Paradox 9 into PDF format

I have created a form from a basic query, which shows the amount of stock we hold in place against a number of different products.I need to email my customer this form in such a way that he can fill in call off quantities and email it back to me. Problem is, he doesn't have Paradox, so I have printed this Paradox form as a PDF then added PDF boxes to it. It's very long winded. Is there any way to send my Paradox form so that all the features of the form function outside of the Paradox environment?

Brian Sheasby,

Have your resolved your November challenge?

Where is the environment where the data input is processed? On whose computer is the data input?

Yes, it can be done in an Acrobat environment.

Does your client have Acrobat 5 on a computer with email?

Some preliminaries. Email your PDF form to this user. They require Acrobat 5 or Acrobat Approval. Not Acrobat Reader.

They can then Save As the PDF form with their imputs, eg. Save As MyOrder0001.pdf. After which they email MyOrder0001.pdf as an attachment.

(With Acrobat Reader, they can only print to paper the completed form. In this case, they can use their PC as typewriter, and your form can validate much of their input.)

When you receive MyOrder0001.pdf as a file, you can extract the data in Acrobat 5 with Export. Export creates an FDF, a plain text file, which you can send to the CGI for insertion / update of your database.

It is also possible to Submit from MyOrder0001.pdf. Eg. you could have Hidden a [Submit] button on your PDF form before using Security. Then, upon receipt of the file on your Acrobat 5 CGI-connected computer, you can unhide the [Submit] button and submit the data to the database through the CGI.

Have you looked in the Adobe forums? There exist server-side third party solution providers also. Have you tried the forms toolkit? The forms toolkit works through a CGI interface. Note: it's Acrobat version dependant. Look at the employee demo. With a text database, it can read a record by record number, and write a record.

I have worked some of the pieces. Having trouble with the CGI part. My choice of CGI routine is Perl. With Perl, the toolkit, a Xitami personal webserver, and a Paradox 9 flat file, I can read a record. Fumbling at reading a record from my PDF form. The challenge is somewhere in my Perl CGI in routine with the Adobe FDF module.

Good luck.
Brian