Export and Import Interactive Form Data

• Apr 23, 2019
• 3 minutes to read

This topic describes how to export and import AcroForm data (interactive form data) in various formats.

Export Interactive Form Data

Before exporting interactive form data, make sure the interactive form contains fields with filled values. To learn how to fill an interactive form with values, see the How to: Fill an Interactive Form with Values example.

To load a document with the required interactive form, call the PdfDocumentProcessor.LoadDocument method.

To export interactive form data from a document to FDF, XFDF, XML or TXT format, call one of the overloaded PdfDocumentProcessor.Export methods with the specified data format settings.

The following example shows how to export interactive form data from a PDF document to XML format.

C#

using DevExpress.Pdf;

namespace ExportInteractiveForms {
    class Program {
        static void Main(string[] args) {

            using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor()) {

                // Load a PDF document with AcroForm data. 
                processor.LoadDocument("..\\..\\InteractiveForm.pdf");

                // Export AcroForm data to XML format.
                processor.Export("..\\..\\InteractiveForm.xml", PdfFormDataFormat.Xml);
            }
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.Pdf

Namespace ExportInteractiveForms
    Friend Class Program
        Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)

            Using processor As New PdfDocumentProcessor()

                ' Load a PDF document with AcroForm data. 
                processor.LoadDocument("..\..\InteractiveForm.pdf")

                ' Export AcroForm data to XML format.
                processor.Export("..\..\InteractiveForm.xml", PdfFormDataFormat.Xml)
            End Using
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Tip

A complete sample project is available in the DevExpress Code Examples database at http://www.devexpress.com/example=T491302.

You can also save the form data to the specified path and format calling one of the overloaded PdfFormData.Save methods.

To obtain interactive form data, call the PdfDocumentProcessor.GetFormData method.

See the code snippet below.

C#

using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor()) {    
      processor.LoadDocument(pathForPdf);
      PdfFormData data = processor.GetFormData();
      data.Save(pathForExportedData, PdfFormDataFormat.Fdf);
}    

VB.NET

Using processor As New PdfDocumentProcessor()
      processor.LoadDocument(pathForPdf)
      Dim data As PdfFormData = processor.GetFormData()
      data.Save(pathForExportedData, PdfFormDataFormat.Fdf)
End Using

Import Interactive Form Data

To load a document with an interactive form, call the PdfDocumentProcessor.LoadDocument method.

To import interactive form data either from FDF, XFDF, XML or TXT format to a PDF document, call one of the overloaded PdfDocumentProcessor.Import methods with data format settings or without them.

Note

The previous interactive form data is automatically removed from a document after the import operation is performed.

To save the document, call one of the overloaded PdfDocumentProcessor.SaveDocument methods.

The example below demonstrates how to import interactive form data from XML format.

C#

using DevExpress.Pdf;

namespace ImportInteractiveForms {
    class Program {
        static void Main(string[] args) {

            using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor()) {

                // Load a PDF document with AcroForm data.
                processor.LoadDocument("..\\..\\EmptyForm.pdf");

                // Import AcroForm data from an XML file.
                processor.Import("..\\..\\InteractiveForm.xml");

                // Save the imported document.
                processor.SaveDocument("..\\..\\InteractiveForm.pdf");
            }
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.Pdf

Namespace ImportInteractiveForms
    Friend Class Program
        Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)

            Using processor As New PdfDocumentProcessor()

                ' Load a PDF document with AcroForm data.
                processor.LoadDocument("..\..\EmptyForm.pdf")

                ' Import AcroForm data from an XML file.
                processor.Import("..\..\InteractiveForm.xml")

                ' Save the imported document.
                processor.SaveDocument("..\..\InteractiveForm.pdf")
            End Using
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Tip

A complete sample project is available in the DevExpress Code Examples database at http://www.devexpress.com/example=T491383.