I currently have a PDF created with Livecycle ES4 which has a header page that contains all the fields the end user needs to fill out. The body of the document is a flowable pdf with floating fields that correspond to the fields on the header page so that when the header page is filled out the body of the document is completed. It is a flowable document such that a field 'StreetAddress' with data of "123 Main Street" or "123 Boulevard of the Americas South" both result in the same appearance on the completed document - the field expands and contracts to fit the data entered.
The issues are 1) version control among the end users, they download the document and use it locally instead of pulling the latest off of the server; 2) we are not capturing the data entered by the end user; 3) archiving is haphazard - if the end user doesn't save a copy on the server we have no way to knowing the document exists and 4) the documents are not searchable, i.e. finding all contracts executed by a particular vendor.
I would like to solve this by creating a database to store among other things the user data and the document version the data was merged with. Ideally, a simple html page would present the user data entry fields and upon submission handle the data merge and present the end user with a finished PDF for signature. It is important that the appearance of the document remain flowable, a field set a 50 characters that only has 5 characters entered should not result in 45 characters of white space.
I've delved into merging PDF's with xfdf, xml, fdf using $_Post data to generate the data files but cannot find a way to maintain the appearance of the document.
Any suggestions or solutions greatly appreciated!
