|
Web-based applications that enable a user to fill interactive
forms require the data to be submitted back to the server. Using
the Forms service, you can retrieve the data that the user entered
into an interactive form. After you retrieve the data, you can process
the data to meet your business requirements. For example, you can
perform the following tasks:
Store the data in a database
Send the data to another application
Send the data to another service
Merge the data in a form design
Display the data in a web browser
Form data is submitted
to the Forms service as either XML or PDF data. This option is set
in Designer. A form that is submitted as XML lets you extract individual
field data values. That is, you can extract the value of each form
field that the user entered into the form. A form that is submitted
as PDF data is binary data, not XML data. As a result, you cannot
extract field values. However, you can save the form as a PDF file
or send it to another service.
Handling submitted XML dataWhen form data is submitted as XML, you can retrieve XML
data that represents the submitted data. All form fields appear
as nodes in an XML schema. The node values correspond to the values
that the user filled in. Consider a loan form where each field in
the form appears as a node within the XML data. The value of each node
corresponds to the value that a user fills in. Assume a user fills
the loan form with data shown in the following form.
The following illustration shows corresponding XML data that
is retrieved by using the Forms service.
The form design must be configured correctly in Designer in order
for data to be submitted as XML data. To properly configure it to
submit XML data, ensure that the Submit button on the form design
is set to submit XML data. (See Designer Help.)
Also, you must specify the correct content type to handle XML
data. For example, specify application/vnd.adobe.xdp+xml.
The content type must match the submitted form data. You can also
specify multiple content type values, such as the following value,
to ensure that various form submissions can be used:
CONTENT_TYPE=application/pdf&CONTENT_TYPE=application/vnd.adobe.xdp+xml
Handling submitted PDF dataConsider a web application that invokes the Forms service.
After the Forms service renders an interactive PDF form to a client
browser, the user fills an interactive form and submits it back
as PDF data. When the Forms service receives the PDF data, the service
can send it to another service or save it as a PDF file. To handle
a submitted PDF form, ensure that you specify CONTENT_TYPE=application/pdf as
the content type.
|
|
|
