Render an interactive PDF form using the Java API

Render an interactive PDF form by using the Forms API (Java):

  1. Include project files

    Include client JAR files, such as adobe-forms-client.jar, in your Java project’s class path.

  2. Create a Forms Client API object

    • Create a ServiceClientFactory object that contains connection properties.

    • Create an FormsServiceClient object by using its constructor and passing the ServiceClientFactory object.

  3. Specify URI values

    • Create a URLSpec object that stores URI values by using its constructor.

    • Invoke the URLSpec object’s setApplicationWebRoot method and pass a string value that represents the application’s web root.

    • Invoke the URLSpec object’s setContentRootURI method and pass a string value that specifies the content root URI value. Ensure that the form design is located in the content root URI. If not, the Forms service throws an exception. To reference the repository, specify repository:///.

    • Invoke the URLSpec object’s setTargetURL method and pass a string value that specifies the target URL value to where form data is posted. If you define the target URL in the form design, you can pass an empty string. You can also specify the URL to where a form is sent in order to perform calculations.

  4. Attach files to the form

    • Create a java.util.HashMap object to store file attachments by using its constructor.

    • Invoke the java.util.HashMap object’s put method for each file to attach to the rendered form. Pass the following values to this method:

      • A string value that specifies the name of the file attachment, including the file name extension.

    • A com.adobe.idp.Document object that contains the file attachment.

    Remarque : Repeat this step for each file to attach to the form. This step is optional and you can pass null if you do not want to send file attachments.

  5. Render an interactive PDF form

    Invoke the FormsServiceClient object’s renderPDFForm method and pass the following values:

    • A string value that specifies the form design name, including the file name extension. If you reference a form design that is part of a LiveCycle application, ensure that you specify the complete path, such as Applications/FormsApplication/1.0/FormsFolder/Loan.xdp.

    • A com.adobe.idp.Document object that contains data to merge with the form. If you do not want to merge data, pass an empty com.adobe.idp.Document object.

    • A PDFFormRenderSpec object that stores run-time options. This is an optional parameter and you can specify null if you do not want to specify run-time options.

    • A URLSpec object that contains URI values that are required by the Forms service.

    • A java.util.HashMap object that stores file attachments. This is an optional parameter and you can specify null if you do not want to attach files to the form.

    The renderPDFForm method returns a FormsResult object that contains a form data stream that must be written to the client web browser.

  6. Write the form data stream to the client web browser

    • Create a com.adobe.idp.Document object by invoking the FormsResult object ‘s getOutputContent method.

    • Get the content type of the com.adobe.idp.Document object by invoking its getContentType method.

    • Set the javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse object’s content type by invoking its setContentType method and passing the content type of the com.adobe.idp.Document object.

    • Create a javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream object used to write the form data stream to the client web browser by invoking the javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse object’s getOutputStream method.

    • Create a java.io.InputStream object by invoking the com.adobe.idp.Document object’s getInputStream method.

    • Create a byte array and populate it with the form data stream by invoking the InputStream object’s read method and passing the byte array as an argument.

    • Invoke the javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream object’s write method to send the form data stream to the client web browser. Pass the byte array to the write method.