Question

I would like to capture filled PDF form data from public facing website and save it in the database on the server. Is it possible?Please let me know.

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. You need a submit button on the form. In the properties of the submit button, select FDF as data type. Each field from the PDF document will have a name. Textbox1, Textbox2, etc. and you will receive name-value pairs. There are libraries available that will assist with processing the returned data.

I received the completed PDF document in my Controller (ASP.NET MVC application) as follows:

string filename = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath(rootPath), name);
using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.CreateNew))
{
    byte[] bytes = new byte[8192];
    int bytesRead;
    while ((bytesRead = Request.InputStream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) > 0)
    {
        fs.Write(bytes, 0, bytesRead);
    }
}

In this case filename is a temporary filename located in a temp area (rootPath) where I have write access. Another solution will be to write the file to a MemoryStream and then use that to send in email.