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pkipe
Known Participant
March 27, 2026
Question

FDF doesn't open in Acrobat

  • March 27, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 35 views

My VB6 application has a reference to FdfAcX 1.0 Type Library. The FDF is created with:

Dim FdfAcX                              As FDFACXLib.FdfApp
Dim objFdf                              As FDFACXLib.FdfDoc
    Set FdfAcX = CreateObject("FdfApp.FdfApp")
    Set objFdf = FdfAcX.FDFCreate
 

The application code then supplies values for each field in the PDF, for example, as follows:

        objFdf.FDFSetValue "Station Name", lsCompanyName, False

        objFdf.FDFSetValue "Station Number", lsCompanyStationNumber, False
 

The final code is as follows:

        ' Set the PDF to open
        objFdf.FDFSetFile pdfPath & "MV-436A.pdf"
        
        ' Save the file
        objFdf.FDFSaveToFile fdfPath & "MV-436A.fdf"
        
        ' Close the file
        objFdf.FDFClose
 

pdfPath and fdfPath are identical in this test. They are:

        C:\\GitHub\\MVIRS\\Application\\

 

When the form is fired with:

        ShellExecute vbNull, "open", pdfPath & "MV-436A.fdf", vbNull, vbNull, WIN_NORMAL

...nothing happens.

 

Can anyone shed light on this problem? Should I convert to XFDF?

 

Thanks, Pete

      1 reply

      Thom Parker
      Community Expert
      Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 27, 2026

      So first, I don’t think the FDF library has been supported in many years. There might be problems with how it’s generating the FDF file. 

      Next, Did you try opening the FDF file from inside of Acrobat, with/without the target PDF file open. This might give you more information.

      Also, the file path inside the FDF is unnecessary. So try without adding it. 

       

      And, did you open the FDF file to visually inspect it?  A good way to check the correctness of the FDF is to perform the following steps.

      1. Open the target PDF doc. 
      2. Fill in some fields
      3. Export an FDF file from it.  This can be done from the export menu item in the “prepare Form” tools (see image below), or for more control, use a script in the console window.
      4. In a simple text editor, open both the FDF created with your VB script and the one exported from the PDF in Acrobat. Compare the files. They won’t be exactly the same, but the path to the values and other required elements  should be the same in both. 

      And finally, it’s quite easy to create the FDF file without a library.  An FDF that just sets field values and the file path can all be done with plain text. Just copy the format of the FDF file exported from Acrobat. 

       

      Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
      P
      pkipeAuthor
      Known Participant
      March 28, 2026

      Thank you Thom. I exported a filled in PDF to FDF and compared that to the FDF I was creating. There were a number of differences, but I was able to make changes to my code that resulted in an FDF that matched the Adobe FDF, and the problem is now solved. Thanks again, Pete

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