Forms Designer

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   I was just curious if anyone has ever created a complete PDF forms designer using Quick PDF components? If so, is the source code available? 

Thanks
Wayne

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waynefulcher Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 23 Jun 08 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 99	Post Options Post Reply Quote waynefulcher Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Forms Designer Posted: 09 Apr 10 at 10:47PM
	I was just curious if anyone has ever created a complete PDF forms designer using Quick PDF components? If so, is the source code available? Thanks Wayne

Jack Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 03 Jun 09 Location: Lompoc, CA Status: Offline Points: 22	Post Options Post Reply Quote Jack Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10 Apr 10 at 7:23PM
	Just this month, there was a bit of a discussion about just this subject at http://www.quickpdf.org/forum/evaluation-help_topic1374_post6335.html?KW=#6335. I would bet that someone will take up this challenge in the future or it may become a tool or example of the QuickPDF library.

waynefulcher Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 23 Jun 08 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 99	Post Options Post Reply Quote waynefulcher Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 09 Aug 11 at 9:40PM
	Yeah... no the topic you posted the link to was simply referring to a Form "Filler" program, which I had already done using the same approach you recommended in that thread. I converted the flat pdf with no field values to an image which I used as my background. Then programmatically create edit controls and overlayed them where the input fields were defined within the PDF and scalled the size of the text box and font size based on zoom levels. What I am looking for is someone or multiple people who may want to create a joint venture for creating a PDF "Designer" where by the PDF can be created from scratch. Below would be the main overall goals I would like to accomplish which currently does not exists in the world of PDFs. 1. Make the PDF Designer either in Delphi code or at least a COM/ActiveX control which could be controlled with in Delphi. 2. Have the source for the pdf document be stored in the PDF file as an embedded file. This would allow the PDF to be simply copied from here to there and not have to keep the source file in-sync for a designer. 3. Of course the designer must only allow abilities visually that would match up with API calls inside the QPL so that when the designer outputs the PDF it can interuppt any UI design into QPL api calls. For example if the UI had a RichEdit control we would have to make sure it would render the PDF to look "exactly" the same as the UI of the RichEdit control. 4. At the very least I would want to be able to make static forms. This means any predefined text or graphics would never move and any input fields would have a predefined limited space for the value of those input fields. Later I would want to add the ability to make a dynamic form. This would be more like a Word document where static text may get shifted down based on the value suppied by an input field. Assuming the input field was a multi-line field where the text would wrap instead of being truncated. The biggest part of this project would be #3 above. Where would be an appropriate location for a "projects" area within this forum? It would be nice if this forum had a separate "projects" section for things such as this.

Ingo Members Profile Find Members Posts Moderator Group Joined: 29 Oct 05 Status: Offline Points: 3524	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ingo Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 09 Aug 11 at 10:15PM
	What about www.codeproject.com? To support a small project (perhaps for more then one user) there needs more than a new section. www.codeproject.com is mainly for things you suppose. Cheers, Ingo

Rowan Members Profile Find Members Posts Moderator Group Joined: 10 Jan 09 Status: Offline Points: 398	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rowan Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10 Aug 11 at 2:30PM
	What sort of project are you looking to build? Would it be open source or would it be closed source and just a discussion area for coding it?

waynefulcher Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 23 Jun 08 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 99	Post Options Post Reply Quote waynefulcher Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10 Aug 11 at 2:45PM
	I really have not thought a lot about it. I have not done any sort of formal research to determine if there is a high demand for the product. Also I was thinking it may depend on the amount of interested developers willing to contribute. Yet I see I would probably need to make that decision before I would know the interest. Kind of a catch 22 here. I was really thinking this would be a great addition to the product offering by Debenu. It seems like a natural fit. They could market the product as a PDF Designer that offers an API via QPL. I know I would buy it. Maybe Debenu could manage the project as a whole and developers that contribute could get a free license? I have programmed for 20+ years and much of that has been working with "documents" of many different formats. If you notice this thread was started a year ago. Every year I continue to search for a product like this and have yet to find anything. I have some ideas that I think could really have a widespread use. For now I am working on my own with this project. If I hear of others that are interested I will be glad to share my thoughts, code, etc, and we can see what we can make happen.