Tech Blog

ColdFusion 8 lets you use the cfform tag to create PDF forms that contain static and interactive form fields. The cfform tag must exist within a cfdocument tag (where format=”pdf”). Only one cfform tag can exist within a cfdocument tag.

Completed forms can be posted to the server as an HTTP Post, or the entire PDF can be submitted as binary stream. If the PDF is submitted, you can use the cffile tag to save completed PDF form to a hard drive:

<cffile action=”write” file=”c:\savedpdf.pdf” output=”#PDF.content#”>

The output can be manipulated and extracted by using the tag.

Only the following cfform attributes are supported in generating PDF forms:

• action
• format
• method
• name
• onSubmit
• skin
• style

To embed an existing PDF form generated by LiveCycle Designer or Acrobat, use the tag.

<cfdocument format="pdf">
    <cfdocumentsection ../>
    ...
    ...
    <cfform type="html/xform">
        <cfinput type="textbox" name="employeeName" value="#fullName#"
readonly="true">
        <cfinput type="textbox" name="employeeID" value="#id#" readonly>
        <cfselect name="contributionPercentage" options="#optionsStruct#"
 required="true">
        <cfinput type="submit" name="SubmitAsHTTPPost">
        <cfinput type="submit" name="SubmitAsPDF" submitType="PDF">
    </cfform>
    ...
    ...
    <cfdocumentsection ../>
</cfdocument>