Can I prepopulate a Word document or PDF?

Question

This application is for a home health agency. There is an
extensive form that needs to be filled out periodically called a
CMS-485. There are tons of fields and lots of formatting to the
document. I currently have the document in Word format.
We maintain participant information in a database. I would
like to prepopulate SOME of the fields in the Word document with
information from my database. Namely things like name and address.
date of birth, SSN, etc. Basic demographics that are readilly
available in my database.
I can generate the form from my website in any format,
really. PDF would be fine. Word would be fine. My objective is to
go to a client's information screen in my application (already
done) and click a button to generate a blank CMS-485 that is
prepopulated with the basic demographic inorimation.
I know that I can create an HTML or report builder version of
the report, but that would be absolutely daunting given the
complexity of this form. Since it is already in Word format, can I
leverage the work that has already been done and make this easier
on myself?
BTW: CF 7.02

Answer 1

tclaremont wrote:
> I can generate the form from my website in any format,
really. PDF would be
just answered this in another thread.....
this works w/the version of iText that comes w/cf7 (powers
cfdocument).
<cfscript>
newFile=expandPath("registered.pdf");
// pdf containing your form
pdfFile=expandPath("simpleRegistrationForm.pdf");
fos=createObject("java","java.io.FileOutputStream").init(newFile);
reader=createObject("java","com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfReader").init(pdfFile);
pdfStamper=createObject("java","com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfStamper").init(reader,
fos);
form1 = pdfStamper.getAcroFields();
// form fields
form1.setField("name", "Bruno Lowagie");
form1.setField("address", "Baeyensstraat 121,
Sint-Amandsberg");
form1.setField("postal_code", "BE-9040");
form1.setField("email", "[email protected]");
pdfStamper.setFormFlattening(false);
pdfStamper.close();
// in case you to "flatten" the form
newFile=expandPath("registered_flat.pdf");
fos=createObject("java","java.io.FileOutputStream").init(newFile);
reader=createObject("java","com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfReader").init(pdfFile);
pdfStamper2=createObject("java","com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfStamper").init(reader,
fos);
form2=pdfStamper2.getAcroFields();
form2.setField("name", "Bruno Lowagie");
form2.setField("address", "Baeyensstraat 121,
Sint-Amandsberg");
form2.setField("postal_code", "BE-9040");
form2.setField("email", "[email protected]");
pdfStamper2.setFormFlattening(true);
pdfStamper2.close();
</cfscript>