How can I create a PDF with editable fields in BIRT?

Using BIRT 2.6.

Is there a way to generate PDFs in BIRT that contain editable form inputs that can then be saved as part of the PDF? Thinking similar to a Word document form.

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Comments

NEWUSER01

This is not possible using the current PDF emitter. We tried out this option but could not get it done in Maximo BIRT.

You could probably write a PDF emitter yourself to make it happen but the difficulty level would be quite high.

paulk

I had a similar task to perform out of access. What I did was I created a PDF with editable fields. Each field has is given a unique name as an identity. From the Access database, I created a script to build an .xdp file (text file with xml datatags) that references the field names on the PDF. Open the .xdp and it populates the named fields on the PDF with the specified data which you can edit and save. 
 
The xdp file looks like this: 
<pre class='_prettyXprint _lang-auto _linenums:0'>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xfa generator="XFA2_4" APIVersion="2.8.8118.0"?>
<xdp:xdp xmlns:xdp="http://ns.adobe.com/xdp/">
<xfa:datasets xmlns:xfa="http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/">
<xfa:data>
<name_of_form_object_in_LiveCycle_Designer>
<field1>some text value</field1>
<field2>525</field2>
<field3>2011-04-21T00:00:00</field3>
</name_of_form_object_in_LiveCycle_Designer>
</xfa:data>
</xfa:datasets>
<pdf href="C:/path/filename.pdf" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/xdp/pdf/"/>
</xdp:xdp>
</pre>
 
You may be able to host the pdf through a webserver and set the href to the http path but I have not tested that. Otherwise you must have the client download the blank PDF form to the directory specified in href prior to running the xdp. 
 
I'm not sure of the best way to save the xdp to the client machine. Maybe filestream object or just display the text and give instructions to copy/paste. I have not performed any file saving through javascript myself.

jacaboo

quick searching on Google brings me here.and Im currently working on PDF generating ,Does BIRT provide any pdf creating lib in .Net? If yes ,Plz give me some detail guide,thx in adv.as a beginner in PDF programming ,I just can't figure out which open source code is best suiting me, like <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.rasteredge.com/how-to/vb-net-imaging/pdf-creating/'>[color=#000000;]pdf creating component[/color]</a> and so many counterparts on internet.Any suggestion is appreciated.