolfTimJ
buzztouch Evangelist
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07/13/11 07:36 PM (14 years ago)

v1.4 Fillable PDF - Android

I have a need to include a PDF in an app that the user can use the fillable form feature then email it. I have tried including the file in the app and installing a PDF filler app on a Motorola Xoom but it doesn't work. I can see the PDF with the fillable field visible, but can't fill. Is there any way to do this within an app from Buzztouch?
 
David @ buzztouch
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07/14/11 02:24 AM (14 years ago)
Doubt it. This is not a limitation of buzztouch or your project, it's a limitation of all the various PDF 'reader' apps that ship with Android. It looks like there are several different third party apps that come on the devices that are used to read PDF data. In other words, it doesn't look like PDF is supported in Natively in devicese - lame. I don't have too much experience with the PDF standard (it's been a long time since I made a PDF programmatically) but can image a few work arounds. Complex for sure, but could be useful? Example: A standard PDF form with say three 'merge fields' the user needs to complete before emailing. Maybe something like this: a) Standard simple HTML form the collect the user input (three boxes in this example) b) The default PDF doc. on the backend server somewhere. This document is the original without the merged user-data. c) The HTML posts to a backend script that grabs the entries and does the actual merging then emailing of the PDF or a link to the PDF for both. It sends back a confirmation code or something. d) The mobile device would load super-fast because all it's doing is showing the form and a confirmation message after getting the 'success' message from the server. This is not as difficult as it may sound. Probabaly one .PHP script to post to (it would be the 'action' in the HTML form). Again, been awhile but an artilce like this is worth reading: http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.20/20.11/FillOnlinePDFFormsUsingHTML/index.html
 
WolfTimJ
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07/14/11 04:41 AM (14 years ago)
Thanks Dave!
 

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