Android mobile does not work with submit fdf format

Question

I want to gather data by mobile device (Android) as JavaScript does not work well in this environment, I intend importing the gathered data into a report PDF form with JavaScript functions etc., however the Acrobat mobile reader does not appear to work with the submit function for sending data (FDF format) by E Mail.
We are using Acrobat XI in most cases to gather this data and this works well, however we are experimenting with mobile options which are very limiting, and therefore we thought by just gathering the data on a mobile device we could import it into our working windows pdf form, our trials using this concept in a windows environment work, but we stumbled once we found that the submit button does not work in the android reader to send the FDF data.
Does anyone know of a work around?
Regards Mike

Answer 1

FormsCentral can be a bit confusing, so I'll try to clarify some things. It allows you to work with two completely different types of forms: web forms and PDF forms. Web forms are HTML forms and are hosted on the FormsCentral server and loaded into and submitted via the user's browser, so web forms do require internet access.
FormsCentral can also process submissions from PDF forms, and the forms can either originate from Acrobat or the FormsCentral designer, either the desktop app that comes with Acrobat 11 or the browser-based app. The FormsCentral designer allows you to create PDF forms with simple layouts, whereas Acrobat gives you much more flexibility. Designing a PDF form in FormsCentral can be helpful if you want to be able to use the same form for both a web form and a PDF form, allowing to to take advantage of each type at the same time, but you are not limited to PDF forms that are created by the FormsCentral designer.
Regardless of how the PDF was created, it can be set up to submit the form data to the FormsCentral server, which is done using the same format as a web form. It is done securely using HTTPS. There are certain features that are supported with PDF forms that aren't supported by FormsCentral, but this is usually not a problem. The most significant limitation is the 500 field limitation, so some larger forms aren't possible.
Once you have a PDF form created in Acrobat, you simply import it into FormsCentral and it gets uploaded to the FormsCentral server, where it is Reader-enabled, a submit button is automatically added, and is then downloaded so you can distribute it by placing it on your web site, sending by email, etc. So unlike web forms, FormsCentral does not host them for you.
It is possible to use Acrobat to modify the PDF that you download, first by selecting in Acrobat "File > Save a Copy", opening the copy, and making the changes. This is often done to change the submit button (size, location, other properties) of the submit button that gets added. You can then Reader-enable in Acrobat if needed and distribute the form.
Since it's a normal PDF form that is Reader-enabled, Reader users will be able to open it, fill it in, and save it at any time using Reader for Windows/Mac or Reader for Android/iOS. The latter currently only support submitting via email or to FormsCentral, as opposed to your own web server. Once the user has access to the internet, they can open the form and press the submit button. If the submit is successful, the FormsCentral server returns a response so the user gets some feedback, unlike with email "submits".
Each submission is automatically stored in the responses table, which you and team members can view at any time. An individual response can be downloaded as a filled-in PDF, or you can download the entire table and import the data into a spreadsheet for further analysis. As mentioned earlier, you can set it up so that you and others can receive an email for each submission, and it can include the form data in the body of the email if wanted.
Post again if you have any questions, or go to the FormsCentral forum here. The forum is generally very good, but sometimes questions about PDF forms are not answered entirely accurately, so it's sometime helpful to post here too.