How do I write to an Acrobat XFA form from Access VBA

The following two different methods should work for reading the values:

text1a = jso.xfa.form.form1.subform.FirstName.rawValue()

text1b =
jso.xfa.ResolveNode("form.form1.subform.FirstName").formattedValue()

And, the following line should work to modify the field value:

jso.xfa.form.form1.subform.LastName.rawValue = "NEW VALUE"

These lines are copies (I just changed the two variable names for the first
two lines) from an Excel VBA project I worked on last year. I just checked
with the current version of Acrobat XI (and Excel 2010) and the code is
working and will extract and set information in an XFA form.

You will need to understand how data is stored in an XFA file in order to
access data in the XFA format.

I appreciate your response, Karl, but I'm still not understanding the syntax. What does "form.form1.subform" refer to -- nodes? There's no field called FirstName on the form, but there's a field called "us-ids[0].#pageSet[0].IDSMaster[0].idshead[0].appNumber[0]".
I tried every combination of this construct:
jso.xfa("us-ids[0].#pageSet[0].IDSMaster[0].idshead[0].appNumber[0]").rawValue()
...and got this error...

This construct didn't work either...
jso.xfa.us-ids[0].#pageSet[0].IDSMaster[0].idshead[0].appNumber[0]").rawValue()

BTW, I'm using Acrobat 9.0 Pro Extended

Sorry, sent previous message too soon.
The 2nd construct I attempted was as follows:
jso.xfa.us-ids[0].#pageSet[0].IDSMaster[0].idshead[0].appNumber[0].rawValue()

As I said, these lines were taken out of an old project, and therefore refer to fields in a different form. You will have to use the field names that are in your form. I assume that the field names you are referring to are the output of iterating over the fields using the AcroForm syntax. This will not work for XFA forms, you need to use the fields names as used in the XFA form. By looking at your sample name, I noticed that one hierarchy name contains a dash - that would not be valid syntax in VBA (or JavaScript). This means you will have to use the resolveNode method of referencing your fields.

As I've explained on the Adobe forums, you will have to use the output of the following JavaScript command to figure out the path you need to use:

this.xfa.data.saveXML();

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This is not a simple task, and you may have to work through the documentation in the Acrobat SDK, plus the XFA specification to get this working.

I've requested that this question be deleted for the following reason:

The "Expert" basically advised me to read the reference guide. I don't consider that an answer.

Really, I only advised you to read the reference manual?!? I've given you sample code to retrieve values and to set values in XFA forms, I've also given you a command that allows you to analyze the data stored in the XFA file, which you will need to access the field data, and in addition to that, I also advised you to read the documentation, because no programming job can be completed by just copying and pasting information, you will have to understand what you are doing. The information I provided should give you a headstart in understanding the documentation.

OK, I'll narrow my objective down to one field on the form, called "appNumber". Here's a snapshot of the hierarchy:


I executed the following from inside VBA (the JS console was already open):

jso.console.println ("Application number = " + jso.xfa.resolvenode("form.us-ids.IDSMaster.idsHead.appNumber").formattedValue())

It threw Error 424 "Object required".

I tried executing this command from inside the JS Console:
 

console.println("Application number = " + this.xfa.resolvenode("form.us-ids.IDSMaster.idsHead.appNumber").formattedValue());

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and got a "this.xfa has no properties" error. Obviously, I don't know how to load the PDF doc into the Console and define "this". If you could give me the javascript code to open the document and retrieve this single value that would be enough to get me over the hump.

Open your XFA form in Acrobat and then execute this command in the JS console:

this.xfa.data.saveXML();

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What is the output?

this.xfa.data.saveXML();
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xfa:data xmlns:xfa="http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/"
><us-ids date-produced="20050902" dtd-version="v20_EFSWeb" file="" lang="" status=""
><us-filing-info
><us-application-identification-info
><doc-number
>14297823</doc-number
><date
>2014-06-06</date
></us-application-identification-info
><us-first-named-inventor
><name name-type=""
>John Doe</name
></us-first-named-inventor
><file-reference-id
>7017.104</file-reference-id
><us-group-art-unit
>2833</us-group-art-unit
><primary-examiner
><name name-type=""
/><electronic-signature date="" place-signed=""
><basic-signature
><text-string
/></basic-signature
></electronic-signature
></primary-examiner
></us-filing-info
><us-ids-certification text="1"
><us-foreign-pat-office-citation text="0"
/><us-new-findings text="0"
/><us-certification-statement-attached boilerplate-text="0" file="" type=""
/><us-fee-submitted boilerplate-text="0"
/><applicant-name
><name name-type=""
>Jack D. Stone, Jr.</name
><registered-number
>38,324</registered-number
></applicant-name
><electronic-signature date="2014-11-18" place-signed=""
><basic-signature
><text-string
>/Jack D. Stone, Jr./</text-string
></basic-signature
></electronic-signature
></us-ids-certification
><us-patent-cite
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="1" sequence=""
><doc-number
>0793399</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Schultz, W.J.F</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1905-06-27</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="2" sequence=""
><doc-number
>0867624</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Warthen, H.J.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1907-10-08</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="3" sequence=""
><doc-number
>0937577</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Crump, F.H.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1909-10-19</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="4" sequence=""
><doc-number
>1078007</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Stange, Ottomar</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1913-11-11</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="5" sequence=""
><doc-number
>1988813</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Seguin, O.J.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1935-01-22</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="6" sequence=""
><doc-number
>2485280</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Grace, J.F.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1949-10-18</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="7" sequence=""
><doc-number
>3563131</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Ridley Sr., Robert L.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1971-02-16</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="8" sequence=""
><doc-number
>4111568</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Wing, George S.  </name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1978-09-05</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="9" sequence=""
><doc-number
>4635337</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Helderman, J. Frank</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1987-01-13</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="10" sequence=""
><doc-number
>4784554</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Break, Douglas G.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1988-11-15</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="11" sequence=""
><doc-number
>5030052</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Anderson et al.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1991-07-09</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="12" sequence=""
><doc-number
>5860548</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Kerr, Jr., Jack R. </name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1999-01-19</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="13" sequence=""
><doc-number
>5907124</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1999-05-25</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="14" sequence=""
><doc-number
>5965845</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>1999-10-12</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="15" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6096974</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>2000-08-01</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="16" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6204450</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>A</kind
><date
>2001-03-20</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="17" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6207898</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>B1</kind
><date
>2001-03-27</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="18" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6207989 </doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Li et al.</name
><kind
>B1</kind
><date
>2001-03-27</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="19" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6291768</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>B1</kind
><date
>2001-09-18</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="20" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6303859</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>B1</kind
><date
>2001-10-16</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="21" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6423899</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Reiker, Kenneth H.</name
><kind
>B1</kind
><date
>2002-07-23</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="22" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6811364</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Kelzer, Ken</name
><kind
>B2</kind
><date
>2004-11-02</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="23" sequence=""
><doc-number
>6910826</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Damiano, Armand A.</name
><kind
>B1</kind
><date
>2005-06-28</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="24" sequence=""
><doc-number
>7985041</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Lin, Jin-Jie</name
><kind
>B2</kind
><date
>2011-07-26</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_2" num="25" sequence=""
><doc-number
>8109785</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Kidman, Brent L.</name
><kind
>B2</kind
><date
>2012-02-07</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
></us-patent-cite
><us-pub-appl-cite
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_3" num="1" sequence=""
><doc-number
>20020197132</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Cruz et al.</name
><kind
>A1</kind
><date
>2002-12-26</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_3" num="2" sequence=""
><doc-number
>20040057811</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Kelzer, Ken</name
><kind
>A1</kind
><date
>2004-03-25</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_3" num="3" sequence=""
><doc-number
>20060036259</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Carl et al.</name
><kind
>A1</kind
><date
>2006-02-16</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_3" num="4" sequence=""
><doc-number
>20100086378</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Lin, Jin-Jie</name
><kind
>A1</kind
><date
>2010-04-08</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
><us-doc-reference id="dd:id_3" num="5" sequence=""
><doc-number
>20130215381</doc-number
><name name-type=""
>Raghuprasad, Puthalath K. </name
><kind
>A1</kind
><date
>2013-08-22</date
><class
/><subclass
/></us-doc-reference
></us-pub-appl-cite
><us-foreign-document-cite
><us-foreign-doc-reference id="1" num="" sequence="" translation-attached="no"
><country
/><doc-number
/><name name-type=""
/><date
/><class
/><subclass
/></us-foreign-doc-reference
></us-foreign-document-cite
><us-nplcit file="" id="1" medium="" num="" sequence="" translation-attached="no" type="" url=""
><text
/></us-nplcit
><version-info
>2.1</version-info
><clientversion
>9</clientversion
><numofpages
>6</numofpages
></us-ids
></xfa:data
>

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As you can see, the field "appNumber" is not reflected in that XML data. The field is using a data binding, which makes things a bit more complex. However, when you analyze the data that is in the XML, you find that you can actually reference the application ID via this JavaScript construct:

MsgBox (jso.xfa.resolveNode("data.us-ids.us-filing-info.us-application-identification-info.doc-number").value)

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Thank you, Karl. We are making some progress. This construct worked from the JS Console...

xfa.resolveNode("data.us-ids.us-filing-info.us-application-identification-info.doc-number").value;
14297823

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I was also able to change the value...

xfa.resolveNode("data.us-ids.us-filing-info.us-application-identification-info.doc-number").value = "12345678";
12345678

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Changed to...

But this did not work from VBA (both debug.print and console print threw the same error)...

Is there another way to pass the values to javascript and execute from VBA?

Also, I'm curious as to why the XDP hierarchy is completely different from the XML hierarchy?

Thanks!
Doc-Number-From-JSConsole.png

As to why the two are different - this is because of the data binding in the XFA form. I would not have done it this way, but I guess the document author had a good reason.

You can create a folder level script in Acrobat and then call that script from VB. Take a look at this blog post of mine that explains how to do that:

http://khkonsulting.com/2009/03/counting-bookmarks/

Are you working with the form from the government web site? I downloaded that and that's how I verified that my VBA code was working.

As to why the two are different - this is because of the data binding in the XFA form. I would not have done it this way, but I guess the document author had a good reason.

What is normally the difference between an XDP and the XML?

You can create a folder level script in Acrobat and then call that script from VB. Take a look at this blog post of mine that explains how to do that:

I will try that, thank you. Having never worked with JS before, this is a whole new learning experience for me.

Are you working with the form from the government web site? I downloaded that and that's how I verified that my VBA code was working.

Yes, it's the PTO form from their site, with some test data filled in. I've attached it here.
PTO-IDS-FillableForm.pdf

Another question...
I just tried the exact same script as before and now it's telling me that it's "undefined"...

xfa.resolveNode("data.us-ids.us-filing-info.us-application-identification-info.doc-number").value;

undefined

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What happened?

I just tried the exact same script as before and now it's telling me that it's "undefined"...

I figured this one out. I inserted another command into the Console that threw an error and it went into debug mode. The Call Stack has to be cleared out before it'll accept another command.

Any idea why I'm getting the error in VBA?

Actually, "undefined" is a good thing :)

Whenever you execute a script in the console, the return value will be written to the console. If you for example execute a "script" that contains just a number (e.g. "3"), the return value will be that number. When you execute "3 + 4", the result of that calculation will be returned and printed. Some commands don't return anything, for such a command, you would get an "undefined". The command "this.flattenPages();" will return "undefined" when executed, but it will definitely do it's job and flatten the document.

As for the "difference between XDP and XML": XML is a whole group of languages or syntax for languages. XDP is one specific implementation of XML. XDP is used to describe a XFA form in XML, you can write out the complete form as an XDP file, or a PDF file (and some other formats). That’s the complete form. When you use the "SaveXML()" call, only the data is written out, using a very simple flavor of XML. You get only the data, nothing else, no formatting information, no data binding information, nothing else but the data.  


Hope that helps.

Yes, thank you for the explanation.

More questions:
1. I read your blog on how to execute a JS function from inside VBA. I used the same syntax you used, wrapping it in a MsgBox command: MsgBox ReadIDS(). This worked, but it also pops up an empty MsgBox. Do you know of another way to execute the function from inside VBA?

2. Does the JS function have to be stored in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Javascripts? It pops up an Administrator warning, which I can Continue but when I write out the script to that location from code it throws a Permission Denied error.

3. I'll be passing in many different fields each time I produce the form. I can re-construct the script each time by writing out the entire text file complete with the ResolveNode commands, but is there an easier way to populate the variables?

Thank you.

I was ready to throw in the towel because I got no usable answer from Karl. But through persistent questioning he gradually spooled out enough bits of information that I was able to cobble together a solution. It wasn't the result I was hoping for, but I at least got something workable.