PDF Form Plugin

The PDF Form plugin allows Pixelsilk to integrate with PDF forms which have been created with a tool such as Adobe Acrobat. A PDF form functions much like a website form. A user will fill out a series of fields in the PDF file (this can be done with Adobe Reader), and clicks submit. The form then submits, and a POST request will be sent to the server, with a response being received.

The main purpose of this plugin is to reconstruct the submitted form on the server, then send an email with the completed form as an attachment. The user who submitted the form will then be redirected to a customizable Pixelsilk page.

Enabling the Plugin

The "PDF Form Submittion Plugin" must be enabled before it can be used. See Enabling Plugins for more information.

Step 1: Create a Control

For each PDF form which is to be handled by Pixelsilk, a new "PdfForm" control must be made to accomodate it. See Creating New Controls.

Step 2: Create the Form

Next, the form itself must be created. This can be done in a program such as Adobe Acrobat. Documentation for this can be found on the Adobe Website. When the form has been completed, a submit action needs to be configured for the form. This action will be a URL pointing to your site. The format of the URL is:

http(s)://[your_site_url]/FdfProcess.aspx?control=your_control_name

So, if your site was www.example.com, and the control name was ClientInformationForm, then the URL for the form to post to would look like:

http(s)://www.example.com/FdfProcess.aspx?control=ClientInformationForm

Note that SSL is supported, but not required.

Step 3: Upload the Form

Next, the exact form must be uploaded to the site. If any changes are made to the form after uploading, then the form must be re-uploaded to the site in order to function correctly. To upload the form, enter the library-area.pngarea of the site and proceed to the Files tab. In the album of your choice, click Add New Files, browse to select the PDF, and click upload to upload it to the site.

Step 4: Configure the Form

Next, revisit the control which was created in step 1. Click the pencil pencil-button.pngbutton next to the control to open its properties.

2011-02-24_144823.png

There are a handful of settings which can be configured for the plugin at this point.

Successful Submit Redirect Location
After the user clicks the submit button on the form and a request is successfully sent to Pixelsilk, the user is redirected to this relative location to the site. This field is required.
Email To Address
The email address that the completed form will be sent to. This field is required.
Email From Address
The email address which will appear in the from field in the email which is sent. You may need to contact your email provider for an appropriate address. This field is required.
Email Subject
The subject of the email which will be sent. This field is required.
Email Body
The body of the email which will be sent. This field is optional.
PDF Form to be Reconstructed
This dropdown will show every file in the files section of the library. From this list you must choose the PDF which was uploaded in Step 3. This field is required (as well as required to be the same as the PDF submitting the form).

Once all fields have been filled out appropriately, click save-button.png to save any changes.

Test the Form

Finally, after all configuration is finished, the form can be tested by pressing the submit button and examining the email which is generated by Pixelsilk. Note that no other logging or saving is done for the submission or the email. It is up to the email recipient to record all emails which have been sent.

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