Adobe Form output to Word.

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I have a requirement where I need to convert my Adobe form output to MS Word.

Any one accomplished this requirement, please share your views.

Thanking You All.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ankit.

your question is most interesting.

Adobe and Microsoft Word are different platforms.

there's the option of converting Word to Adobe but not the opposite.

if you want to create your forms in Microsoft Word there is a solution for that.

read these blogs here about the technology:

http://scn.sap.com/community/open-innovation/blog/2013/03/02/innovative-use-of-open-xml-with-sap

http://scn.sap.com/community/abap/application-development/blog/2013/03/08/what-is-open-xml

if you have some more questions please ask.

Ronen Almog

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ronen,

Thanks for the reply, yaa I have checked that I could get my output in word directly without adobe.

But the problem is that currently we are using adobe output at number of places and now we also need the output in Word.

So, at this juncture we can not conside for creating Word for all the adobe output, so what we can do, is to convert Adobe output to word.

It will be nightmare in maintaining these different Outputs (Word and Adobe) in terms of support activity.

Thanking You All.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ankit.

i suppose you use Sap as a data source to build Adobe forms.

if so , you also can use Word with the Open XML technology to create word documents

with the same data.

as i said , convert Adobe to Word is impossible

also for pros.

and this is not the right way.

So, think again about create Word from your data source

it's not impossible and horrible....

Ronen

[Former Member]

Hi Ankit,

either convert the adobe form to Word individually (in other words, one by one!), or you can turn to a java/.Net developer to write a web service to do it, then you can consume this web service to convert it.

The latter might be a general solution, because the java/.Net developer can also enhance this web service to convert other file format (bmp, jpg etc).

Cheers.

Tao Lin

[Former Member]

this  advise can be good maybe for an disposable solution

and just for a few number of documents.

i would not  have relied on a method like this.

Open XML known as OOXML is the best solution for a project

as this.

try to convert documents from one format to another

can be a lot of trouble and frustration.

[Former Member]

Hi Ronen,

On the contrary, I think using OOXML is only applicable for a few number of documents.

Because in such projects, it doesn't mean to "convert" adobe form into word, instead, it means the developer should clone the layout of every aobe form into OOXML individually. If there are too many forms, all the efforts of adobe forms will be doubled. What's more, in the future if news fields should be added to adobe forms, the double efforts should further be done! This will cause a lot more efforts and costs!

I think you might have underestimated Java. I agree that converting document format with ABAP could be a lot of trouble and frustration, but not for Java. Using Java APIs, we can convert file formats without thinking of the layout or new fields etc -> once done, (almost) always done.

I must agree, that converting PDF to Word might not be so precise as cloning Layout in OOXML, depending the APIs which are used. The end user might have to accept some small differences. In Comparison, converting Word into PDF should be perfect.

I have real project experiences using such Java web services to convert file formats, and have so far no trouble an no frustration :-).

Cheers.
Tao

[Former Member]

Hi Tao.

i fill that you don't really understand what i have said regarding using OOXML

with SAP.

i was able to produce thousands of Office documents using ABAP

in one batch run, and it takes about 0.2 seconds to produce a document

including it's rendering.

i suggest that you read my blog at Microsoft site

http://openxmldeveloper.org/blog/b/openxmldeveloper/archive/2013/02/13/innovative-use-of-open-xml-wi...

Ronen

[Former Member]

Hi Ronen,

I think you are an OOXML-expert and would like to make some marketing for it :-).

My understanding of the requirement is, it is not intented to use one transformation template to produce 1000 serial letter, but using 1000 templates to produce 1000 single documents. The point is the effort to create the transformation templates.

I never talked about or doubt the performance and the rendering of OOXML. I mean the effort to write the template for every single form and the support of the future change of every adobe form. Because I don't think the creation of transformation templates (I do have experiences) is quite a simple task.

Cheers,

Tao

[Former Member]

Hi Tao.

it's only need one transformation for all 1000 or like documents.

it is not such a complex as you think.

I believe in the Open XML technology

and it is used not only to Word,

but also for Excel and Power Point.

Open XML is a standard and it says a lot.

Java is also a great environment and i like it a lot

but for this purpose it does not give the solution.

Ronen

[Former Member]

Hi Ronen,

Sorry, I don't think so.

One transformation template is ONLY for "like documents" (e.g. all of them are purchase orders). It is the same with Adobe form -> one Adobe form for 1000 purchase orders.

But if there are several adobe forms, you should write for every adobe form a transformation template for future support and enhancements. That's the point that I meant, if there are only a few adobe forms, it is OK. Otherwise the extra efforts are too high.

I do have transformation template experience and I know  what it means. For simpe display of static data, the transformation is not complicated. However, for a real Adobe form, I must use a deep structure to cover and simulate all conditions and redo integrated SAP-logics like reading text elements, address number, converting every digit and date into certain format etc, which was originally done by ADS-Service in adobe form. But if the company has enough budget, I would keep silent...

BTW, I have nothing against OOXML, but I don't like the text-based transformation development envirenment of SAP. I couldnot get an overview of thounds of XML-lines for complex transformations without external tools, evenif it was written by myself.

Best regards,

Tao

[Former Member]

Hi Tao.

maybe you tell us what sort of Java API

you use for converting documets?

as much as i know about it, there are a lot of Api's.

do you use a specific one?

Cheers

  Ronen

[Former Member]

Hi Ronen,

Sorry, I'm not a Java developer. Searching a proper API is the task of Java developer. Some 3-party (stand-alone) programs can also make such convertion and we can call such programs using ABAP or Java. It's also a possibility.

Best regards,

Tao Lin

[Former Member]

Thanks a lot Ronen and Tau.....!!!!!!!!

Your guidance helped me to solve my proble.......!!!!!!