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Explanation of Simple Method to Populate a PDF File with ColdFusion. Key words: Macromedia, Allaire, markup language, database, query, SQL, output, code, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions
Simple Method to Populate a PDF File with ColdFusion
by Ron Kurtus (5 January 2003)
You can add simple Adobe Acrobat code to a Macromedia ColdFusion page that will populate a PDF file with values sent from submitting a form.
Populating a PDF File from ColdFusion explains various applications and provides the basic steps to acheive this task.
This lesson will answer those questions.
Example
Enter information below, click Submit, and see the resulting PDF file. Backspace to return to this page.
Coding
It is assumed that you have created a PDF file in Acrobat and used the Form Tool to create the text fields, which are date, fname and lname in our example.
Input
The CFML code for your input is:
<FORM ACTION="output.cfm" METHOD="POST" ENABLECAB="YES">
<P><B>First Name</B>
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="fname"></P>
<P><B>Last Name</B>
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="lname"></P>
<P><INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Submit"></P>
</FORM>
Output
The output code is:
<CFOUTPUT><CFSET date="#DateFormat(now())#"></CFOUTPUT>
<CFSETTING ENABLECFOUTPUTONLY="YES" SHOWDEBUGOUTPUT="NO">
<CFCONTENT TYPE="APPLICATION/vnd.fdf">
<CFOUTPUT>%FDF-1.2
1 0 obj <<
/FDF <<
/Fields
[
<<
/T(date)
/V(#date#)
>>
<<
/T(fname)
/V(#form.fname#)
>>
<<
/T(lname)
/V(#form.lname#)
>>
]
/F(http://www.yoursite.com/pdf/file_name.pdf)
>>
>>
endobj
trailer
<</Root 1 0 R>>
%%EOF
</CFOUTPUT>
Notes
You could also use <CFIF IsDefined("form.submit")> to include the input and output in one page.
Also, some people may get a warning that the file_name.fdf file may not be safe, depending on their security settings. You need to provide an assurance in case this happens.
Summary
You can convert and send a ColdFusion form as a PDF file using activePDF Toolkit. You simply make a PDF form, create the ColdFusion form, install the activePDF server, and create a ColdFusion page to populate the PDF.
Spread your knowledge
Resources and references
The following resources provide information on this subject.
Websites
Books
Resources and references
Adobe Acrobat - Area in Adobe site, explaining their Acrobat product
activePDF - Company that sells the activePDF Toolkit needed to convert CF to PDF format
What do you think?
Do you have any questions, comments, or opinions on this subject? If so, send an email with your feedback. I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
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Students and researchers
The Web address of this page is:
www.school-for-champions.com/coldfusion/cftopdf.htm
Please include it as a link on your website or as a reference in your report, document, or thesis.
Where are you now?
Converting a ColdFusion Form to a PDF File