Forms, XML & USPTO

Question

I've been tasked with automating the filling of USPTO (U.S. Patent Trademark Office) forms. Ideally I'd be able to form an XML data file from our local databases and import them programmatically into local copies of the USPTO forms. From the Acrobat SDK (possibly out of date) it appears you can open a PDF and provide via the command line an FDF file. I've experiemented with this option but with no luck. I see also that the Acrobat interface does let you import XML or FDF, I just need to do it programmatically.
From what I gather Adobe LiveCycle is one option. Sounds expensive and sounds like a large learning curve.
Thanks

Answer 1

There are 2 programs that Adobe provides to create forms, Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer. Each product works differently but can produce a sharable basic format but the exact operations used by the 2 products are different.
With a form created with Adobe Acrobat can still use the FDF file to import data and scripts. The Acrobat forms can also process XFDF file types which contain some XML features.
Forms created with LiveCycle Designer cannot process an FDF or XFDF file, but process an XML type file. LiveCycle Designer can also connect to and interact with an ODBC type database.
MacIntosh computes cannot create LiveCycle Designer forms, but can fill-in the distributed form.
You need to determine how the U.S. PTO forms were created and can you interact with them using JavaScirpt or FormCalc depending upon the product that created tne forms and what security the forms have applied to them. You will also need to learn much more about the Acrobat and LiveCycle products.
From a quick look at the U.S. PTO forms, they have used both Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer. They have also enabled Extended Reader Rights so there will be an extra step or steps for one to be able to edit the forms.