On 22/01/2011 19:45, Fredrik Wendt wrote:
Hi.
On the subject of free software alternatives (for generating PDF files) ...
I've been producing PDFs using the Java library iText. It recently got updated with code that made sure the produced PDF file was a PDF/A, which is an ISO standard (subset of) PDF targeted towards the kind of openness we're all aiming for here. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
http://itextpdf.com/ (the website's been updated I can see)
Two notes:
I've not tried to create forms with iText.
When you get into details, and also starting off looking for some kind
of overview, I find iText to be not very well documented. (Giving professional training and selling non-free books is how the author of the iText library sponsors his work on this library.) On the other hand, the library has been used in many situations and seems to cover most (if not all) parts of (som version of) the PDF spec.
iText is a _library_, and there's no GUI at all. I use it to produce printing-ready PDFs in a "web to print" solution at webbtryck.se and all printing shops I've been in contact with have been able to just "push the button" and get the document printed properly in their high-end printers/machines. (My source code is hosted on http://source.wendt.se/ to comply with iText's licensing, AGPL).
Sorry if this is old news to you all. :)
Absolutely not, at least I did not know anything about this library or your work ;). Thanks a lot for the precise information you provide, and sorry for the far-too-long answer time!
Your project sounds pretty interesting indeed. I can't tell much from http://source.wendt.se/, apart that there seem to be a web GUI? Is your software already usable, and how, and with which features, and by which kind of user?
Thanks, Nico