PDF forms

"gbell" <removethisfirstgbell.DeleteThis@bellcomsoftware.com> wrote in message
news:9SUSb.197354$xy6.1016818@attbi_s02...
 > I have some forms and applications that are in .pdf format. Is there a
way
 > to convert the pdf file into a online fillable form and have the results
 > emailed?
 > I was going to re-create the forms and use php but if I could somehow
 > convert the existing pdf docs into something that can be submitted online
 > that would save me a lot of work.
 >
 > Also I have a form that will be downloaded, some personal info entered,
 > signed by the customer and then faxed back to the business. Do I need to
 > convert the forms so that the customers could fill in information in the
pdf
 > doc and then print it out and sign it? When I open the doc I can't enter
 > text on any of the lines. Do you have to have the pro version of acrobat
 > reader to be able to enter data on the form or is it how the form is
 > created?
 >
 > They could just print the doc and fill in the blanks but I was just
 > wondering how I could fill in some of the blanks while opened on the
 > computer before printing?
 >
 > thanks,
 > -GB

So, you want a form, huh?
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://htmlgoodies.com/tutors/fm.html" target="_blank">http://htmlgoodies.com/tutors/fm.html</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

I can create the html forms I was just wondering if I could use the existing
pdf files for a form to save me some time.

Maybe using pdf files for forms is a bad idea and I have never tried but I
noticed I can insert form fields and submit the form with formmail.

I can insert a submit button that sends the form but I was not sure where to
put the recipient, subject and redirect fields in a pdf file as you would in
an html page.
<input type=hidden name="recipient" value="email">
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="email_subject">
<input type=hidden name="redirect" value="thanks.htm">

I use the above in html but can it be used in pdf also?

Thanks
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

You can do this with PDF forms, but I haven't found a free way. You
will either need Adobe Acrobat (the full version, not the reader) or
one of the lower cost alternatives:

PDFEditor <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.pdfeditor.net/" target="_blank">http://www.pdfeditor.net/</a>
PDF Typewriter <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ctdeveloping.com/ctdeveloping/products/pdftypewriter_info.asp" target="_blank">http://www.ctdeveloping.com/ctdeveloping/products/pdftypewriter_info.asp</a>
PDF Maker Pilot <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.colorpilot.com/download.html" target="_blank">http://www.colorpilot.com/download.html</a>


Please let me know if anyone knows of other alternatives!




"gbell" <removethisfirstgbell RemoveThis @bellcomsoftware.com> wrote in message news:<yIZSb.198967$xy6.1023335@attbi_s02>...
 > I can create the html forms I was just wondering if I could use the existing
 > pdf files for a form to save me some time.
 >
 > Maybe using pdf files for forms is a bad idea and I have never tried but I
 > noticed I can insert form fields and submit the form with formmail.
 >
 > I can insert a submit button that sends the form but I was not sure where to
 > put the recipient, subject and redirect fields in a pdf file as you would in
 > an html page.
 > <input type=hidden name="recipient" value="email">
 > <input type=hidden name="subject" value="email_subject">
 > <input type=hidden name="redirect" value="thanks.htm">
 >
 > I use the above in html but can it be used in pdf also?
 >
 > Thanks<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

 > I can insert a submit button that sends the form but I was not sure where
to
 > put the recipient, subject and redirect fields in a pdf file as you would
in
 > an html page.
 > <input type=hidden name="recipient" value="email">
 > <input type=hidden name="subject" value="email_subject">
 > <input type=hidden name="redirect" value="thanks.htm">

You might not wana do it this way because you would be exposing the
recipient's email to spammers that gathers email addresses from the web and
soon you would have tons and I mean tons of spam coming in. If you are
going to have an form on a webpage, use a script to email the form with the
recipient's email hard coded in the script and that way spammer would not be
able to get to it easily.

Irfan
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.irfanafzal.com" target="_blank">http://www.irfanafzal.com</a>
Web development done right!<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

Irfan Afzal wrote:

 > If you are
 > going to have an form on a webpage, use a script to email the form with the
 > recipient's email hard coded in the script and that way spammer would not be
 > able to get to it easily.

Also, formail scripts that require the recipient's email address to be
sent in from a form can be used as open relays. They can be exploited by
spammers to send tons of spam courtesy of your formmail script. This may
violate yout host's TOS.

--Scott<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

All the hosts I use have the formmail or something similar already
preinstalled. I thought they could patch the script to prevent unauthorized
use?

 > Also, formail scripts that require the recipient's email address to be
 > sent in from a form can be used as open relays. They can be exploited by
 > spammers to send tons of spam courtesy of your formmail script. This may
 > violate yout host's TOS.
 >
 > --Scott
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

gbell wrote:

  >> Also, formail scripts that require the recipient's email address to
  >> be sent in from a form can be used as open relays. They can be
  >> exploited by spammers to send tons of spam courtesy of your
  >> formmail script. This may violate yout host's TOS.

 > All the hosts I use have the formmail or something similar already
 > preinstalled. I thought they could patch the script to prevent
 > unauthorized use?

Possibly, but you don't know. If the script is supplied by your host,
you probably won't be TOSed for using it.

But the bottom line is that if your form has a hidden field that
specifies the recipient of the email, I can spoof the script into
sending email to anyone I want to send email to. I can use your script
to send email to multiple recipients, or even to send information about
the system to myself, such as the contents of password files, etc. It
all depends on how the script is written.

What you need to keep in mind is that I don't have to use your form to
call the script. I can create my own form, or just send your script
whatever I want to send it URL encoded. I can even create a script that
will read email addresses from a database and make your script send an
email to each of those addresses. Spammers continually looking for
poorly written form mail scripts to exploit this way.

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.securityfocus.com/corporate/research/top10attacks_q1_2002.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.securityfocus.com/corporate/research/top10attacks_q1_2002.shtml</a>

If the script has your email address hard-coded into it, it will only
send email to you.

--Scott<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

gbell wrote:
  >> Also, formail scripts that require the recipient's email address to
  >> be sent in from a form can be used as open relays. They can be
  >> exploited by spammers to send tons of spam courtesy of your formmail
  >> script. This may violate yout host's TOS.
  >>
 > All the hosts I use have the formmail or something similar already
 > preinstalled. I thought they could patch the script to prevent
 > unauthorized use?
 >
The scripts preinstalled for your use are probably (they should be) already
secured against abuse by keeping the target address in the script and not in
the form.

However it is unlikely your host can (or will) monitor your own scripts -
it is your responsibility to ensure you don't leave a script open to abuse.
--
William Tasso<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms 

"Steve Veltkamp" <bizshop.TakeThisOut@bizshop.com> wrote in message
news:9c35fd65.0402011025.6dcf581d@posting.google.com...
 > You can do this with PDF forms, but I haven't found a free way. You
 > will either need Adobe Acrobat (the full version, not the reader) or
 > one of the lower cost alternatives:
 >
<font color=purple> > PDFEditor <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.pdfeditor.net/</font" target="_blank">http://www.pdfeditor.net/</font</a>>
 > PDF Typewriter
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ctdeveloping.com/ctdeveloping/products/pdftypewriter_info.asp" target="_blank">http://www.ctdeveloping.com/ctdeveloping/products/pdftypewriter_info.asp</a>
<font color=purple> > PDF Maker Pilot <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.colorpilot.com/download.html</font" target="_blank">http://www.colorpilot.com/download.html</font</a>>
 >
 >
 > Please let me know if anyone knows of other alternatives!

Plenty of free stuff out there if you use linux<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: PDF forms