Licensing implication of using the Adobe Interactive Forms framework

[ChrisPaine]

Hello All,

I appreciate that this might be a slight change from the usual questions asked here - but I couldn't think who else to ask. So if you think that there is a better forum for this question - please feel free to hit the abuse button and ask a mod to move it to the more appropriate place - wherever that might be I'm also sorry if this has been dealt with previously - I had a search but couldn't find anything.

Disclaimers dealt with - here's the question:

The classes in the package SAFP are very powerful - they are used by the Adobe Interactive Forms to create PDFs and read data from submitted forms. Are there any license implication in using them?

It would be quite possible to use these classes to read data from an externally created PDF form. So I could by a licence for [Acrobat Pro |http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro.html] which includes LifeCycle Designer. Build my forms ( as many as I wanted no cost per form , host them on my server, get my users to complete the forms as required, then load the completed forms into SAP and use the framework classes to read the data out of the forms.

Sounds like a simple enough process - especially if there aren't any system derived fields or dropdowns that I need on my form. I'm mainly concerned about the offline usage of forms here.

So is there anything I should be concerned about with using the ADS to extract data out of non-SAP defined and licensed forms in this manner? Is this allowed? Does the ADS keep track of it's usage to read data out of forms and report this as a license breach? Or is it just that the license fees for using the framework - although sometimes seen as steep are minimal compared to the cost of employing someone knowledgeable enough to do that work

Thanks for you opinions/advice.

Cheers,

Chris

Edit - having actually tried this there may be some complications - although I could happily read metadata from a [non SAP created interactive form|http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Acrobat/9.0/Samples/interactiveform_enabled.pdf ] - run this through program FP_PDF_TEST_24, the same file in program FP_PDF_TEST_03 failed with an error. but that might just be the particular example I used.

Edited by: Chris Paine on Oct 19, 2010 3:32 PM

[former_member191062 · Accepted solution]

Hello Chris,

you can use the classes, this does not implies licensing costs. The licensing of Adobe Interactive Forms is based on custom developed templates and the number of users. Please contact the local SAP sales department on exact details.

The ADS can not extract data from PDF documents not created by the ADS. So you will not be able to get the data from external PDF documents using the ADS.

Best regards,

Dezso

[ChrisPaine · Accepted solution]

Thank Dezso,

I think that:

The ADS can not extract data from PDF documents not created by the ADS

sums it up nicely. If this is indeed the case - and I'll believe you that it is - then the licensing to read is not really important - as you must have generated the form to read it - and would need the license to generate the form.

The reason I asked the question was that in a different forum someone was suggesting that these classes could be used to read data from a PDF form - but they didn't caveat their claim with "PDF must have been created by the ADS". I though as much but I didn't have any way of knowing so. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

Otto - thanks for the reply - as you can see it wasn't as if I had a real need to do anything here - I just wanted to know what/if things were possible - using the learning power of SCN...

Thanks for the replies - and sorry to be so long in getting back to you both - your responses were both very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

[OttoGold]

Hello Chris,

I wonder if you´re only curious about it or work on a problem. If you know about Acrobat etc. I am sure you know about the webservices, iText and other options how to get data, manipulate PDF files etc. Or not? If you could describe your problem instead of asking a "question" I would be happy to help.

By the way, you know where you can find me, so do not hesitate to catch me in private if you need to/ want to.

Cheers Otto