Summary of steps
To render a form by value, perform the following steps:
- Include project files.
- Create a Forms Client API object.
- Reference the form design.
- Render a form by value.
- Write the form data stream to the client web browser.
Include project files
Include necessary files into your development project. If you are creating a client application using Java, then include the necessary JAR files. If you are using web services, then make sure that you include the proxy files.
Create a Forms Client API object
Before you can programmatically import data into a PDF form Client API, you must create a Data Integration service client. When creating a service client, you define connection settings that are required to invoke a service.
Reference the form design
When rendering a form by value, you have to create a com.adobe.idp.Document
object that contains the form design to render. You can reference an existing XDP file or you can dynamically create an form design at run-time and populate a com.adobe.idp.Document
with that data.
Render a form by value
To render a form by value, pass a com.adobe.idp.Document
instance that contains the form design to the render method’s inDataDoc
parameter (can be any of the FormsServiceClient
object’s render methods such as renderPDFForm
, (Deprecated) renderHTMLForm
, and so on). This parameter value is normally reserved for data that is merged with the form. Likewise, pass an empty string value to the formQuery
parameter. Normally this parameter requires a string value that specifies the name of the form design.
xfa:datasets
element. For information about XFA architecture, go to https://www.pdfa.org/norm-refs/XFA-3_3.pdf.Write the form data stream to the client web browser
When the Forms service renders a form by value, it returns a form data stream that you must write to the client web browser. When written to the client web browser, the form is visible to the user.
See also
Render a form by value using the Java API
Render a form by value using the web service API
Including AEM Forms Java library files
Forms Service API Quick Starts
Render a form by value using the Java API
Render a form by value using the Forms API (Java):
-
Include project files
Include client JAR files, such as adobe-forms-client.jar, in your Java project’s class path.
-
Create a Forms Client API object
- Create a
ServiceClientFactory
object that contains connection properties. - Create an
FormsServiceClient
object by using its constructor and passing theServiceClientFactory
object.
- Create a
-
Reference the form design
- Create a
java.io.FileInputStream
object that represents the form design to render by using its constructor and passing a string value that specifies the location of the XDP file. - Create a
com.adobe.idp.Document
object by using its constructor and passing thejava.io.FileInputStream
object.
- Create a
-
Render a form by value
Invoke the
FormsServiceClient
object’srenderPDFForm
method and pass the following values:- An empty string value. (Normally this parameter requires a string value that specifies the name of the form design.)
- A
com.adobe.idp.Document
object that contains the form design. Normally this parameter value is reserved for data that is merged with the form. - A
PDFFormRenderSpec
object that stores run-time options. This is an optional parameter and you can specifynull
if you do not want to specify run-time options. - A
URLSpec
object that contains URI values that are required by the Forms service. - A
java.util.HashMap
object that stores file attachments. This is an optional parameter and you can specifynull
if you do not want to attach files to the form.
The
renderPDFForm
method returns aFormsResult
object that contains a form data stream that can be written to the client web browser. -
Write the form data stream to the client web browser
- Create a
com.adobe.idp.Document
object by invoking theFormsResult
object ‘sgetOutputContent
method. - Get the content type of the
com.adobe.idp.Document
object by invoking itsgetContentType
method. - Set the
javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse
object’s content type by invoking itssetContentType
method and passing the content type of thecom.adobe.idp.Document
object. - Create a
javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream
object used to write the form data stream to the client web browser by invoking thejavax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse
object’sgetOutputStream
method. - Create a
java.io.InputStream
object by invoking thecom.adobe.idp.Document
object’sgetInputStream
method. - Create a byte array and allocate the size of the
InputStream
object. Invoke theInputStream
object’savailable
method to obtain the size of theInputStream
object. - Populate the byte array with the form data stream by invoking the
InputStream
object’sread
method and passing the byte array as an argument. - Invoke the
javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream
object’swrite
method to send the form data stream to the client web browser. Pass the byte array to thewrite
method.
- Create a