Skip to main content
A
antonj34569376
Participant
July 18, 2019
Question

How to submit a PDF Form, store it and redirect to website?

  • July 18, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 3743 views

Workflow:

  1. User downloads a PDF document from a website.
  2. User opens the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Side note: Other PDF viewers or the browser's inline PDF viewer won't support submitting forms).
  3. User fills out the form within the PDF document and clicks on a submit button.
  4. The PDF document is submitted on a website and stored there.
  5. User gets redirected to the website or at least gets a success message within Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

I have accomplished Step 1-4. However on step 5 I'm only able to return the successfully saved PDF file which gets opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

On the technical side I do this (starting at step 4 of the workflow):

  1. PDF form is submitted - export type: PDF (whole document)
  2. On the target URL a PHP server script stores the PDF document.
  3. Now I want to send a redirect response. I tried the following: PHP header redirect. HTML code with <meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0;url=xxx">

So my question is how to redirect the user to a website after submitting the PDF form? Ideally the redirection should be controlled by the server script.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
July 19, 2019

That doesn't help you redirect, but you can return a status message to a field.

A
antonj34569376Author
Participant
July 19, 2019

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Test+Screen+Name  schrieb

That doesn't help you redirect, but you can return a status message to a field.

That's definitely an idea. Unfortunately I don't want to change the file contents in this way, because if the user prints, shares, etc. the file the message would remain (in most cases) within the file.

Isn't there a way to persuade the PDF-Reader to display the message in a pop-up or to redirect the user to a website? I'm wondering if I'm the first person who would need that.

A
antonj34569376Author
Participant
July 22, 2019

Actually, both things are possible, since the FDF basically returns the structure of a file for the application to open, and that file can contain a script, which in turn can open an alert window or even launch a URL in the browser.


try67​ Thank you, after searching the web for details on FDF I finally managed to response a message, which pop up in the Reader.

However it is not easy to find good or at least working examples on FDF. Do you know FDF documentation especially with JavaScript responses?

I'm still searching a solution to redirect the user to a website, where the document was uploaded.

My current workflow:

  1. User downloads a PDF document from a website.
  2. User opens the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Side note: Other PDF viewers or the browser's inline PDF viewer won't support submitting forms).
  3. User fills out the form within the PDF document and clicks on a submit button.
  4. The PDF document is submitted on a website - export type: PDF (whole document)
  5. PHP script stores the PDF document.
  6. PHP script response some FDF code with a success message
  7. User gets a security warning and must accept it (or the message won't appear). There seems to be some kind of bug in the Reader: You have the option to choose between: A) "Trust only this time" or  B) "Trust this document always". If you choose A) no message pop-up appear (only if you save it again). If you choose B) no message pop-up appear. Also there is no message pop-up if you save it several times, but in case B) the security message shows up again and again  - crazy...
    I was searching for a workaround in the Reader settings (always trust documents of a specific website or generally javascript). But I had no success. Do you know a solution? Related thread: Any way to ALWAYS TRUST PDF to PDF links within file folders on PC, in Reader 11 and DC versions?
  8. Reader displays the success message within a pop-up.
T
Test Screen Name
Legend
July 18, 2019

Reader can’t display HTML. Manage your response in Reader and without redirection. You can return field values in FDF.

A
antonj34569376Author
Participant
July 19, 2019

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Test+Screen+Name  schrieb

Reader can’t display HTML. Manage your response in Reader and without redirection. You can return field values in FDF.

Thx for your response. Yes the reader can't display HTML, however based on another forum suggestion I tried this approach assuming it may work.

What do you mean with "You can return field values in FDF" - How does this help me to redirect the user to a website?

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices