JPedal PDF Forms Designer 0.8b01 - 31st March

Introduction

The JPedal PDF Forms Designer is the first of a suite of PDF forms tools for manipulating PDF forms. It's a brand new 100% Java, client-side application that allows users to graphically add, through a drag and drop mechanism, form fields, free text and images to new, and existing PDF documents.

Availability

The JPedal PDF Forms Designer is available now as both an online tool via webstart, and as a stand-alone download under commercial/GPL licenses.

Other tools and versions will be made available later in the year.

Keep Up With Developments

We will be regularly releasing updates with new features, bug fixes and an offline version for people who cannot access webstart.

Feedback

The Forms Designer is under active development, and therefore we really welcome your feedback, whether it be a bug report or a feature request, we would really like to hear from you. Click here to contact us, or here to submit a bug report.

Feature Set Includes

• Create new PDF forms from scratch.
• Add form fields to existing PDF documents.
• Edit forms components parsed in from existing PDFs.
• Add Javascript functionality to forms components.
• Apply a wide range of properties to form components.
• Fast intuitive graphical client.
• Drag and Drop interface.
• Customizable layout of windows through a flexible docking system.

 

JPedal PDF Forms Designer (Commercial/GPL)

DOWNLOAD latest version and source code.

Additional jar libraries required

• JPedal STD version 3.46b35 or later.
• Swing Layout.
• VLDocking and Source. GNU GPL compatible. See the the VLSoultions website for full details.
• iText. See the iText website for full details.

Help and further information

• Please email us if you have any problems or for more details.

Disclaimer

In no event shall the author, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute this program and documentation, be liable for any commercial, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program including, but not limited to, loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or losses sustained by third parties or a failure of the program to operate with any other programs, even if you or other parties have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

JPedal PDF Forms Designer Technical Overview

Introduction

The JPedal Forms Designer is an application, written in 100% Java, that allows the user to graphicaly add, through a drag and drop mechanism, form fields to new, and existing PDF documents. The tool also caters for the possibility for the user to add free text and images. It is anticipated that in the near future the ability to add shapes and annotations (such as notes, and Hyperlinks) will also be added.

JPedal PDF Forms Designer Functionality

Form fields which may be added, include Text Fields, Check Boxes, Radio Buttons, Drop-down Lists, List boxes and Buttons. Fields are completely customizable, for example, text colour, style and size are editable.

Pre-existing PDF documents which contain form fields may also be loaded into the JPedal PDF Forms Designer. Such files will be parsed by the software, and the user will be able to completely edit these components.

One of the most exciting features of the PDF, is the ability to embed Javascript. This provides document authors, developers and system integrators with the ability to automate and maintain their PDF documents. The JPedal PDF Forms Designer provides a mechanism through which Javascript may be embedded.

Completing the PDF

Once the user has finished designing the PDF, it can be written out to file. iText is an open-source library (available under the MPL) which allows low level access to new and existing PDF documents. This library is used to write out the completed PDF.

Summary

In essence, the JPedal PDF Forms Designer is a client-based point-and-click graphical form design tool for the creation, and manipulation of PDF documents. It sits on top of the iText library, which it uses to write out the PDF file, and existing PDF documents are displayed using JPedal.

 

JPedal PDF Forms Designer Tutorials

To help get you started using the JPedal PDF Forms Designer, we have made available several short video tutorials demonstrating some of the available functionality.

If you would like to suggest ideas for future tutorials please Contact Us and let us know!

JPedal PDF Forms Designer Overview
	In this demo we'll cover all the basics you'll need to get started using JPedal PDF Forms Designer. More...
Embedding Javascript
	The JPedal PDF Forms Designer allows JavaScript to be added to form fields, here we show how. More...
Import Existing PDF Documents
	Here we demonstrate how to load an existing PDF document into the Forms Designer, add content to it, and merge it with a second document. More...
Editing Form Fields in Existing PDF Documents
	Form fields in existing PDF documents can be edited with the JPedal PDF Forms Designer, in this demo we show how this can be done. More...

 

JPedal PDF Forms Designer

Introduction

We are delighted to announce that the JPedal PDF Forms Designer has now reached its second milestone - RC2. This version is largely a bug fix release, fixing several issues found in RC1. However, there are also some new features, please click here to see the changle log.

The JPedal PDF Forms Designer is still a work in progress, so you can file bug reports either on the forum here, or by filling out a bug report form here.

Additional Features

Additional features may be added on a commercial bases, please contact us for more details.

Running The Software

All you need to do to run the program is to click on the link below. As a webstart application, the software will check for any updates when run, so you will always have the latest release. Webstart uses port 8081, if this port is blocked by a firewall, please contact us and we will let you know when a stand-alone version is available.

Setup and Run the Webstart Application

 

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question which is not answered here, please email us and we will try to answer it.

General Questions

Q. What does the product do?
Q. What do I need to run the JPedal PDF Forms Designer ?
Q. Are you continuing to develop it?
Q. What if I need additional features?
Q. What platforms will it run on?
Q. Where do I go with any further questions?

Configuration questions

Q. Can I add new fonts to the default list?
Q. Where is the configuration data stored?

General questions

Q. What does the product do? 

The JPedal PDF Forms Designer is the first of a suite of PDF forms tools for manipulating PDF forms. It's a client-side application that allows users to graphically add, through a drag and drop mechanism, form fields, free text and images to new, and existing PDF documents.

Q. What do I need to run the JPedal PDF Forms Designer

JPedal PDF Forms Designer is written in Java and requires Java 1.4.x to be installed on your machine.

It requires some additional Java libraries which are automatically downloaded when run under webstart.

Q. Are you continuing to develop it?

Yes

Q. What if I need additional features?

JPedal PDF Forms Designer is under active development with regular new features. Please contact us if you require enhancements.

Q. What platforms will it run on?

Because it is written in pure Java it can run on any Operating System where Java is available. It was developed on several platforms.

Q. Where do I go with any further questions?

If you have discovered a bug, fill out our bug report form and let us know. We provide support as a commercial service. You can email us for further details.

Configuration questions

Q. Can I add new fonts to the default list?

Yes, under File -> Font Management. This will bring up a window where you can add new fonts.

Q. Where is the configuration data stored?

The is a file called .properties.xml store in your user directory which is created when the software is first run. This is where the configuration data is stored.

 

Change Log 2008

Here are details of all the official releases covering fixes and new features.

Changes in 0.8b01 (31st March 2008)

Summary Releasing the source code under the GPL Improvements in general usability and bug fixes

Changes in 0.7b01 (30 October 2007)

Summary Large number of general bug fixes Improvements in general usability Change log 2891: Add recent documents to File Menu Added functionality to allow recent documents (both imported PDFs and des files) to be opened from the File Menu 2934: Allow checkboxes to be grouped Checkboxes may now be grouped together in a similar manor as radiobuttons. This functionality is available both when adding new checkboxes to a document, and when parsing in an existing PDF. If when parsing an existing document it is determined that a checkbox is the child of a parent, it is assumed that, that checkbox is a member of a group of checkboxes. 2932: Splash Screen Implemented splash screen, with progress bar for initial application load up 2933: Add a progress monitor when importing an existing PDF document Implemented