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RE: DBs and online forms

Subject: RE: DBs and online forms
From: Kelley Greenman <writinglists -at- inkworkswell -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:25:16 -0400


At 11:15 PM 10/4/2005, Andrew Wurzer wrote:

"He's interested in developing a way to have that information entered
directly onto an official app in PDF format, and it must look just like the
official app from BigLoanCo (which is why the PDF), without human
intervention."
Well, it is possible to do using the Import and Export Form Data options in
Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, but it's a bit less smooth on the end-user end
of things. I haven't done it myself, but my understanding is that you can
export form data into a .fdf file from Reader, and then import the .fdf file
into another PDF form (provided all the form fields match up in the new
PDF). This would enable staff to avoid inserting data into form fields
manually.

To do this, you'd have to have to create the PDF form, have the user fill it
out (from a web site, etc.), export the form data to .fdf file, and email it
to the correct source (presumably the staff of the mortgage co.). That user
would open up the target PDF and import the data from the .fdf file, which
would fill in the form fields. So as you see, it's a bit complicated for
the mortgage co.'s end-user. There may be additional ways to streamline
this, but I am not aware of them.

Not exactly what you asked for, but I hope it points you in the right
direction.

-Andrew

Actually, this is pretty much what he wants. It's a couple of steps for the mortgage co's end users, as opposed to the steps of opening e-mail, transferring text data to the actual form by hand. That can take half an hour -- but worse, it introduces errors (misspellings, transposing numbers, etc.)

So, even these two steps are a big improvement, in his view, saving him scads of time and keeping his staff zeroed in on the more interesting parts of their jobs.

Now what we need to find are the developers who want to turn this into an app, which he wants to pitch to people in the real estate industry and/or host it for them, so they can send customers to fill out forms online. I'm sure there are actually companies doing this already, though, so I suspect the more efficient approach is to partner with someone.

Thanks!


Kelley

(great domain name, btw!)

When you need to communicate, Ink Works!
http://www.inkworkswell.com
+1 (727) 942-9255

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Follow-Ups:

References:
DBs and online forms: From: Kelley Greenman
RE: DBs and online forms: From: Andrew Wurzer

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