How to read pdf form fields using Java ?

Question

Hi,

I've a requirement where user are going to fill lots of fields ( text field, check box, radio button ) on pdf form and they will mail us. I need to read each fields on pdf form and insert into oracle table.

Edit1: I'm trying following code, It generates pdf but when I double click it says "invalid format". What's wrong ?

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

import com.itextpdf.text.*;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class pdfGentest{
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Document document = new Document();

        try {

            PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream("c:\\HelloWorld.pdf"));
            document.open();
            document.add(new Paragraph("Hello World"));
            }
        catch (DocumentException de) {
            System.err.println(de.getMessage());
            } catch (IOException ioe) {
                System.err.println(ioe.getMessage());
            }       
    }
}

Fixed: Due to I've not closed the document..Adding document.close(); fixed the problem

Answer 1

You can use IText library to do that. Link =>http://itextpdf.com/

Sadly I don't have java code example for that as I am using iTextSharp library for C#.NET buts pretty straightforward.

You might want to check itextpdf.com/book/examples.php for examples. Also check the following link for some example on reading field values, http://itext-general.2136553.n4.nabble.com/Problem-Reading-Interactive-Form-Values-Acro-Fields-from-PDF-using-iText-td2171900.html

Answer 2

You can use PDF Box api, which will support to extract the fields information more clearly.