Create an auto updating PDF from URL's with Java

[Dylan5C9D]

Hi All,

hopefully I will be able to explain what I am trying to acheive correctley so I can get some help.

I am looking to see if it is possible to create a PDF with pages that automatically update (if there is a new version avaliable) via a URL.

Perhaps some context might help. I am an Urban Planner who works for Local Government and our regulations are avaliable on a State Government Website in pdf format. When there is a regulation change, the website is updated with the new pdf's. However, there are times when that website was down.

What I was hoping to do is create a pdf of the regulations to use off line but also have the PDF automatically download the new regulations to the pdf if the computer that it is opened on is connected to the internet.

Hopefully I have described this in a way that makes sense and there is someone who can help.

Many thanks

Dylan

[Bernd Alheit]

Info: Adobe Acrobat uses Javascript, not Java.

[try67]

Is this file going to be used exclusively in Adobe Acrobat, or also in Adobe Reader (or other such applications)? If the latter, the answer is no. Even if used exclusively in Acrobat it's going to be very tricky to do it, and might require installing a script on the local machine of each user. Instead, you can provide links to the website and ask the user to check it manually...

[jordanwinko_9510]

Sure! Here’s a question you could use for your website:

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Hi All,

I hope I can clearly explain what I’m trying to achieve so I can get some help.

I’m looking to create a PDF that automatically updates with the latest content from a specific URL whenever it’s opened, provided there’s an internet connection.

To give you some context, I’m an Urban Planner working for Local Government, and our regulations are hosted on a State Government website in PDF format. Occasionally, that website experiences downtime, which can be problematic when we need the latest regulations.

My goal is to have an offline version of the regulations that can automatically pull the newest updates whenever the PDF is accessed online.

I hope that makes sense, and I’d appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how to make this possible. 

here is the site that i have and working on it, 

Thanks so much!

[jordanwinko_9510]

here is my website

https://diamondcar.es/

[Thom Parker]

A simple solution is to write a server script that can be contacted to check for and download a new version of the PDF. 

How this is done is not an Acrobat issue beyond the data transfer between Acrobat and the server.  You'll have to figure out how to write the server side, although I would not be surprised if someone was already selling such a solution. 

On the PDF side, the server is contacted using a script that calls the "doc.submitForm()" function. The server should return an FDF file containing an URL that points to the new document, or a message stating that no update is available.  This solution will only work for PDF viewers that implement the necessary JS functionality, which generally means only Acrobat and a few others.