RE: XForms Help....

Hi Manjulal,

> We have a requirement for processing client PDF forms like
> filling up data on line through PDF documents. Our client 
> insists on a 100 % look and feel of the document formats
> since he need to print them after filling then up on line.
> 
>      If I use XForms 1.0 technology, is it possible for me
> to get the same look and feel while designing the GUI for
> the user ?I hope you can help me on this.

It's pretty tricky to get the exact look and feel of a paper form, because
most XForms processors use CSS to get their layout. Of course it's not
impossible, but you do end up with an enormous amount of styling. However,
it's not clear from your email which is your bigger priority -- making the
form look exactly like the paper version, or being able to print out the
results.

If it's the printing that is most important, then why not collect the data
using XForms and then render it later as PDF? The advantage of this approach
is that you are collecting XML and then providing different views on it -- a
far more flexible approach than collecting the data using Acrobat.

And not only is this a better approach, but it is particularly easy to
render your output as PDF. If you have formsPlayer installed then you can
see a demo that uses this technique:

  <http://s100.x-port.net/internal/apps/invoice/>

The demo has been gathering dust for over a year so has a few rough edges --
but it does allow you to enter invoices via XForms. Each invoice is then
given its own URL at which it can be viewed as a PDF file.

Click on "(Re)load List of Invoices", and then click on the URL of one of
the invoices and you'll see the generated PDF file for that invoice. Also,
you can change the file extension to ".html" to see an HTML version.

If you don't have formsPlayer installed, you can still see the PDF output --
a sample invoice is here:

  <http://s100.x-port.net:8080/formsPlayer/invoices/inv1.pdf>

Regards,

Mark


Mark Birbeck
CEO
x-port.net Ltd.

e: Mark.Birbeck@x-port.net
t: +44 (0) 20 7689 9232
w: http://www.formsPlayer.com/

Download our XForms processor from
http://www.formsPlayer.com/

Received on Wednesday, 5 January 2005 11:04:57 UTC