Populate PDF form with XML data

Question

Although a seemingly simple task, this question has occupied way too much of my time the last week and I am asking the following out of sheer desperation and frustration.
I have a pdf form created with Designer 7.0. I have a separate XML data file to populate the form with. I can test using the preview in Designer and everything looks great. Now, all I want to do is deploy this pdf to a standard web server (IIS, Windows) such that any visitor to the site (using Reader) is able to open it/view it/print it, with the data there. That's it.
This was easily accomplished using Acrobat 6 by creating an ASP page that output an FDF file which referenced the PDF. Not so with the latest version.
I have downloaded three separate several hundred page documents that do not explain how to accomplish this task simply. So to summarize:
1. Does this task *require* a separate piece of software (Document Server) that was not required before?
2. If Document Server is not required, what are the steps to publish the pdf file and reference the data file?
Please help, extraordinarily frustrated :-(.

Answer 1

Ravinder, were you actually able to get your PDF Document (Form) to load with data?  I have not been able to get my .NET page to populate my PDF document - the PDF loads in my Browser but has no data.  If you can post sample code that you were able to get to work, it would be appreciated, or if you notice something wrong with my code below, please let me know.<br /><br />Also, when my PDF document loads in my browser, I am prompted to "Open or Save" my .xdp file and if I click "Open", my PDF Form loads, but the fields are not populated.  How do I stop this prompt from loading?  I don't want the user(s) to be able to see this.<br /><br />My .NET page and XML file are listed below:<br />------------------------- .NET -----------------------------------<br />Imports System.Text<br />Imports System.IO<br /><br />Public Class WebForm1<br />    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page<br /><br />#Region " Web Form Designer Generated Code "<br /><br />    'This call is required by the Web Form Designer.<br />    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()<br /><br />    End Sub<br /><br />    'NOTE: The following placeholder declaration is required by the Web Form Designer.<br />    'Do not delete or move it.<br />    Private designerPlaceholderDeclaration As System.Object<br /><br />    Private Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Init<br />        'CODEGEN: This method call is required by the Web Form Designer<br />        'Do not modify it using the code editor.<br />        InitializeComponent()<br />    End Sub<br /><br />#End Region<br /><br />    Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load<br />        'Put user code to initialize the page here<br /><br />        Dim responseString As New StringBuilder<br />        Dim sr As StreamReader<br />        Dim xmldata As String<br /><br />        Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.adobe.xdp+xml"<br />        responseString.Append("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>")<br />        responseString.Append("<?xfa generator='AdobeDesigner_V7.0' APIVersion='2.2.4333.0'?>")<br />        responseString.Append("<xdp:xdp xmlns:xdp='http://ns.adobe.com/xdp/'>")<br />        responseString.Append("<xfa:datasets xmlns:xfa='http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/'>")<br />        responseString.Append("<xfa:data xfa:dataNode='dataGroup'>")<br />        sr = File.OpenText("c:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\PDFFiller\\TestForm_data.xml")<br />        xmldata = sr.ReadToEnd()<br />        sr.Close()<br />        responseString.Append(xmldata)<br /><br />        'responseString.Append("<form1>")<br />        'responseString.Append("<txtFirstName>Homer</txtFirstName>")<br />        'responseString.Append("<txtLastName>Simpson</txtLastName>")<br />        'responseString.Append("</form1>")<br /><br />        responseString.Append("</xfa:data>")<br />        responseString.Append("</xfa:datasets>")<br />        responseString.Append("<pdf href='http://localhost/PDFFiller/TestForm.pdf' xmlns='http://ns.adobe.com/xdp/pdf/' />")<br />        responseString.Append("<xfdf xmlns='http://ns.adobe.com/xfdf/' xml:space='preserve'>")<br />        responseString.Append("<annots/>")<br />        responseString.Append("</xfdf>")<br />        responseString.Append("</xdp:xdp>")<br /><br />        Response.Write(responseString)<br />        Response.Flush()<br />        Response.End()<br /><br />    End Sub<br /><br />End Class<br /><br />----------------------End .NET -----------------------------------<br /><br />--------- XML (TestForm_data.xml) --------------------------------<br /><form1><txtFirstName>Homer</txtFirstName><txtLastName>Simpson</txtLastName></form1><br />----------------------End XML -----------------------------------