An interactive PDF form, also known as an AcroForm, is a collection of fields used to gather information interactively from the PDF document users. A PDF document may contain any number of fields appearing on any combination of pages, all of which make up a single, global interactive form spanning the entire document.
Using the HiQPdf library you can create PDF documents with interactive forms containing the following types of fields: check boxes, text boxes, list boxes, combo boxes, radio buttons groups, submit and reset buttons.
In this demo you can learn how to create a PDF form with various fields and how to submit the values entered in the form to a web page. You can choose what type of fields to include in form and also the URL where to GET or POST the values entered in form.
When the Submit button of the PDF form is pressed, the PDF viewer will make a GET or a POST request to the URL below function of the selected method.
When the selected method is GET the form fields names and values will be added as key-value pairs in the query string of the URL and they can be accessed in ASP.NET using the Request.QueryString collection. When the selected method is POST the form fields names and values will be posted as key-value pairs to the URL and they can be accessed in ASP.NET using the Request.Form collection.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using HiQPdfClient;
namespace HiQPdf_Demo.Controllers
{
public class CreateAndSubmitFormsController : Controller
{
// GET: CreateAndSubmitForms
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult CreatePdf(IFormCollection collection)
{
string serverIP = collection["textBoxServerIP"];
uint serverPort = uint.Parse(collection["textBoxServerPort"]);
string serverPassword = collection["textBoxServerPassword"];
// create a PDF document
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument(serverIP, serverPort);
// use server password if necessary
if (serverPassword.Length > 0)
document.ServerPassword = serverPassword;
// set a demo serial number
document.SerialNumber = "YCgJMTAE-BiwJAhIB-EhlWTlBA-UEBRQFBA-U1FOUVJO-WVlZWQ==";
// add a page to document
PdfPage page = document.AddPage();
// create true type fonts that can be used in document
PdfFont newTimesFont = document.CreateFontFromName("Times New Roman", 10, false);
// create a standard font that can be used in document
PdfFont helveticaStd = document.CreateStandardFont(PdfStandardFont.Helvetica, 10);
float crtXPos = 10;
float crtYPos = 10;
#region Add Check Box Field
if (collection["checkBoxAddCheckBox"].Count > 0)
{
// add a check box field to PDF form
PdfFormCheckBox checkBoxField = document.Form.AddCheckBox(page, new RectangleFloat(crtXPos, crtYPos, 10, 10));
checkBoxField.Checked = collection["checkBoxCheckedState"].Count > 0;
// common field properties
checkBoxField.Name = "cb";
checkBoxField.ToolTip = "Click to change the checked state";
checkBoxField.Required = false;
checkBoxField.ReadOnly = false;
checkBoxField.Flatten = false;
// advance the current drawing position in PDF page
crtYPos = checkBoxField.BoundingRectangle.Bottom + 5;
}
#endregion
#region Add Text Box Field
if (collection["checkBoxAddTextBox"].Count > 0)
{
string initialText = collection["textBoxInitialText"];
PdfFormTextBox textBoxField = document.Form.AddTextBox(page, new RectangleFloat(crtXPos, crtYPos, 300, 50), initialText, newTimesFont);
textBoxField.IsMultiLine = collection["checkBoxMultiline"].Count > 0;
textBoxField.IsPassword = collection["checkBoxIsPassword"].Count > 0;
textBoxField.Style.ForeColor = PdfColor.Navy;
textBoxField.Style.BackColor = PdfColor.WhiteSmoke;
textBoxField.Style.BorderStyle = PdfBorderStyle.FixedSingle;
textBoxField.Style.BorderColor = PdfColor.Green;
// common field properties
textBoxField.Name = "tb";
textBoxField.ToolTip = "Please enter some text";
textBoxField.Required = false;
textBoxField.ReadOnly = false;
textBoxField.DefaultValue = "Default text";
textBoxField.Flatten = false;
// advance the current drawing position in PDF page
crtYPos = textBoxField.BoundingRectangle.Bottom + 5;
}
#endregion
#region Add List Box Field
if (collection["checkBoxAddListBox"].Count > 0)
{
string[] listValues = collection["textBoxListBoxValues"][0].Split(new char[] { ',' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
PdfFormListBox listBoxField = document.Form.AddListBox(page, new RectangleFloat(crtXPos, crtYPos, 300, 50), listValues, helveticaStd);
// common field properties
listBoxField.Name = "lb";
listBoxField.ToolTip = "Select an element from the list";
listBoxField.Required = false;
listBoxField.ReadOnly = false;
if (listValues.Length > 0)
listBoxField.DefaultValue = listValues[0];
listBoxField.Flatten = false;
// advance the current drawing position in PDF page
crtYPos = listBoxField.BoundingRectangle.Bottom + 5;
}
#endregion
#region Add Combo Box Field
if (collection["checkBoxAddComboBox"].Count > 0)
{
string[] listValues = collection["textBoxComboBoxValues"][0].Split(new char[] { ',' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
PdfFormComboBox comboBoxField = document.Form.AddComboBox(page, new RectangleFloat(crtXPos, crtYPos, 300, 15), listValues, helveticaStd);
comboBoxField.Editable = collection["checkBoxEditableCombo"].Count > 0;
// common field properties
comboBoxField.Name = "combo";
comboBoxField.ToolTip = "Select an element from the combo drop down";
comboBoxField.Required = false;
comboBoxField.ReadOnly = false;
if (listValues.Length > 0)
comboBoxField.DefaultValue = listValues[0];
comboBoxField.Flatten = false;
// advance the current drawing position in PDF page
crtYPos = comboBoxField.BoundingRectangle.Bottom + 5;
}
#endregion
#region Add Radio Buttons Group Field
if (collection["checkBoxAddRadioButtons"].Count > 0)
{
PdfFormRadioButtonsGroup radioGroup = document.Form.AddRadioButtonsGroup(page);
PdfFormRadioButton rb1 = radioGroup.AddRadioButton(new RectangleFloat(crtXPos, crtYPos, 10, 10), "rb1", page);
PdfFormRadioButton rb2 = radioGroup.AddRadioButton(new RectangleFloat(crtXPos + 20, crtYPos, 10, 10), "rb2", page);
radioGroup.SetCheckedRadioButton(rb2);
radioGroup.Name = "rg";
// advance the current drawing position in PDF page
crtYPos = rb1.BoundingRectangle.Bottom + 20;
}
#endregion
#region Create the Submit Button
// create the Submit button
PdfFormButton submitButton = document.Form.AddButton(page, new RectangleFloat(crtXPos, crtYPos, 100, 20), "Submit Form", newTimesFont);
submitButton.Name = "submitButton";
// create the submit action with the submit URL
PdfSubmitFormAction submitAction = new PdfSubmitFormAction(collection["textBoxSubmitUrl"]);
// set the action flags such that the form values are submitted in HTML form format
submitAction.Flags |= PdfFormSubmitFlags.ExportFormat;
if (collection["SubmitMethod"] == "radioButtonGet")
submitAction.Flags |= PdfFormSubmitFlags.GetMethod;
// set the submit button action
submitButton.Action = submitAction;
#endregion
#region Create the Reset Button
if (collection["checkBoxAddResetButton"].Count > 0)
{
// create the reset button
PdfFormButton resetButton = document.Form.AddButton(page, new RectangleFloat(crtXPos + 120, crtYPos, 100, 20),
"Reset Form", newTimesFont);
resetButton.Name = "resetButton";
// create the reset action
PdfResetFormAction resetAction = new PdfResetFormAction();
// set the reset button action
resetButton.Action = resetAction;
}
#endregion
try
{
// write the PDF document to a memory buffer
byte[] pdfBuffer = document.WriteToMemory();
FileResult fileResult = new FileContentResult(pdfBuffer, "application/pdf");
fileResult.FileDownloadName = "CreateForms.pdf";
return fileResult;
}
finally
{
document.Close();
}
}
}
}