PDF output in XML format

Using ColdFusion 8 you can extract data from a PDF form and in XML format.

 

To get the output of a PDF file to an XML format, you can use the “read” action of the cfpdfform tag, as shown in the following example:

 

<cfset sourcefile = "#ExpandPath('../formsamples/UpdatedApplication.pdf')#">

<cfpdfform source="#sourcefile#" action="read" xmldata="mydata">

</cfpdfform>

<cfdump var = "#mydata#">

 

Advantages: To save disk space, you can delete the PDF file and maintain the data in a XML data file.

 

Keep the blank PDF form of the source file, you can use the populate action to regenerate the PDF file.