PDF Forms Technologies
Depending on project requirements and budgets, the PDF electronic forms solutions that we develop use one of the following two technologies.
Adobe LiveCycle ES
This technology supports sophisticated offline and online dynamic PDF electronic forms based on Adobe’s XML Forms Architecture (XFA). The XFA forms are developed using the “Adobe LiveCycle Designer” forms authoring tool and then rendered as PDF forms.
Since the release of LiveCycle ES4 in March 2013, XFA forms developed using Adobe LiveCycle Designer can also be rendered as HTML5 files as an alternative to PDFs. These HTML5 variants of the forms can then be deployed on mobile devices and tablets (iPads and Androids etc.) that support HTML5 browsers whilst the traditional PDF variants can still be deployed on PCs.
The technology also provides powerful optional backend server applications to assist with the deployment and management of forms and the processing of the data collected. LiveCycle ES has now been incorporated into Adobe Experience Manager solution and a range of videos explaining this further is available at http://tv.adobe.com/show/aem-livecycle/.
Customers for whom we have worked on providing forms solutions based on the LiveCycle ES technology include major pharmaceutical companies, multinational banks and UK Central Government departments.
Evenlogic eForms technology, based on interactive PDF Acrobat forms (Acroforms)
EForms is Evenlogic’s own PDF electronic forms technology. It combines the use of Microsoft .NET and Adobe Acroform PDFs to provide effective but inexpensive forms solutions. Depending on requirements, solutions can be configured in different ways. A typical solution might operate as follows:
A user fills in a form on his PC and, after successful validation, data submission is made to a server by email (i.e. the data file is attached to an email). Server software then processes the received email and transfers the data to a database for subsequent processing. Using the submitted data, a read-only version of the completed form is created server-side, stamped with a reference code, date and time and emailed back to the user as confirmation of receipt of the submission.
Customers that have been supplied with solutions based on the technology include the National Health Service (NHS), Novo Nordisk, the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) and the Rugby Football Foundation.
If Adobe Reader XI or the recent Acrobat DC Reader is used, part complete copies of forms can be saved client-side and returned to later for subsequent work. Acroform PDFs are also now supported on tablets (iPads and Androids) as well as PCs.
