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I have a flat PDF (no Acroform fields). Just a flat PDF. Is it possible, via the API, to get a list of possible input fields? (Text fields, check boxes, etc.) This is what I want, only delivered via an API call (see link->): Automatic Field Detection in Authoring
If the Adobe SDK does not do this, does anyone know of any API that does something like this?
I was laughing at Bernd's casual suggestion for writing a field detection plug-in. This is not a trivial task. It's the kind of thing you build an AI for.
However, what you are asking for is a PDF library or Tool for building an external application. There are many PDF libraries and single function development tools. I am not aware of any that do auto-form field detection, although it wouldn't surprise me if there were some out there. For example I just did a google search on "Auto Detect PDF
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Depends. If you mean the JavaScript API, then no, there is not really any way to access the Form field detection feature. This is a built in Adobe specific thing that they control. It's not part of the general PDF operation included in either the JS or plug-in SDK.
However, there are hooks into this functionality that provide some access. For example, this feature is a command on the "Action" editor. So it can be used in an Action, which is a type of automation. Action commands can also be activated from a plug-in, but the plug-in doesn't have any control over how the field detection proceeds, it's just like running a menu item. You can execute it, but then Acrobat does what it does, including any popup dialogs and messages that the user has to respond too.
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Maybe I'm in the wrong area? I don't want a plugin or a menu item. I want to call a function from C++ (or C#) code. Acrobat will not be running.
I want to load a PDF and detect all possible input text fields on the page. Example:
myApi->LoadPDF("pdfDocument.pdf")
CString xmlString = GetAllPossibleInputFields();
Where an input field is NOT an acroform field, but rather a PROBABLE input field based on OCR intelligence.
Thanks.
Glad my question was a good for a laugh!
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I was laughing at Bernd's casual suggestion for writing a field detection plug-in. This is not a trivial task. It's the kind of thing you build an AI for.
However, what you are asking for is a PDF library or Tool for building an external application. There are many PDF libraries and single function development tools. I am not aware of any that do auto-form field detection, although it wouldn't surprise me if there were some out there. For example I just did a google search on "Auto Detect PDF Form Fields". The first page is all articles/forum threads about using Acrobat to autodetect fields, but at the bottom was this online tool for doing it.
Form Field Detector - Accusoft
It looks like an online service you can connect to from your own HTML page using JS.
Also, I haven't checked but I maybe this capability is avaliable from the official PDF Library, distributed by DataLogics:
https://www.datalogics.com/products/pdf/pdflibrary/
And it is in C++. You'll find many of the PDF tools and libraries are Java and .Net
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Thank you. I really appreciate your informative reply. I am familiar with several PDF tools do form field detection, but I haven't found one yet that does this strictly from a function call without the use of another application overlay or cloud service (both of which will not work for my situation.)
Appreciate everyone's time.
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You can create your own plugin for this.
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Ha Ha