How to fill out a pdf file programatically?

Question

What techniques available to fill a pdf form automatically using external data and save them. I have to use data from a database to fill a template pdf and save a copy of it on disk with that data. Language and platform is not issue but it would be good if it can run on windows and Linux.

Any one can guide me through it or point to any article that might help.

Answer 1

you can use either xsl-fo (if you like xml and xsl-t) or lowegie's itext if you write java well.