[HN Gopher] Hate PDF Forms? Check Out My No Code Solution
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Hate PDF Forms? Check Out My No Code Solution
Author : pheasantquiff
Score : 47 points
Date : 2022-08-17 14:53 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (sayitwith.ink)
(TXT) w3m dump (sayitwith.ink)
| kevmo314 wrote:
| Is no code a marketing term for code? Looks like code to me.
| nerdponx wrote:
| It's "less code" for sure.
| feet wrote:
| Less code than what, exactly? A web form?
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| > Is no code a marketing term for code
|
| Yes.
|
| I could have said "low-code" and probably have been able to
| look at myself in the mirror. Now I am thoroughly ashamed of
| myself.
| mpweiher wrote:
| "Since FORTRAN should virtually eliminate coding and
| debugging..."
| feet wrote:
| How is it low code? It's literally all code
| [deleted]
| sh4rks wrote:
| Can you really classify this as code? It's just a series of
| statements, no conditionals or variables.
|
| Though to be fair, when I saw no-code, I was expecting drag-
| and-drop form elements.
| feet wrote:
| How do you define "code"?
|
| Does code require logic or is it simply text encoding
| something else?
| projektfu wrote:
| For creating a PDF have you considered a "print" button? I feel
| if you sent it to someone, they might not actually know that you
| can Ctrl-P.
|
| I like the print stylesheet, nice and crisp.
| nhumrich wrote:
| This isn't no code. This isn't even low-code. This is just a DSL
| (domain specific language).
| jhkiehna wrote:
| This was my thought exactly.
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| I hate pdf forms but old-fashioned organizations love them - so I
| have to deal with them. The worst is when they scan a paper form
| and send it as pdf - second worst is pdf form with non-fillable
| fields. I use xournal as a "typewriter" to fill out these
| monstrosities. I can even add a scanned signature to avoid having
| to print, sign and re scan the thing.
| ss48 wrote:
| Bug: Get the following error unless I change the text in text
| box.
|
| server internal error (identical form exists?)
| ziddoap wrote:
| Clicking the "view the form here" link is also bugging out,
| says "bad form id"
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| Thanks. I did a re-release and deleted the database of forms.
| Link is now updated.
|
| (creating the identical form twice is not allowed; not really
| a problem in real world scenarios)
| ziddoap wrote:
| One real-world scenario where it seems to be a problem is
| for you to show off your work :)
|
| Clicking "create form" (to see the example you provided)
| returns the identical form error again. I have to modify it
| to see how it works, rather than using the example you
| provided.
|
| Not a show stopper at all, but not intuitive for an example
| website as there is no indication that I need to modify
| your example form before being able to see the example of
| what is produced.
|
| Very cool though!
| ab_testing wrote:
| How to add dates, times, drop-downs and multi-select ?
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| My first paying customer! Happy Day!
|
| Srsly tho. at the moment I don't have those features, but
| neither did the PDF form experience I'm trying to beat. It's a
| low bar, but we are still expected to fill out PDF forms today,
| in the future year of 2022.
| phonon wrote:
| Acrobat Forms support multiple widget types, as well as
| validation.
| amin wrote:
| I think it's perfect as it is. I hope you ignore the people
| who'll try to pressure you into adding libraries to making it
| look like every other bloated webapp on the web.
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| (just between you and me, I was planning on ignoring the
| suggestions for extra libraries and "modernisation"; also it's
| a feature that it doesn't use a gui form designer. ssshh don't
| tell anyone...)
| mxuribe wrote:
| I'm obliged to reference the classic:
| http://motherfuckingwebsite.com
|
| Keep on truckin' with your minimal badass self! :-)
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| Hate PDF Forms? Check out my No Code solution!
|
| Create a form using text markup. Get an URL pointing to the form
| and mail it to your customers.
|
| I recently received a PDF form (created by M$ Word). I use Linux
| and managed to open it with Libreoffice (Draw!). The text entry
| boxes were misaligned or just missing. Digits each had a separate
| text field. Tiresome... By the time I had re-exported it to PDF
| with the fields filled, some of the formatting had been
| changed/lost.
|
| So I made this.
|
| I'd rather fill out forms in my browser. Browsers can print PDF.
| What could go wrong?
|
| Tell me in the comments below.
| julius wrote:
| > or view the form here
| https://sayitwith.ink/form/d59de7609590d1da1cd24fb5ddd6a775
|
| bad form id
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| Thanks. I did a re-release and deleted the database of forms.
| Link is now updated.
| turtlebits wrote:
| I like PDF forms, they're just hard to create.
|
| You don't need a specialized app like Libreoffice to open and
| fill out a PDF form, just use any modern browser.
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| Editing in PDF sounds like a good idea.
|
| I just tried it in Firefox (latest/postmodern, Linux) and
| none (not a single one) of the form's fields are editable.
| It's an even worse experience than Libreoffice.
| phonon wrote:
| Pdf.js (which Firefox uses) does support filling out
| Acrobat Forms (acroforms as well as XFA). Possibly the PDF
| you have is corrupted?
|
| You can read more about PDF.js support for forms here.[0]
|
| Libreoffice also supports creating Acrobat Forms.[1]
|
| [0] https://blog.mozilla.org/attack-and-
| defense/2021/10/14/imple...
|
| [1] https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/02/how-to-create-
| fillable...
| focusedone wrote:
| Really cool! Nice work solving a problem and putting it out
| there for people to see!
|
| Will the code be out somewhere so others can contribute to it?
| tdeck wrote:
| I like the concept a lot. A couple of suggestions you might
| consider:
|
| 1. Grab a lightweight CSS framework like Milligram (there are a
| bunch of them) and add it so the forms will be styled in a more
| modern way.
|
| 2. Test on mobile. For me the layout of the current forms shows
| up wrong, it doesn't take the full screen width and labels in the
| example form run over other elements.
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| Thanks for the Milligram suggestion. I will look into it. It
| may even fix your mobile experience.
|
| Also thanks for for the mobile test feedback. Can I ask what
| mobile device you tested on? Such data points would be really
| useful to me.
|
| I actually did test on my phone first, Android/Chrome and _in
| landscape_ it appeared usable. The PDF also produced OK. It was
| not an _amazing_ experience but compared the PDF form
| experience I had it was a delight. I don't consider a phone
| when I have to fill out a form but in an emergency it would
| have been possible.
| wildrhythms wrote:
| This is really cool! One suggestion - don't expose when
| 'identical form exists' on duplicate creator names. This can be
| de-anonymizing, because I can put some (fictitious) 'target's
| name into that box and see if they made a form using your
| service. Also it's not clear to me why it's necessary to have a
| creator name in the first place.
| murkle wrote:
| Why not go one step further and add a "Save" button which creates
| (& downloads) a PDF in the browser?
| GauntletWizard wrote:
| Or even just a button that brings up the Print window so that
| the browser can save as PDF
| pheasantquiff wrote:
| Yes. Certainly interesting ideas I will look into.
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