Automating PDF Generation with Server-Side Acrobat - Benefit, Risks, Suggestions?

Looking for some clarity...
How feasible is it to automate PDF creation from Excel using Acrobat, as opposed to some third-party tool?
The SDK seems out of date. Any issues programming with .NET?
Are there better products out there, from third-party providers?
Suggestions?

The product replaced Distiller Server, but does much more than that. That used to be $5000-$10000, I believe, but LiveCycle products are a custom quote.
The price is set high partly because it can replace a whole office full of Acrobat licenses, one reason (but not the only one) why enterprise level products are in a different universe pricingwise. I'd expect to pay at least to match 100-200 lost sales of Acrobat.

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Automating PDF Generation with InDesign

Is it possible for InDesign to retrieve info from a database, automatically format the data with paragraph style(s) and export hi-res PDF art for each database entry? PDF export to include common art positioned on the master page. If this function is possible with InDesign, how does one accomplish this task?... AppleScript? I don’t speak code, so this could be very intimidating. Recommendations?

I think you might need an interpreter. I speak code, sure, but very slowly and with a very thick accent.
Plain vanilla InDesign won't hit a database; there are plugins for that. Catalog plugins, for example; if you're making something catalog-like, that's worth a search or three. If you can get CSV files from your DB, then Data Merge will work for minor automation. Read up on InDesign's XML capabilities if you need something more robust than that; it is extremely useful, and even someone like myself with barely-there software development skills can automate the production of a dictionary with XML spat out of a database.
In terms of automating the the formatting, XML is another obvious choice, because the working method is to map an XML tag to a style.
Exporting PDFs automatically is something that can be achieved with scripting, either Apple- or Java-. I don't know off the top of my head how to set it up, but there are quite a few talented scripters reading these forums, and perhaps one of them can nudge you in the right direction. Perhaps you'll see the advantage in actually contracting one of them to develop this for you.
All that being said, I'd be surprised if there wasn't already a catalog plugin to do exactly what you want. (The last time I said "InDesign can't really do that" it took about fifteen minutes for the forum regulars to post both a plugin and a custom-developed script that basically completely fulfilled the original poster's criteria.)

Acrobat form with server side submit, posting blank data

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Acrobat form with server side submit, posting blank data,
thanh xả tràn
I have a PDF form which gets submitted to the server using a submit (server-side) button. The data is then received in XML format by a ColdFusion component which does some validation and stores it into the database.
This PDF form is usually filled in by our clients using Adobe Reader 8 or below. While most of the times(and I mean like 96-97% of the times) everything goes well, at times we receive blank data into our database!! This renders couple of other features in our application useless as they try to parse an XML which does not exist.
I do believe that this is not a problem at the ColdFusion side because all it does is trim(ToString(toBinary(GetHttpRequestData().content))).
Does anyone has a clue as to why the data will be lost upon form submission?? I have done a lot of googling around it but in vain!

There is an outside chance someone is just playing with you and submitting a blank form. Not uncommon if someone is not too familiar with forms.

Creating a PDF Portfolio with a side menu

Hi!
Is there an easy way to create a PDF portfolio with a side menu using Acrobat X?
This was a feature in earlier versions. I am trying to make a large portfolio, and it is hard to navigate without some kind of menu.
Thanks,
Gregory

Take a look at the free 'CoolList' layout from Joel Geraci : http://blog.practicalpdf.com/portfolios/

I am on a Windows 7 OS attempting to reduce pdf size with my Adobe Acrobat Standard XI & Pro. The application keeps timing out and at the Subsetting embedded fonts portion and the application gives "Adobe Acrobat has stopped working" and then closes. T

I am on a Windows 7 OS attempting to reduce pdf size with my Adobe Acrobat Standard XI & Pro. The application keeps timing out and at the Subsetting embedded fonts portion and the application gives "Adobe Acrobat has stopped working" and then closes. The document is 275 pages. Is there something I can do to stop this?

Hi Ricci,
Since when are you facing this issue? Did you tried system restore to a date before this problem occured.
Does acrobat stop working when you open this specific pdf file or with any pdf file that you open?
Regards,
Rahul

Updating form with server-side scripts

Hi
For security reasons, we want to do a web service call with only server side scripts. That way we have full control over the access to the wsdl and no problems with the security.
However, if I try to run the scripts on server-side I get no update of the data in the form... so what to do to solve that problem? Anybody with experience from that?

To make a small update I've been messing around with various different things to be able to achieve the goal. One of the initial problems was that the Designer actually manages to create two different SOAP addresses, one of them is the correct and secure way and the other one is direct to the data source, which would be an unsecure and blocked route. That changed things a bit when I realized that.
But still, the problem remains. If I run the script Client-Side, it works but is not an acceptable solution. If I run it Server-Side, it can't read the data and doesn't recognize the call to SOAP.connect()...
Does anybody have any experience in webb service connection with server side scripts?

PDF generation with FOP throws NPE

Hi,
Stack trace
at oracle.xml.jaxp.JXTransformer.reportXSLException(JXTransformer.java:769)
at oracle.xml.jaxp.JXTransformer.transform(JXTransformer.java:342)
I'm using standard Java 1.4 API calls to create a PDF document from a DOM with Apache FOP 0.20.5.
The servlet is deployed to Oracle 10g Application Server 9.0.4.0.0. With Tomcat 4.1.30 the same code executes without exceptions
Because I have to port our web application to Oracle for a new customer it is important for me to get this fixed soon.
Thank you
Eckard

Light at the end of the tunnel: It seems to work when FO and PDF generation are separated. Until now the DOM was piped into FOP who internally created the FO from SAX events and then seems to parse it again to create PDF.
I separated the two steps: There is no problem in FO generation, but due to a namespace problem subsequent parsing fails
("org.apache.fop.apps.FOPException: null:2:10 Root element is missing the namespace declaration: http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format")
Now the correct exception comes up. Whether FOP SAX event listener is buggy or XML parser's error handling has a problem, I don't know
Thank you anyway
Eckard

Poriblems with Server Side Include

I amtrying to convert to Spry Menus using SSI. into a template. been beating my head against the wall on what can go in and what can't in an include fil but that turns out not be my big problem
when in using Dredamweaver CS5   and do a server side I have major issues at the differeent levels
i have the file in a directory off the site root called Includes
the file i am trying to include
using a page at the root level my statement using document relation is

works fine   channg to site relation does not work   Ok so far so good
however a page in a lower level director gets the dreaded
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
and i get an error
[Sat Sep 01 16:51:42 2012] [error] [client 174.57.220.98] unable to include file "../Includes/Navbar.html" in parsed file /usr/local/www/kasdivi.com/blog/beachguide.html
and also
Warning - PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/memcache.so' - Cannot open "/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/memcache.so"
Unknown(0) : Warning - PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/apc.so' - Cannot open "/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/apc.so"
Unknown(0) : Warning - PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/pdf.so' - Cannot open "/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/pdf.so"
Unknown(0) : Warning - PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/memcache.so' - Cannot open "/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/memcache.so"
Unknown(0) : Warning - PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/apc.so' - Cannot open "/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/apc.so"
Unknown(0) : Warning - PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/pdf.so' - Cannot open "/usr/local/lib/php/20100525-debug/pdf.so"
the php errors don't seem mahor although they seem to have i have another iisue or are the related
but that aside
If I move the include file to the same level as the pade with approprirate include statement no problem it works
if i move it to a subditrectory then it doesn't work
summary
i can get SSI to work for page on the root level using Includes from a subdirectory
but on other level I must have the include in the same directory with the page
any thoughts??

Your menu links are inside an include file. There should be nothing else inside that file except the list tags, classes & hyperlinks. Links are relative to the parent page(s) in which they will occur.
All supporting scripts and CSS go inside the parent page -- in your case, the Template.dwt file.
Local Files Panel:
     -Includes
          menu.html
          footer.html
     +Styles
     +SpryAssets
     -Templates
          main.dwt
     about.shtml
     contact.shtml
     index.shtml
     services.shtml
Problems will occur if you use document relative link paths with pages that are located inside sub and sub-sub folders. Obviously, you want to avoid doing that. For best results, keep all your site pages at root level.
Hope this helps,
Nancy O.

Designer 8 pdf not running server side

Hi there
Forms I have built using Designer 8.0 and deployed on a W2K server work fine if the Client has the same name DSN and can connect to the same backend database otherwise the pdf loads in the browser but fails to populate the fields.
The JavaScript that is used to make the connection and call the data is set to run on both client and server.
Am I missing something? Should Designer 8.0 also be installed on the server as well as the 'build' machine (these are all .NET 2.0 Applications)?
Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be most appreciated!

Yoda
I'm still trying to get an answer from Adobe about LiveCycle Forms.
To be honest I've not tried using pdf forms for inserting or updating, only to populate - like insurance report forms - based on data already held.
Used to use APToolkit with asp, but that is involved coding. The downside to LiveCycle is it won't support POST so SELECT WHERE critera has to be via the address bar!
If I get any answers I'll let you know! Just before 8.0 came out I did actually get a call from Adobe sales and they assured me if I upgraded LiveCycle would work fine server side (and I wouldn't need and other 'additions'), but.....

Problem with Server-Side InitialContext

The Weblogic 5.1 documentation states that to create a context from within a
server-side object, all you need to do is issue the following statement:
Context ctx = new InitialContext();
That you do not need to specify a factory, or a provider URL; by default,
the context will be created as a WebLogic context and will connect to the
local naming service.
I only get this to work when I am running from within an EJB. When I try
this from a servlet, it doesn't work.
I am running Weblogic 5.1 SP9 with JDK 1.3.1_02. Any ideas about what I may
be doing wrong???

Hi,
runtime->session_id indicates the browser session not a windows session so as such there is nothing to prevent that except from preventing to open the app in the same browser again by eg testing on the session id
Eddy

Problem with server side state saving ,JSF 1.1.1

Hello,
In my web.xml the.STATE_SAVING_METHOD setting is s server
<context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
        <param-value>server</param-value>
    </context-param>
for measurement of application security isn't not allow to change this parameter to client , so the problem when i access for application and i open a new page via linker for print for example and i would access for my initial page to make change or modify my initial page it s no possible to make any modification because i have a empty bean , but if the state saving is a client i haven't a problem because a tree map is stored in client browser, so my version of JSF is 1.1.1 ,
So can you explain the cause for his problem
and what's the solution for my problem ?
NB:i can't change the parameter for STATE_SAVING_METHOD for a client
Thank you

did you search this form, there were lot of discussions in the past about server side cookies, you may find an answer to your problem.
alternate approache for sending a value from parent page to the pop up window.
1. when opening the pop up pass the values along with the url (if the size of variable is small)
alternatively you can store the value in a hidden form field in parent window and access the same from poup window using
you can simple access the page one form field value in page 2 (pop up) by using the following code.
window.opener.document.getElementById('hiddenformfieldid').value

Problem with server side cookie

Hi, I have a problem with a server side cookie. I'm trying to store a cookie trough the cl_bsp_server_side_cookie=>set_server_cookie method in the OnInitialitation event handler of a bsp (my bsp application is non mvc) and then to retrieve this cookie trough the cl_bsp_server_side_cookie=>get_server_cookie method in the OnInputProcessing event handler of the same bsp. In this cookie i'm storing a internal table but i'm not getting it when i invoke the get_server_cookie method.
This is the source code that i'm implementing:
OnInitialitation:
wa_comunnication_data-mobile = wa-mobile.
          wa_comunnication_data-telefono = wa-tel_number.
          wa_comunnication_data-email = wa-email.
          APPEND wa_comunnication_data to comunnication_data.
           cl_bsp_server_side_cookie=>set_server_cookie(
              EXPORTING
               name = 'cook_comunnication_data'
               application_namespace = 'NONE'
               application_name = 'NONE'
               username = 'NONE'
               session_id = runtime->session_id
               data_value = comunnication_data
               data_name = 'comunnication_data'
               expiry_time_rel = 720 ).
OnInputProcessing:
cl_bsp_server_side_cookie=>get_server_cookie(
      EXPORTING
       name = 'cook_comunnication_data'
       application_namespace = 'NONE'
       application_name = 'NONE'
       username = 'NONE'
       session_id = runtime->session_id
       data_name = 'comunnication_data'
      CHANGING
       data_value = comunnication_data ).
     READ TABLE comunnication_data INDEX 1 INTO wa_comunnication_data.
regards, marcel.

Why do you need to use cookies in the same BSP Application?
Try to use below:
    username              = sy-uname
    application_name      = runtime->application_name
    application_namespace = runtime->application_namespace
<i>*reward each useful answer</i>
Raja T
Message was edited by:
        Raja Thangamani

PLEASE help with server-side form validation using PHP!!!

I feel like im going round and round in circles with this, after looking into all sorts of server-side advice i've come to the conclusion that i want to validate my form using server-side validation with PHP.
So my form has several drop down menu's and textareas (not all of them need validation). For the part of my form i would like to validate, all i want is the drop downs to have to be changed/selected. So just a simple message like "You must select an option" if customers haven't done so. For the textareas, they just need to be filled out, so a message like "Information required" to come up if customers haven't done so.
I believe i need to create a PHP page say for example 'error.php' place the validation code in there and set this part of the the form to -
<form name="product"form action="error.php" method="post" class="product_form">
BUT im getting really confused with creating the code for the error.php. Please please can anyone help me with this!!!???
Here are the drop down menu's i need validation on, error message being "You must select an option",
"figurine"
"engraving"
"font"
and here are the textareas that need validating, error message "Information required",
"test"
"Name"
"house"
"line_1"
"line_2"
"county"
"postcode"
"tel"
www.milesmemorials.com/product-GK1.html
I'd really appreciate any help!!!

Ness_quick wrote:
Great thats good enough for me. In that case, would you please be able to help me create the javascript for the above validation?? If you could just help me create it for this page i can amend it for all the other pages. I'd really really appreciate it!!!
Can you follow the below example?? Obviously AFTER validation has been successful you need to collect the information from the form and send it to the recipient email address...that's where you can use php. I'll check back tomorrow and see how you are doing.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html><head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Form validation</title>

<script type="text/javascript">

</script>
</head>
<body>
<form name="product" form action="processForm.php" method="post" class="product_form" onsubmit="return RequiredFormFields()">
<p class="product_form_options">Choice of Figurine<br>
<select name="figurine" class="productButton" id="figurine" onChange="Recalculate()">
<option selected>-- Select figurine --</option>
<option value="7031">Tropical Green Granite with bronze sacred heart figurine as pictured(£7031)</option>
<option value="5216">Tropical Green Granite with bronze effect sacred heart figurine (£5216)</option>
<option value="5216">Tropical Green Granite with reconstituded figurine MF122(£5216)</option>
</select>
</p>
<p class="product_form_options">Engraved Lettering<br>
<select name="engraving" class="productButton" id="engraving" onChange="Recalculate()">
        <option selected>-- Select engraving --</option>
        <option value="2.30">Sandblast and enamel painted (£2.30/letter)</option>
        <option value="2.80">Sandblast and guilded (£2.80/letter)</option>
        <option value="2.20">Maintenance free (£2.20/letter)</option>
        <option value="3.73">Traditionally hand cut and enamel painted (£3.73/letter)</option>
        <option value="3.98">Traditionally hand cut and gilded (£3.98/letter)</option>
        <option value="4.34">Raised lead and enamel painted (£4.34/letter)</option>
        <option value="4.59">Raised lead and gilded (£4.59/letter)</option>
      </select>
</p>
<p class="product_form_options">Letter/Font Style<br>
      <select name="font" class="productButton" id="font" >
           <option selected>-- Select style --</option>
           <option value="Maintenance free">Maintenance free </option>
           <option value="White painted block">White painted block</option>
           <option value="White painted roman">White painted roman</option>
           <option value="White painted Script">White painted Script</option>
           <option value="White painted Celtic">White painted Celtic</option>
           <option value="White painted Nova">White painted Nova</option>
           <option value="Sliver painted block">Sliver painted block</option>
           <option value="Sliver painted roman">Sliver painted roman</option>
           <option value="Sliver painted Script">Sliver painted Script</option>
           <option value="Sliver painted Celtic">Sliver painted Celtic</option>
           <option value="Sliver painted Nova">Sliver painted Nova</option>
           <option value="Gold leaf painted block">Gold leaf painted block</option>
           <option value="Gold leaf painted roman">Gold leaf painted roman</option>
           <option value="Gold leaf painted Script">Gold leaf painted Script</option>
           <option value="Gold leaf painted Celtic">Gold leaf painted Celtic</option>
           <option value="Gold leaf painted Nova">Gold leaf painted Nova</option>
           <option value="Gold leaf painted Old English">Gold leaf painted Old English</option>
         </select>
         </p>
         <p>
<p>Name<br>
<input name="Name" type="text" id="Name" value="">
</p>
<p>House name or number:<br>
<input name="house" type="text" id="house" size="67">
</p>
<p>
<input name="submit" type="submit" class="place_order" id="submit" value="Place order">
</p>
</form>
</body>
</html>

SQLNCLI11 - Recordset with Server Side cursor and Property PreserveOnCommit = TRUE

I am migrating an OLEDB application from Microsoft Access to SQL. I am using the SQL Native Client in my connection string
"Provider=SQLNCLI11;Server=%s;Database=%s;Trusted_Connection=yes;"
The application uses the following call to open a table in the database
m_pRecordset->Open((LPCTSTR)m_strQuery, _variant_t((IDispatch*)mpdb, TRUE), adCursorType, adLockOptimistic, options);
where m_strQuery is the table name, adCursorType is adOpenKeyset or adOpenDynamic (I've tried both), options is adCmdTable or adCmdTableDirect (I've tried both)
mpdb is a _ConnectionPtr. Cursor location can be either adUseClient or adUseServer.
If I set Cursor location to adUseClient, the PreserveOnCommit Property of the Recordset is true; if I set Cursor location to adUseServer the PreserveOnCommit property of the Recordset is false. I cannot set this property after the recordset
is open
Is there a way to Open the recorfdset with a server side cursor and PreserveOnCommit TRUE?
Howard P. Weiss

Thanks, Dan, that has been very insightful. We will try to move our legacy VBA data access layer to client-side cursors (first for SQLs with CTEs, then for all SQLs, if everything works out well).
Regarding deprecation: What is the currently recommended way to access SQL Server from VBA projects? I did a bit of research and it appears that all methods I can think of are deprecated in one way or another:
DAO with ODBCDirect: Support has been dropped with Access 2007.
DAO via JET: Using JET SQL syntax instead of T-SQL? Not seriously. Anyway, it's considered obsolete by Microsoft.
ADO with the SQLOLEDB provider: Deprecated.
ADO with the SQL Server Native OLEDB provider: Won't be supported after SQL Sever 2012.
ADO with the Microsoft OLE DB provider for ODBC: Not supported: "SQL Server Native Client is not supported from the Microsoft OLE DB provider for ODBC (MSDASQL)."
What did I miss?
Best regards
Heinzi

Issues with server side recording in FMS

I have FMS installed on Windows XP machine.
I am recording using the server side Stream class. This
creates a FLV but when I play it back it does not play though it
has created the file under the dir in FMS.
After a lot of research I figured out that the recording is
done properly but I have to restart my FMS before the play back.
After which the play back goes on smoothly.
Can any one help me with this. I need to know if this is a
known issue or else I have to do something on stream at the the
server side after recording so that I can play it back immediately.

**Bump**
I am having a similar issue. I have an app that will redirect
the stream to the same application but a different instance. The
ns.publish method is called for recording and the file will write
correctly. However, after I stop publishing and go in to play the
file in flv player, it doesnt play back. Looks like the meta data
is there but no video. Is there a specific procedure to close off
the file or something that I'm not performing?

Automating PDF Generation with Server-Side Acrobat - Benefit, Risks, Suggestions?

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