So you want to create the PDF from scratch? How about if you were able to 
create the PDF as a fillable form, then save it in a database so you could 
recreate it at will? That is what my Forms Generator does. You can then fill it 
using either Applescript on a Mac, or else by creating the FDF xml file on 
either platform. If the latter, then the PDF has to be created to look for the 
FDF on startup. This method will work even if you are using Reader. 

Applescript on the Mac does have commands for creating objects, but I have 
never used it. I just fill the forms because using the FDF method means if 
anyone edits the PDF, saves it, then reopens it, the FDF data will overwrite 
the saved data, so you have to delete the FDF file after the form is filled, 
which can take a few seconds. With Applescript I don't have to worry about 
that. 

Acrobat for Windows has a C and Java API for doing something similar, but it's 
my understanding that it is designed to work in a web environment, not as a 
standalone executable. I looked into it and determined it wouldn't work for me. 
All the sandboxing in place these days prevents it. 

Bob S


> On Oct 22, 2016, at 14:31 , Dr. Hawkins <doch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 2:13 PM, Monte Goulding <mo...@appisle.net> wrote:
> 
>> You could use XPDF to either:
>> 
>> - extract PDF text and print from LC fields
>> - extract page images and print those
>> 
> 
> I've been using xpdf and similar for decades for various purposes.
> 
> But what I need to be able to do is take the "official" pdf, put it on the
> screen, place fields & buttons on it to fill it out, work magic with those,
> and then send *that* as an output--in a way that there is no detectable
> variance between the original pdf and what Iput out, other than the extra
> information.
> 
> The closest way that I've conceived so far that livecode could possibly do
> something close is to turn individual pdf pages pages into png or jpg,
> stick that in the background, hide it for export, and then use a script to,
> page by page, merge my output with the original pdf, and then assemble
> those.
> 
> There are lots of things thatch go wrong in those last two pages of
> manipulations, as well as getting the alignment right being a nightmare.
> (if pdfs were as standardized as we like to believe, the alignment would
> be trivial--but they're not).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Richard E. Hawkins, Esq.
> (702) 508-8462
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