Hi Sorry for the late reply, I was travelling for business.
> I did a quick test with a newly created form using Adobe Acrobat and > setting the checkbox also with Acrobat. There the value is not null when > the checkbox has been checked. > > > > I have attached now PDFs, where with my tool the value is null. > > > unfortunately the attachments didn't make it through the mailing list. > Could you upload them to a public location? > It took me a while, before I realized that google offers the technology I need: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Bzk_1dcyc5SmRpQUJPR3JGUkk/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Bzk_1dcyc5Tk1qcVo2Yk02dTA/view?usp=sharing Those are the files I tried to send to this mailing list earlier. > > > > > How could I deal with this? Because this is exactly what seems to fail > and > > > also cause this dreaded exception message when trying to fill out the > forms > > > with anything other than PDTextbox. > > > > Without looking at the form: > > > > a) test if getValue returns null if not take that value > > b) if it returns null test if the box has been checked - if yes take > that value. > > > > Which value? > > > > use the value retrieved from a) or b) to set the fields value in the pdf > template. > > > > I'm not sure which value you mean. > > > > What would be helpful is either a screenshot of the form fields entries > using the PDFDebugger [ > http://pdfbox.apache.org/1.8/commandline.html#pdfDebugger < > http://pdfbox.apache.org/1.8/commandline.html#pdfDebugger>] or the > printout of the fields getDictionary() method so there is some more > information about how the field definition looks lie. Best would be to have > the form of course. > > I haven't found the pdfDebugger tool yet; reckon I need to compile it myself. Nevertheless, when I parse through the structure myself, I do not get any dictionary entries: DEBUG: Opening ./Test.pdf No XFA data in stream DEBUG: Checkbox [01.20.Entry1]: On=1 Off=Off Checked=true Value=1 DEBUG: Checkbox [01.20.Entry2]: On=1 Off=Off Checked=true Value=1 DEBUG: Checkbox [01.20.Entry3]: On=1 Off=Off Checked=false Value=_n/a_ DEBUG: Checkbox [01.20.Entry4]: On=2 Off=Off Checked=false Value=_n/a_ DEBUG: TextButton [01.011.Name]: Value=sddsds DEBUG: TextButton [01.011.Prename]: Value=sdsdsd DEBUG: Checkbox [01.011.Language]: On=0 Off=Off Checked=false Value=_n/a_ DEBUG: Checkbox [01.011.Boxes]: On=Mrs Off=Off Checked=true Value=_n/a_ DEBUG: Opening ./TestTemplate.pdf No XFA data in stream Setting CheckBox field: 01.011.Boxes to value: null Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [01.011.Boxes] ---------- COSDictionary{} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting CheckBox field: 01.20.Entry4 to value: null Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [01.20.Entry4] ---------- COSDictionary{} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting CheckBox field: 01.20.Entry3 to value: null Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [01.20.Entry3] ---------- COSDictionary{} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting CheckBox field: 01.20.Entry2 to value: null Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [01.20.Entry2] ---------- COSDictionary{} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting CheckBox field: 01.011.Language to value: null Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [01.011.Language] ---------- COSDictionary{} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting CheckBox field: 01.20.Entry1 to value: null Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [01.20.Entry1] ---------- COSDictionary{} The relevant DEBUG code: private void analyseAndPrintFields(PDField field) throws IOException { String fqName = field.getFullyQualifiedName(); String value = (field.getValue() != null ? field.getValue() : "_n/a_"); if (field instanceof PDCheckbox) { PDCheckbox checkbox = (PDCheckbox) field; logerr("DEBUG: Checkbox [" + fqName + "]: On=" + checkbox.getOnValue() + " Off=" + checkbox.getOffValue() + " Checked=" + (checkbox.isChecked() ? "true" : "false") + " Value=" + value); //TODO: Check if widgets handling is necessary: checkbox.getWidget(); } else if (field instanceof PDRadioCollection) { PDRadioCollection collection = (PDRadioCollection) field; logerr("DEBUG: RadioButtons [" + fqName + "]: " + "CollectionValue=" + collection.getValue() + " Value=" + value); } else if (field instanceof PDPushButton) { PDPushButton button = (PDPushButton) field; logerr("DEBUG: Pushbuttons [" + fqName + "]: " + "Export/Readonly/Required=" + button.isNoExport() + "/" + button.isReadonly() + "/" + button.isRequired() + " Value=" + value ); } else if (field instanceof PDTextbox) { logerr("DEBUG: TextButton [" + fqName + "]: " + "Value=" + value); } else { logerr("DEBUG: Unhandled [" + fqName + "]: " + "Type=" + field.getClass().toString()); } } And the dumping code: private void setFieldDC(PDDocument pdfDocument, String keyEntry, PDField oldField) throws Exception { PDDocumentCatalog docCatalog = pdfDocument.getDocumentCatalog(); PDAcroForm pdAcroForm = docCatalog.getAcroForm(); //TODO: Check if this makes sense: pdAcroForm.setCacheFields(true); PDField field = pdAcroForm.getField(keyEntry); if (field == null) { logerr("No field found with name: " + keyEntry); return; } String fieldValue; if (oldField instanceof PDTextbox) { fieldValue = oldField.getValue(); if (fieldValue != null) { logmsg("Setting field: " + keyEntry + " to value: " + fieldValue); field.setValue(fieldValue); if (setFieldFlags) { field.setFieldFlags(oldField.getFieldFlags()); } } } else if (oldField instanceof PDCheckbox) { fieldValue = oldField.getValue(); logmsg("Setting CheckBox field: " + keyEntry + " to value: " + fieldValue); if (fieldValue != null) { logmsg("Setting field: " + keyEntry + " to value: " + fieldValue); field.setValue(fieldValue); if (setFieldFlags) { field.setFieldFlags(oldField.getFieldFlags()); } } else { logerr("Dumping Checkbox field dictionary [" + keyEntry + "] ----------"); logerr(oldField.getDictionary().toString()); logerr("----------------------------------------------------------------------------"); } /* PDCheckbox oldCheckBox = (PDCheckbox) oldField; PDCheckbox newCheckBox = (PDCheckbox) field; if (oldCheckBox == null) { logerr("oldCheckBox is NULL"); } else if (newCheckBox == null) { logerr("newCheckBox is NULL"); } if (oldCheckBox.isChecked()) { logerr("DEBUG: >>>>> PDCheckBox [" + keyEntry + "] wasChecked = YES"); newCheckBox.check(); } else { logerr("DEBUG: >>>>> PDCheckBox [" + keyEntry + "] wasChecked = NO"); newCheckBox.unCheck(); }*/ } else if (oldField instanceof PDChoiceField) { fieldValue = oldField.getValue(); if (fieldValue != null) { field.setValue(fieldValue); if (setFieldFlags) { field.setFieldFlags(oldField.getFieldFlags()); } } else { logerr("Dumping PDChoiceField field dictionary [" + keyEntry + "] ----------"); logerr(oldField.getDictionary().toString()); logerr("----------------------------------------------------------------------------"); } } else if (oldField instanceof PDRadioCollection) { fieldValue = oldField.getValue(); if (fieldValue != null) { field.setValue(fieldValue); if (setFieldFlags) { field.setFieldFlags(oldField.getFieldFlags()); } } else { logerr("Dumping PDRadioCollection field dictionary [" + keyEntry + "] ----------"); logerr(oldField.getDictionary().toString()); logerr("----------------------------------------------------------------------------"); } } else if (oldField instanceof PDPushButton) { fieldValue = oldField.getValue(); if (fieldValue != null) { field.setValue(fieldValue); if (setFieldFlags) { field.setFieldFlags(oldField.getFieldFlags()); } } else { logerr("Dumping PDPushButton field dictionary [" + keyEntry + "] ----------"); logerr(oldField.getDictionary().toString()); logerr("----------------------------------------------------------------------------"); } } else { logerr("Fields of type [" + oldField.getClass().toString() + "] are unsupported"); } } This is highly confusing. Why can Acrobat deal with those checkboxes when their value is null and why can't PDFBox set Checkbox values? How can I simply clone all static PDF form entries of a PDF into a new PDF? Is PDF really that complex that such a simple thing is not possible? Right now, only text form entries are copied, the rest shows null for getValue(). Cheers Roberto
