Very interesting that such forms are being circulated without testing forms filling. One shpuld have picked the issues prior to publishing the form.
Fingers crossed for the other form. BR Maruan Am Dienstag, dem 12.08.2025 um 17:29 +0200 schrieb Ulf Dittmer: > Thanks for the ideas. For that document I found that Acrobat Pro can > rename > fields, which then leads to them being stored separately, if a field > was > used more than once. > > But I have another one to work with, which seems to have another set > of > issues. We'll see :-) > > Thanks again for looking at it so quickly! > > On Tue, 12 Aug 2025, 15:33 sahy...@fileaffairs.de, > <sahy...@fileaffairs.de> > wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > I also had a look. A somewhat simpler approach which should work, > > at > > least for the fields I've looked at, is to add a T entry to the > > widgets > > which don't have a T entry in the COSDictionary. This would - after > > reloading - treat them as fields. > > > > The approach Tilman suggested is more complete and gives you more > > control. > > > > BR > > Maruan > > > > Am Dienstag, dem 12.08.2025 um 15:14 +0200 schrieb Tilman Hausherr: > > > Am 12.08.2025 um 14:50 schrieb Ulf Dittmer: > > > > For OBJ2 that makes sense, as it is the same info on both > > > > pages. > > > > But > > > > filling in any of OBJ4, OBJ9 or OBJ10 (to name just a few), > > > > that > > > > data > > > > appears on both page 1 and 3, in fields that have nothing to do > > > > with one > > > > another. > > > > > > OBJ4 is also on several pages (which is allowed). I opened the > > > PDF in > > > Adobe and entered my first name, and it then appeared on page 3 > > > at > > > the > > > "wrong" place, but that's the problem of whoever created (or > > > altered) > > > the PDF. > > > > > > I think what you really want is to consider "Is there a way > > > within > > > the > > > PDFBox API to dis-ambiguate those fields" as an isolated > > > question, > > > i.e. > > > create a new field for each of the extra widgets. > > > > > > Yes it would be possible. You'd have to create a new > > > COSDictionary, > > > copy > > > all the key/values (except kids, except T and AP), then create a > > > new > > > PDField from that dictionary, add one of the widgets (and delete > > > it > > > from > > > the original field), calculate a new "T" value (field name). > > > > > > I don't know if there is a commercial tool for this. It can > > > probably > > > be > > > done with PDFBox in less than a day. I might help for free but > > > I'd > > > prefer you try first. > > > > > > Tilman > > > > > > > > > > > > > > org.apache.pdfbox.examples.interactive.form.PrintFields only > > > > lists > > > > those > > > > fields once, but they do appear to be used on multiple pages. > > > > > > > > Ulf > > > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 12, 2025 at 2:41 PM Tilman > > > > Hausherr<thaush...@t-online.de> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > > > I don't see how these field names are double. Some of the > > > > > fields > > > > > have > > > > > several widgets, e.g. OBJ2 is on page 1 and page 3. This is > > > > > done > > > > > to have > > > > > the content on several pages. > > > > > > > > > > Tilman > > > > > > > > > > Am 12.08.2025 um 14:14 schrieb Ulf Dittmer: > > > > > > Hello- > > > > > > > > > > > > I'm encountering PDFs with forms that have non-unique field > > > > > > names. > > > > > > Sometimes fields with the same names are used for the same > > > > > > information (a > > > > > > useful scenario, making filling them out programmatically > > > > > > easier). But > > > > > > sometimes the same names are used for entirely different > > > > > > field > > > > > > purposes. > > > > > > > > > > > > Is there a way within the PDFBox API to dis-ambiguate those > > > > > > fields? Or > > > > > are > > > > > > there tools that can do this (we do have a budget, so > > > > > > payware > > > > > > would be > > > > > OK, > > > > > > within limits)? > > > > > > > > > > > > These are government PDFs, so we don't control their > > > > > > creation. > > > > > > But if > > > > > there > > > > > > is a way to edit them that addresses this, that would also > > > > > > work > > > > > > for us - > > > > > > the forms do not change frequently. > > > > > > > > > > > > http://ulfdittmer.com/Guide_TH.pdf is an example of such a > > > > > > PDF. > > > > > > OBJ3, > > > > > OBJ4, > > > > > > OBJ10, OBJ18 and OBJ24 are field names that are used twice. > > > > > > > > > > > > Any help would be appreciated. > > > > > > > > > > > > Ulf > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > ---- > > > > > ---- > > > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail:users-unsubscr...@pdfbox.apache.org > > > > > For additional commands, e-mail:users-h...@pdfbox.apache.org > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@pdfbox.apache.org > > For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@pdfbox.apache.org > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@pdfbox.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@pdfbox.apache.org
