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1. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
(Aandi_Inston) Apr 28, 2008 7:13 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Sure, PDF forms are possible. It is a huge subject... you could start
with the Acrobat Help, I'm sure that will leave you with more
questions for us.
Aandi Inston -
2. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 8:25 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Thanks...but here is the issue: I only have Standard, not professional...but if it can do this, I'll purchase the upgrade. Just to make sure you know what I mean...the patient could download the forms, fill them out and hit "submit" on the bottom and send to an email address or php. Thanks again. -
3. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
(Aandi_Inston) Apr 28, 2008 8:26 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Forms do require Standard. It's a BIG subject, so you could try
outlining your needs. There are a number of things that are NOT
possible, often due to deliberate limitations in the free Adobe
Reader.
Aandi Inston -
4. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 8:41 AM (in response to Mediadude8)I have standard and it says "to create forms you need professional" in the help section...maybe that's what you meant. Good point about the free reader version, which is what most viewers will have. Perhaps just printing out the forms and bringing to the dr is best...however I still need the Pro version to create the form... thanks. -
5. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
(Aandi_Inston) Apr 28, 2008 8:45 AM (in response to Mediadude8)When I suggested outlining your needs, I mean to be specific about
what exactly you want to with your forms, if you are able to create
them. This will help us tell you whether it is possible/easy,
possible/hard or impossible.
Aandi Inston -
6. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 9:31 AM (in response to Mediadude8)This is exactly what I need to do, right down to the email button on the bottom. Client would give me form and I would make it fillable in Acrobat...after that I have no clue. -
7. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
(Aandi_Inston) Apr 28, 2008 9:47 AM (in response to Mediadude8)This is, unfortunately, where a lot of people stop - and it's
important to continue from and know where you want to go before
starting.
You said "submitted online". This is the crucial part. What happens on
the server now? What do you want to happen? Why are you considering
PDF rather than the existing forms?
Aandi Inston -
8. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 9:55 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Thanks, the existing forms are just on paper now, so I would have to scan them and import into Acrobat Pro and make them form fillable. They can be emailed, which would be easiest for office to handle. Most medical offices say "print out and bring in with you", which is an option...they just asked if it were possible. -
9. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
(Aandi_Inston) Apr 28, 2008 10:42 AM (in response to Mediadude8)>.they just asked if it were possible.
If WHAT were possible? What did anyone have in mind when "submit
online" was suggested? The answer doesn't have to be technical, but
surely there was an idea that the user would click a button and
something would happen?
Aandi Inston -
10. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 10:50 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Thought I said it 3 times, they wanted it to be emailed to the office. -
11. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
(Aandi_Inston) Apr 28, 2008 11:06 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Well, you mentioned e-mail, but you also mentioned PHP - suggesting
you had an existing PHP in mind.
Ok, there are some major issues with e-mailing what I presume to be
medical forms. (I may be on a red herring here, but I do need to raise
this). E-mail is considered to be "like a postcard", visible to people
in transit. It is therefore not suitable for anything with privacy
implications. So if this is medical details of any kind I strongly
recommend you get in touch with a programmer experienced in medical
ethics and privacy issues.
Now, it's quite possible to have a web form (HTML or PDF) submit
information to a web server, and have it put together an e-mail. A
normal kind of submission is also "like a postcard". You would have to
use an https server, to which those receiving the data would also
connect to retrieve the personal data. A web programmer could
implement this - be sure they understand web security to a very high
degree to avoid privacy liabilities.
Now, Acrobat can make forms to be e-mailed directly. Even ignoring the
privacy issues, DON'T THINK OF USING THIS for any important form.
Aandi Inston -
12. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 11:18 AM (in response to Mediadude8)Thank you for that...you bring up a very important issue HIPPA. I think that would be a deal breaker for them, unless as you said they use an HTTPS site. Regarding php, my hosting company for my own site uses that to email feedback forms to me...so I just know of it. I truly appreciate your time and knowledge... -
13. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Bill@VT Apr 28, 2008 1:04 PM (in response to Mediadude8)There are several modes of submission, however for your need a submission through a web script is best, not an e-mail. There are many things that can go wrong with e-mail submission and it is not recommended. You can have the form data sent forward and then open the data in the PDF or parse it for use in a database. You will probably require assistance from your IT folks to get server scripts developed that would do the job.
On a trial basis, you could have the form data submitted in HTML format and submitted to a formmail (or CGImail) script on your server. That is the cleanest method for e-mail submission, but you are limited to HTML data in such forms. Otherwise, you can set up data to be submitted in FDF or XML format that can be read back into the form when received. The submission of the full form requires the saving of the form. You are limited by the standard license to no more than 500 such submissions - sounds like you have more needs than this standard # can handle. -
14. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Mediadude8 Apr 28, 2008 1:25 PM (in response to Mediadude8)Thank you Bill....actually I meant CGI, not PHP when I wrote this morning. I have to see if GoDaddy supports CGI scripts. It's a plastic surgeons office, I can't see them getting that much traffic, but you never know. Appreciate it. -
15. Re: Can Completed Forms be sent from a Website?
Bill@VT Apr 28, 2008 1:30 PM (in response to Mediadude8)It is not a traffic issue, but rather an issue of being able to have Acrobat or Reader deal with an e-mail client on varied machines. The machine has to be properly configured to do the e-mail properly. The CGI submission does not have this problem. If you are using full CGI and not a formmail script, you should be able to get the full data submitted and saved to disk. Of course you will have to be careful about naming the files that are submitted so there is no overwrite problem.


