[kwlug-disc] (Windows) savable pdf forms?

[Joe Wennechuk]

I saw this one http://www.surveymonkey.com/ it is an online thing, but it seems like what you need.

Joseph Wennechuk
________________



 
> Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 15:36:30 -0400
> From: unsolicited at swiz.ca
> To: kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
> Subject: [kwlug-disc] (Windows) savable pdf forms?
> 
> I will be collecting a bunch of information (name, phone number, 
> e-mail address).
> 
> I understand I can create an openoffice document with fields, export 
> as pdf, and create a pdf form.
> 
> As far as I know, people could then open up the form (in Acrobat 
> Reader), fill it out, and print it. And that's it. They can't save it, 
> e-mail it, nothing, and, of course, nothing comes back to me to be 
> able to do anything useful with the data except reenter the data.
> 
> I have no choice, but the clients will all be using Windows, and 
> Acrobat Reader. I have no ability to install Okular, Foxit, or 
> anything extra, everywhere. It's hard enough to get them to open 
> e-mail, an attachment is going to be challenging, and other software 
> is right out. We are not in an alternate dimension where they're all 
> running Kubuntu.
> 
> Poking about with google searches, I see there are web sites, or were, 
> such as pdffiller.com, that would take a pdf form and let the user 
> fill it out on the web. I've seen no hints that a data record could be 
> extracted and sent back to me. All such free sites I could find are no 
> longer free.
> 
> - anyone know of such a free site out there (still?)?
> 
> - how might I go about getting a savable pdf form, starting with 
> OpenOffice, and ending with windows acrobat reader savable files?
> 
> - how might I make this webable, html + xml files?
> - e.g. Print blanks for people to fill out on-site, .pdf's to send 
> to people to fill out then print, and/or a web page to fill out, if 
> possible.
> 
> - what are the concepts / magic search terms I am looking for, having 
> received such a filled out pdf, to have the form processed and append 
> a record to a database (openoffice spreadsheet for the moment.)
> 
> - suppose a web page is possible, what am I looking for / search terms 
> in terms of a foss package, that would do that back end part such as 
> let them inquire for their last form, update it, and the office can 
> then look at the current records?
> 
> - there aren't really any back end servers available, no real front 
> end user expertise to create their own sql queries / reports on the 
> fly, and few web storage facilities available beyond something like 
> google docs. At this stage, openoffice spreadsheets and documents are 
> all that's available, which is ok as this process will result in 
> traversing the user exercise of figuring out what reports need to come 
> out, and therefore what data needs to be collected - which is to say, 
> cause the system requirements to be defined.
> 
> What FOSS is out there in this area, and what is it I'm groping 
> towards in terms of concepts or search terms.
> 
> Thanks for any thoughts, ideas, suggestions.
> 
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