Concatenating xfa forms is not allowed

Hello,

I am currently using Aspose Total for .NET Q3 2010 (with PDF.Kit Version 4.8). I am opening a PDF File that includes forms, filling in data in the forms, flattening the fields, and then concatenating to an output PDF file.

The problem is when I try to concatenate the second PDF to the first I get an error “Concatenating xfa forms is not allowed.” This code works well with PDF.Kit Version 3.2.



Why am I not allowed to concatenate these files anymore?
Thanks!

Don Tompkins

Hello Don,

Thanks for using our products.

Can you please share the source PDF documents and the code snippet that you are using, so that we can test the scenario at our end. We apologize for your inconvenience.

Here is a sample windows application and three pdf files. Select one of the pdf files as a template.

Thanks,

Don Tompkins

Is there a status update on this issue?

Thanks!

Don Tompkins

Hello Don,

Sorry for replying you late.

I have tested the scenario using Aspose.Pdf.Kit for .NET 4.9.0 where I have filled sample data in each form document and have called FlattenAllFields(...) method and finally have tried concatenating the resultant PDF documents and I am unable to notice any problem. The resultant PDF that I have generated is also in attachment, please take a look.

Can you please try using the latest release version of Aspose.Pdf.Kit for NET 4.9.0 and in case you still face any problem or you have any further query, please feel free to contact. We apologize for your inconvenience.

Hello,

I tried using version 4.9 and adding FlattenAllFields() and I still get the same error. Are you using my code sample I sent? If not then can you please send me what you used so I can try to determine if I am doing something wrong?

Thanks!

Don Tompkins

Hi Don,

We’re trying to reproduce this issue using your sample. Please spare us some time and you’ll be updated with the results accordingly.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards,

Hi Don,

I have reproduced the issue using your particular sample and logged it as PDFKITNET-21262 in our issue tracking system. Our team will look into this issue and you’ll be updated via this forum thread once it is resolved.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards,

Is there any update on this issue? We recently upgraded from Aspose.Pdf.Kit 3.1 to 5.1 and are now seeing “Concatenating XFA forms is not allowed” in certain situations.


Is there any way to work around this programatically?

Thanks.

Hi Patrick,

I’m sorry to inform you that this issue is not yet resolved. Our team is looking into this issue and you’ll be notified via this forum thread once it is resolved.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any further questions, please do let us know.
Regards,

Hello,

Any word on an update for this issue yet?

Thanks,

Don Tompkins

Hi Don,

I’m afraid, this issue is not yet resolved. I have asked our team to provide the ETA. You’ll be updated with the status the earliest possible.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards,

Hi Don,

Our team has further investigated this issue and I would like to inform you that the fix for this issue will be available at the end of the February or early March 2011. You’ll be notified via this forum thread once it is resolved.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards,


We'll also be needing this fix at Spitfire - hopefully this posting will be enough to get us notified when it becomes available

Hi Stan,

Yes, you’ll also get a notification as soon as the fix is available for this issue, as you’re also a participant of this thread.

Regards,

Hello,

We are now 2 months past the estimated time that this would be released. Do you have a new timeframe as to when this will be resolved?

Thanks!

Don

Hi Don,

I’m sorry to inform you that this issue is not yet resolved. Our team has been looking into this issue and shared the feedback. I’m sorry to share that it is not feasible to concatenating XFA forms in general and this is not allowed with the Adobe Acrobat either.

However, at the moment, we’re planning to provide a feature to detect such PDF files in advance, so that you could avoid this exception. We have logged this feature as PDFKITNET-26750. Moreover, could you please share your scenario that why you want to concatenate XFA forms with other PDF forms. Do you get such files very often or once in a while? Do these files have the same source or origin, or you get them from various sources and originators?

If you could share your scenario in detail along with some other sample files, we’ll further try to investigate whether some workaround is possible or not. As you can understand this is not feasible in general, this situation requires some more analysis, with the help of additional files and other details, in order to provide a workaround.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.
Regards,

This is very unfortunate news.

We have a PDF form designed as a template for use with a DYMO label writer printer. Our application uses this template and generates an address label. Our process

When generating multiple labels I am flattening the form controls prior to concatenating the next label. This is where the error occurs.

As I mentioned in my original post this feature works with PDF.Kit version 3.2, so it’s hard to believe you cannot get this to work in a newer version.

Currently we are working around this issue by accessing the 3.2 version with reflection. This is not ideal because we would like to keep our application up to date with the latest versions of our third party assemblies.

I really hope you can reconsider supporting this capability since it was working with previous versions of PDF.Kit

Not that I should speak for Don, but sounds like he and I would be very happy with a property on

Aspose.Pdf.Kit.PdfFileEditor

something like .FlattenXFAForms = TRUE

And then the merge "just works" because all forms in the input are flattened into static data.

Hi Stan and Don,

I have communicated your concerns to our development team. We’ll further look into your requirements and share the results with you.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards,