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Bryan Patterson

Bryan Patterson

IBM

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Solution overview
  3. Creating the XML eForms solution
  4. Running the eForms solution with the Adobe PDF form
Created:
26 October 2009
User Level:
Intermediate
Products:
LiveCycle

Creating an XML electronic forms solution with an Adobe PDF form and IBM DB2 pureXML

This article guides you through creating a simple yet powerful eForms solution based on Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES and IBM® DB2® pureXML® that you can use to automate the collection, transmission, and storage of user data.

Forms are used in many different industries and businesses to gather information from customers or employees and initiate internal processes. Paper based forms processes are slow, resource intensive and imprecise and often require a conversion stage to input the collected data into computer systems. Switching from paper to electronic forms (eForms) systems can improve turnaround time, reduce resource consumption, and increase accuracy.

The eForms solution described in this article involves three components: an electronic form, a web service, and a database. Because all three speak XML, there is no need for complex data mapping or conversion steps between components. The XML data format used in this example implementation is a very simple structure but you can easily expand the format to meet specific needs or even base the format on one of the many XML-based industry standards for data exchange such as NIEM for government, ACORD for insurance, or FIXML for financial markets. This solution places the collected data into the XML business format at collection time and keeps that format throughout submission and storage for a streamlined process that culminates in the business format being stored in a database where it is available for downstream processes or business analysis. You can follow the steps in this article to build and run the three components needed for this efficient XML electronic forms data collection solution.

Requirements

In order to make the most of this article, you need the following software and files:

LiveCycle ES

Note: You'll need Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES, which is included in every Adobe LiveCycle ES installation. It is also included with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro on Windows.

Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro

Note: Alternatively, you can use Adobe Reader with Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES.

IBM DB2

Note: You can download and use the free DB2 Express-C edition which includes pureXML.

IBM Data Studio

Note: Alternatively, you can use a trial version IBM Optim™ Development Studio (previously called Data Studio Developer.)

IBM WebSphere® Application Server Community Edition V2.1

Note: This free edition can be installed integrated with Data Studio.

Prerequisite knowledge

Familiarity with XML, electronic forms, web services, and database concepts (DB2 in particular) will be helpful.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

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About the author

Bryan Patterson is a Senior Software Engineer at IBM. He is currently a Solution Architect responsible for developing integrated solutions with DB2 pureXML and other information processing software. Bryan has over 20 years of experience in the industry including technical and management positions in software development, quality assurance, market strategy, and product management.