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smgrisw
05-02-2005, 08:14 AM
I am writing an application that has the following flow:

When a fax of lab results comes into a doctor’s office we capture that fax as a PDF. The PDF is routed to the doctor who has Adobe Acrobat on their machine. They view the PDF in the browser (which causes Acrobat to launch). Because they have Acrobat they have the ability to sign the PDF version of the report by using a pen and writing directly on the screen.

The issue is the next step. Is there a way to take the changed PDF (PDF with signature on it) and programmatically capture it back at the server? I can save the document-using Acrobat, but this is a manual process.

I have come up with a work around that will work, but is more involved. I install Adobe's PS driver on the machine and then create a port, which will print to a folder on the server. After the user has signed the document they simply print to this printer and the document (with signature) gets sent to the server. I then retrieve the document the move it along the flow.

The above work around works, but if I could I would like to capture the document after it has been signed and not have to add the step of printing.

Any suggestions?

DCElliott
05-02-2005, 09:52 AM
Have you looked at Adobe's enterprise PDF tools? They have the ability for "digital signatures" which are encoded into the document. You may want to look at http://www.adobe.com/products/server/pdfs/95003796_security_solbr_ue2.pdf for some description of security features. Note: I have not used this aspect of the technology but your business process is such a common one I am sure it can be accommodated.

DE