While recently helping a few people with some issues related to HTTP submissions from XFA forms, I ended-up creating new Data Service that helps with testing HTTP Submit Buttons.
The service is quite simple: It displays what you submit to it. Since Designer’s “PDF Preview” tab is actually an instance of Internet Explorer hosting a PDF version of the form you’re previewing (a temporary PDF if your form is saved as an XDP or is new), the results are conveniently displayed within the tab itself after clicking on the submit button.
To use the service, simply use either an http submit button (or a regular button with its “Object palette > Field tab > Control Type property” set to “Submit”) and set its URL to:
http://forms.stefcameron.com/services/http-submit-test/
The idea is to use this service as a means to test/debug your forms before spending time writing the actual server code that will receive the data. You can also use it to ensure that you are submitting the correct data to a third-party service (for which you don’t control the server-side code).
Choosing a Submit Format
HTTP submissions can be made in various formats: XML, XDP, URL-encoded (HTTP post), and PDF. If you are using Reader instead of Acrobat, you will not be able to submit in PDF format unless you have enabled this ability using LC Reader Extensions.
The most important difference amongst the formats is that repeating data sets cannot be submitted using URL-encoding (HTTP post). This is due to the way the data is submitted: In HTTP post directives, data is submitted in “name=value” pairs. Since repeating data sets involve hierarchy and duplicate data node names, only the last instance of the repeating set will be submitted.
To submit repeating data sets, you must choose either XML, XDP or PDF as the data format.
Sample Form
The following sample form demonstrates the use of the HTTP Submit Test service.
The form has a typical address block as well as a table to demonstrate both static and repeating data sets. Use the submit buttons to try submitting in different formats (XML, XDP, PDF, URL-encoded). Notice how only the last table row is submitted when using the URL-encoded (“post”) submit button.
Minimum Sample Requirements: I created this sample using Designer 9.0 and Acrobat 9.2 however it should work fine back to Acrobat 7.0.5.
