Reed,
Hello......
> What would be a good solution in CF? Interacting with Word in the
> background seems to be harder in a server based environment than when it
is
> on the user's client PC.
Working with Word may be easier... initially.
> What about Using Acrobat forms: generating an
> Acrobat FDF file from CF, and letting Acrobat do the merge?
We're doing this ... using Adobe Acrobat FDFToolkit and CFObject/wddx. So
far so good.
CF and PDF can do this. Acrobat will likely not be the tool to "merge" the
data. You'll need Adobe's FDFTookit or another "server" side tool that
manipulates fdf/pdf. I'd recommend Digital Applications "FDFMerge"
www.digapp.com. Its not the cheapest solution, but is considered by many to
be the best Server Side pdf forms tool available.
> One of the
> variables seems to be the fact that some of the content will vary from one
> type of deal to the next, but a good bit of it is the same.
To keep your sanity, and use PDF Forms for this.. you may need to
standardize your potential layouts as different forms, then
"concatenate(sp?)" or merge the fdf merged forms into one that is displayed
to the user.
> Also, there is
> the fact that the tables of hardware information that need to be generated
> will vary in size - can Acrobat Forms handle that?
Im not sure I understand what you mean? You can pump db data into your pdf
forms...pretty straight forward, however if you need to change the layout of
your pdf doc dynamically and on the fly - that is a different animal, and
will likey require some "raw" pdf creation tools/libraries. (www.pdflib.com
www.fastio.com) Not my cup o' tea - but many people doing it daily.
> One of the shortcomings of the current app is that it generates Word docs,
> which are modifiable. One of the ideas for the new app is to generate PDF
> files as output. Are there any background PDF generation tools? I looked
> in the developer's exchange, and saw some PDF tools, but nothing along
this
> line.
One of the cool things we liked about pdf, acrobat 4, is that the form and
individual "fields" can be set to "read only", and the whole pdf can be
"signed" programatically. Any alterations to the form doc after signature
shows a trail by date, by user - all contained within the document (pretty
cool). Also the protability and index/searchability of pdf's may make it
worth the extra efforts.
As far as server side pdf generation tools go.. heres a few places to start
your quest. (in no particular oder)
www.pdfzone.com www.planetpdf.com www.acrobuddies.com www.acroforms.com
www.digapp.com www.fastio.com
www.pdflib.com www.activepdf.com
And of course Adobe's developer sites
All the best,
Stephen M. Aylor
Aylor Insurance Agency, Inc.
"Specialized Insurance for IT - We Cover IT"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
949.581.2333 (v)
949.581.2814 (f)
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