Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

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Peter2
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Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Peter2 »

I come back to the discussion here:
viewtopic.php?t=39398

(What's the background:
My database can create dozens / hundreds of PDF as "Report", based on the data. The report is quick and can be defined, but the result is rather "silly".
Now I created a completely new PDF with all data as forms and fields which is feeded by a CSV, created with SQL from database. This is fine and flexible and OK, but a lot of work to define and to feed it with data.)

Now I'm searching a combined usage of "existing, silly PDF" and a section with some intelligent forms.)

Conclusion:
To "enrich" many existing PDFs with existing forms is a lot of work with low result.

Problem:
- One into many: I can "overlay" one PDF with forms into many standard PDFs. The result is many PDF with loss of form-functionality
- Many into one: I can overlay many standard PDF into a form-PDF. The result is one PDF with forms, but only one.
- Add pages: I can add one Form-PDF to many PDF. That gives good functionality, but always two pages instead of one. The next step could be a "merge page", but now I make a big page on base of two pages and not one overlayed page

Suggestion:
I think there is a common need for this feature: To enrich / overlay a "template with forms" to many standard PDF - see above.

Thanks and have a fine day.

Peter
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, Peter2

Is there are reason that simply Copy/pasting the form fields into the target document would not work? The watermark function is intended to place base content, and so it does flatten the content in the target overlay file, and that is not likely to change. With that said, since you would need to overlay the files one-by-one anyway, copy/paste of the form fields would allow you to perform your "many to one" process a fair bit more quickly, and you would retain the form fields as well, unless I am missing something?

I will also admit that I am a bit stumped as to why you would ever want to overlay multiple form field focused documents on the same page. Would it not be better to combine these documents so that the content and their fields does not conflict, and you have access to all of it on the next page?

Finally, on the topic of templates, currently we do not plan to offer templates, but in the future that may change.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Peter2
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Peter2 »

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 6:18 pm ..Is there are reason that simply Copy/pasting the form fields into the target document would not work? ...
It would work, but I want to avoid a manually Copy/Paste for dozens of pages again and again ..
TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 6:18 pm ..better to combine these documents so that the content and their fields does not conflict, and you have access to all of it on the next page?...
Seen from "functionality": yes. But our "base PDF" are DIN A4, but only on the upper part; the lower part is empty. For the forms we want to "overlay / add" it's the same. And out in the fields we use a Tablet with limited screen size. So - limited screen and semi-empty pages are not easy to handle.

But coming to an end - for me the current state is clear. I have to wait for some improvement.

Thanks for support!
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, Peter2

Yes, manually copy/pasting dozens of times would certainly be a bit troublesome. I will think on what we could do to try and help alleviate that for you.
I will admit to being more than a little confused why you have half sheets on hand in the first place though, why were these not initially created as complete forms, so you can simply pull out the intended form as needed, instead of segmenting them and needing combination steps like this that most software will struggle to perform in a simple and cohesive manner.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Peter2
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Peter2 »

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 6:05 pm ... why you have half sheets on hand in the first place though, why were these not initially created as complete forms,...
Because they are created by an external software which is not up-to-date and offers only simple configuration. This is why I have to enrich them.
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Peter2,

I am not sure if you tried this in the options you tested for the initial post - but do you need to add "static" content to the 'silly' forms?
Maybe you can take the silly form and add the static content to it as watermark so that the form fields remain active?

Or is it that you have form fields in both pages you are trying to merge so that is not really an option?

Kind regards,
Stefan
Peter2
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Peter2 »

It seems that my explanations are more confusing then helpful ..

Let's try an example: I add 3 "silly PDF" and a "form template".

How to "add / to merge / to copy" the form incl. its inteligence to the 3 silly PDF?
(as an example for 150 silly PDFs and a template with 20 forms - again and again ..)
my_pdf_form.pdf
(5.31 KiB) Downloaded 26 times
Silly_C.pdf
(4.11 KiB) Downloaded 19 times
Silly_B.pdf
(4.1 KiB) Downloaded 19 times
Silly_A.pdf
(4.08 KiB) Downloaded 21 times
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Peter2,

Thanks for the samples!
I can not think of a way you can automate this with the Editor, but maybe you can achieve it with PDF Tools.
To do so you will need to use the file with the form as the "input" document, and then apply your "Silly" PDFs as either overlays or watermarks. You can call a custom tool for PDF Tools from the command line and pass parameters to that:
https://help.pdf-xchange.com/pdfxt ... ons_t.html
So that it will still be "one file at a time", but you can at least automate the process.
You will need to have a way to grab the list of "Silly PDF" files and split that so that you can use one at a time as overlay.

Kind regards,
Stefan
Peter2
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Re: Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Peter2 »

Thanks, Stefan

I will try. For this time, this topic ca be closed.

Peter
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Suggestion: Overlay a form-template with standard PDF

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

:)
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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