Strange FDF Symptoms

Question

I am having the same symptoms as others have written where my Classis ASP created FDF data won't populate a PDF form.  What I have is an enrollment process where Form A is used to send FDF data to an ASP program on the server which interacts with the database and performs various edit checks.  Validation errors will cause the FDF data along with the validation error message to be returned back to the same Form A.  This can loop multiple times until all the validation errors are passed.  The ASP process will then complete the enrollment in the database, and then send the FDF data back to the users browser, but this time will use the /F flag to send it back using an enrollment confirmation form called Form B.
Note that while communicating via the browser, the FDF data can be sent back and forth multiple times with Form A, and the last time sent back to the browser using Form B.  All this works perfectly.
To do the above, the ASP script builds the complete FDF content as a string variable, then sends this to the browser using the Response.Write function.
When the enrollment is completed, the FDF data with /F using the original Form A is written to the operating system file system using the file system object, creates an email message to be sent to the user using an email address they entered in Form A.  It attaches the FDF file to the email just before the email is sent.
This is where the problem starts, when using Adobe Reader 10.1.3.
When I open the FDF attachment from within the email, the PDF document opens, but does not populate with the FDF data.  It just downloads the PDF document from the server which comes up blank.
I can save the FDF to my local disk and open it, and the PDF documents opens, but does not populate with the FDF data.
The really weird part:  I open this file using Notepad++ (NOT Notepad), add a space, delete this same space, and save the file.  When I open it after that, it will open the PDF document (which is downloaded from the server), and populate it with the FDF data.  Note that I didn't really change the contents of the file.  I add and delete the same space just to activate the 'Save' button.
If I follow the same procedure above with Notepad, it will not populate the PDF document with FDF data.
If I open the FDF file using Adobe Reader 8 on a different PC, I get a warning message that the file is using a new format not supported by this version of the program and recommends that I upgrade to a newer version.  I hit cancel (i.e. do not upgrade), and the PDF opens and the FDF data populates the form.  This is in spite of saving Form A to be compatible with Adobe Reader version 7 and above.
Does anyone have any clue as to what could be going on here?
Thanks

Answer 1

I am having the same symptoms as others have written where my Classis ASP created FDF data won't populate a PDF form.  What I have is an enrollment process where Form A is used to send FDF data to an ASP program on the server which interacts with the database and performs various edit checks.  Validation errors will cause the FDF data along with the validation error message to be returned back to the same Form A.  This can loop multiple times until all the validation errors are passed.  The ASP process will then complete the enrollment in the database, and then send the FDF data back to the users browser, but this time will use the /F flag to send it back using an enrollment confirmation form called Form B.
Note that while communicating via the browser, the FDF data can be sent back and forth multiple times with Form A, and the last time sent back to the browser using Form B.  All this works perfectly.
To do the above, the ASP script builds the complete FDF content as a string variable, then sends this to the browser using the Response.Write function.
When the enrollment is completed, the FDF data with /F using the original Form A is written to the operating system file system using the file system object, creates an email message to be sent to the user using an email address they entered in Form A.  It attaches the FDF file to the email just before the email is sent.
This is where the problem starts, when using Adobe Reader 10.1.3.
When I open the FDF attachment from within the email, the PDF document opens, but does not populate with the FDF data.  It just downloads the PDF document from the server which comes up blank.
I can save the FDF to my local disk and open it, and the PDF documents opens, but does not populate with the FDF data.
The really weird part:  I open this file using Notepad++ (NOT Notepad), add a space, delete this same space, and save the file.  When I open it after that, it will open the PDF document (which is downloaded from the server), and populate it with the FDF data.  Note that I didn't really change the contents of the file.  I add and delete the same space just to activate the 'Save' button.
If I follow the same procedure above with Notepad, it will not populate the PDF document with FDF data.
If I open the FDF file using Adobe Reader 8 on a different PC, I get a warning message that the file is using a new format not supported by this version of the program and recommends that I upgrade to a newer version.  I hit cancel (i.e. do not upgrade), and the PDF opens and the FDF data populates the form.  This is in spite of saving Form A to be compatible with Adobe Reader version 7 and above.
Does anyone have any clue as to what could be going on here?
Thanks