Adobe LiveCycle Designer - Databinding and distribution - merging of personalised data

Question

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can help me. I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 and LiveCycle designer and what I'm trying to do is create a dynamic form that I can send to a number of recipients with the recipients personal data (name, address etc.), pre-populated on the form.

Is this possible (with only Adobe Acrobat Pro and LiveCycle designer, not the rest of the LiveCycle suite)?

I can data bind my form fields to my database through LiveCycle Designer no problem. When I preview the form, I see the values for the first person in my database - what I need to do is distribute the form and change these values depending on who the form is emailed to?

From what I can see the data-binding and forms distribution build into Acrobat Pro and LiveCycle designer doesn't let you do this kind of mail merge type distribution, but I just wanted to check with someone who has more experience before I go and write a solution to do the merging and distribution myself.

Any help very much appreciated!!

Thanks

carok

Answer 1

This was easier a couple of years ago before Adobe chose to lock down Acrobat to its teeth. I think you'll find the last option the most appealing.

Server options:

• Generate and pre-populate the forms individually before e-mailing (either the form or a link to the form, for instance http://www.myserver.com/prepopulate/?userid=16&hash=...). You'll need LiveCycle Forms for this.

• Use a third-party plug to pre-populate the form. I don't know if this is an option since you're dealing with LiveCycle PDF:s (as opposed to AcroForm PDF:s).

Client options:

• Have the form invoke a web service providing the form with a particular user's data. You need to either Reader Extend your form or make sure the user has Acrobat Professional installed. "Reader Extending in Acrobat" won't do the trick.

• If you don't want to involve the LiveCycle suite: Generate xdp (data) files on the server, containing only the data and the URL to the PDF-form. One file per user. Each file can either be attached to an e-mail or generated when the user clicks a link in the e-mail. When the xdp opens up on the client side, Adobe Reader should automatically fetch the PDF from the server and use the xdp data to pre-populate and render the form.

Good luck!