The application is essentially a pdf display linked to a grid for data entry. I’m happy to consider an alternate way of implementing it.
I use Adobe XFA Form fields and I want to automate the filling process using a spreadsheet. The only way I can currently fill documents is in Acrobat Reader and I use the fields directly but they can be converted to normal form fields.
I’ve developed a process to extract the box coordinates and display then on the pdf with a grid so fields can be identified and attributes added before generating the form fields creating a pdf updatable in any pdf reader.
Coding the form is a tedious error-prone manual effort. DataMap points are currently filtered before points.csv is written to load into a displayed pdf. A right-mouse-click on the pdf brings up the [proof of concept] grid and selected record is highlighted. Optionally enter the field length and number of boxes or select a template for predefined field characteristics like grouping and finessed spacing.
Useful Grid features:
- load and save
- improve atrocious data entry
- context menu to toggle the row/column coordinate sort
- enter Template value from a dropdown list
- enter an
>to retain currently selected record allowing another record to be selected for field width calculation - enter either number of boxes or field length to calculate the other
- launch process to generate updated pdf form with fields
I’ve played around with the prototype a bit more, grid records linked to pdf points with the ability to toggle between row major order and column major order works really well (eg, select first box in a column on pdf then toggle to column major order from context menu and just fill in all fields sequentially). Efficient data entry is essential.
The proof of concept running under Windows 11 is not really workable.