If you want to allow users of Adobe Reader to fill out forms that connect to web services, those forms need to be enabled with Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions.

I thought that users of Acrobat could do it, but if you're saying that v. 6 Acrobat doesn't work, then maybe its only enabled in version 7.

Mike

I don't know what you mean, this isn't included in Acrobat Pro 7.

Here's the situation:
If you want people to submit web forms that connect to web services, they need to be running Adobe Acrobat Pro 7.

If you want people to submit web forms that connect to web services using the free Adobe Reader, you'll need to use Reader Extensions to extend your form. For a single form, its likely too expensive for you. Instead, use FormRouter's service at http://www.formrouter.com/pdf/readerextensions.htm to get the functionality that you need.

Mike

Tim:
Reader Extensions adds functionality to the PDF file, which Reader 7 can understand. Its a one time deal: you pass your file through Reader Extensions, and get a PDF file out with the functionality turned on. Then, anyone with the free Reader client can then use that PDF, with access to web services.

So, while your company has everyone on Acrobat 6, if everyone has Reader 7 (free) and the form has been Reader Extended using FormRouter's service, then you should be good to go.

If you're developing a simple form, and don't require the features of PDF (ie. print match web output), then you should look at Adobe Flex 2, which can provide you a nice looking Flash interface to the form, rather than a PDF interface to it. Check out http://flex.org for more information on Flex 2.

Mike

Hi Tim:
"I am of the opinion that the Reader Extensions should be included with Live Cycle Designer/Acrobat "Professional". Many people will purchase with the expectation that they can create an interactive form, and have it be universally accessible because it is .pdf. "
Yes, that's the opinion of many people. Unfortunately, many large businesses are still willing to pay for that functionality, so its unlikley that all the RE functionality will be built into future versions of Acrobat. However, Acrobat 7 does have some Reader Extensions in it - you can enable people to comment and review on documents using the free Reader tool, and Acrobat 8 expands on this by allowing Reader users to save form data locally (something that was available only in Reader Extensions).

"There is mush attention paid to the capabilities of designer, and the full features with the purchase of Acrobat "Professional" but in reality they require anyone you send it to to have also spent a nice chunk of change for a compatible version of Acrobat (even though they may have already spent tens of thousands of dollars on Acrobat 6 site license, which is our situation). "

Yes, but I'm not sure this is different from many other companies, who require that the client purchase expensive software in order to access their documents.

"Is this Reader Extension capability included in Acrobat "Professional" 8? We (my department) purchased a full retail single license of "Professional" 7 this month, now I can only find information on Acrobat 8. As far as I know there was no caveat that the great feature filled forms that we were promised would only be compatible with the latest versions of the pricey Acrobat product. "
There are many functions that Reader Extensions provides - allowing Reader users to access a web service is one of them, as is allowing Reader users to comment and review, as is allowing Reader users to save form data locally. The upcoming release of Acrobat 8 does not provide the ability to Reader enable a form to access a web service, but it does provide the ability for Reader users to comment and review and save form data locally.

I hope this helps. I'll pass along this information to the Designer Product Manager as feedback.

Mike

I wonder whether the real issue here is Acrobat version? Designer is
new technology: would it have worked if the end users had Acrobat
Standard 7? In which case this is just one of those cases where
everyone has to upgrade to have the latest features.

Aandi Inston

Rather than using Web Services for submitting forms why not just use "submit" (i.e. HTTP Post) rather than "execute" (Web Service)? Submit can be used from Reader -- only execution against SOAP/WebServices is limited to Acrobat (or Reader Extensions).

[Soap box comments:

I think it's kind of silly that "execute" is restricted but "submit" is unrestricted. Submission via HTTP Post is completely adequate for this task -- use of a WSDL defined web service offers little if any advantage for submission.

Adobe has done an extremely poor job documenting that "execute" is unavailable in Reader. I spent several weeks coming up to speed on this technology and developing a prototype. I had no clue my prototype wasn't going to work with Reader. I've gone back and reviewed the documentation and it's still not clear.

End soap box comments.]