I would like to fill a PDF form with the PDFBox java library. The PDF form is created with Adobe Live Designer, so it uses the XFA format.
I try to find resources about filling XFA PDF forms with PDFBox, but i haven't any luck so far. I saw that a PDAcroForm.setXFA method is available in the API, but i don't see how to use it.
Do you know if it is possible to fill a PDF Form with PDFBox ? If yes, is there anywhere a code sample or a tutorial to achieve this ? If no, what are the best alternatives to achieve this ?
This it the best I was able to manage in the time I was allocated on the problem. I get the pdf saved (in Life Cycle) as optimized (I'm not the one doing the pdf). This is the PDF openning part, XML duplication and then saving:
PDDocument document = PDDocument.load(fileInputStream);
fileInputStream.close();
document.setAllSecurityToBeRemoved(true);
Map<String, String> values = new HashMap<String, String>();
values.put("variable_name", "value");
setFields(document, values); // see code below
PDAcroForm form = document.getDocumentCatalog().getAcroForm();
Document documentXML = form.getXFA().getDocument();
NodeList dataElements = documentXML.getElementsByTagName("xfa:data");
if (dataElements != null) {
for (int i = 0; i < dataElements.getLength(); i++) {
setXFAFields(dataElements.item(i), values);
}
}
COSStream cosout = new COSStream(new RandomAccessBuffer());
TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTransformer()
.transform(new DOMSource(documentXML), new StreamResult(cosout.createUnfilteredStream()));
form.setXFA(new PDXFA(cosout));
FileOutputStream fios = new FileOutputStream(new File(docOut + ".pdf"));
document.save(fios);
document.close();
try {
fios.flush();
} finally {
fios.close();
}
then the methods who set values for fields. I set both the XFA and the AcroForm:
public void setXFAFields(Node pNode, Map<String, String> values) throws IOException {
if (values.containsKey(pNode.getNodeName())) {
pNode.setTextContent(values.get(pNode.getNodeName()));
} else {
NodeList childNodes = pNode.getChildNodes();
if (childNodes != null) {
for (int i = 0; i < childNodes.getLength(); i++) {
setXFAFields(childNodes.item(i), values);
}
}
}
}
public void setFields(PDDocument pdfDocument, Map<String, String> values) throws IOException {
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
List<PDField> fields = pdfDocument.getDocumentCatalog().getAcroForm().getFields();
for (PDField pdField : fields) {
setFields(pdField, values);
}
}
private void setFields(PDField field, Map<String, String> values) throws IOException {
List<COSObjectable> kids = field.getKids();
if (kids != null) {
for (COSObjectable pdfObj : kids) {
if (pdfObj instanceof PDField) {
setFields((PDField) pdfObj, values);
}
}
} else {
// remove the [0] from the name to match values in our map
String partialName = field.getPartialName().replaceAll("\\[\\d\\]", "");
if (!(field instanceof PDSignatureField) && values.containsKey(partialName)) {
field.setValue(values.get(partialName));
}
}
}
This work, but not for all "kind" of PDF life Cycle produce, some got a warning message about "extended fonction" not enabled anymore but still work. The optimize version is the only one I found who don't prompt message when openned after being filled.
I fill the XFA and the Acroform otherwise it don't work in all viewer.