[Okular-devel] [Bug 202159] Multiple problems in PDF forms - checkboxes, save as, instant saving

[Bob Willan]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202159





--- Comment #2 from Bob Willan <Bob Will2001 gmail com>  2009-08-01 07:26:25 ---
================================
>On Friday 31 July 2009, Pino Toscano wrote:
>https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202159
>
>Pino Toscano <pino at kde.org> changed:
>
>           What    |Removed                     |Added
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>          Component|PDF backend                 |general
>
>--- Comment #1 from Pino Toscano <pino kde org>  2009-08-01 02:22:40 ---
>(In reply to comment #0)
>
>> 1) Fill in 1 or more fields and exit Okular (no save).  Start Okular again
>> and open the file, and you'll find the fields still filled out.
>>
>> 2) Open the same doc in Acroread and its empty - no fields filled out.  No
>> matter how many times you open the file in both programs, in Acroread
>> fields empty, in Okular fields filled in.
>
>Okular locally saves the values of the forms, while acroread does not.

In case it wasn't clear, I downloaded the pdf file before opening it in Okular 
- I was not reading/changing a remote file.

I'm not sure what you mean by "locally saves the values"?  If I open a form 
that already has some fields filled in, and I change those values but decide 
to exit instead of save the changes - are you saying I'm stuck with those 
changes now?  As far as Okular is concerned, I've changed the file (it even 
prints with the new values), but as far as other PDF viewers are concerned, 
the file has the original values.

[I found the xml file under .kde/share/apps/okular/docdata, and I can delete 
that file to solve the issue - but as a user that seems kind of unfriendly, 
not to mention confusing.  If you ever use another PDF viewer or try to print 
the PDF file using another program like pdftops or something - you think 
you've filled in the form, and Okular shows it, but nothing else sees/prints 
it]

>> 3) Checkmarks filled in and saved using Okular are screwed up in Acroread
>> - can't change them (they go on/off in sync with another checkbox, like
>> Acroread is confused about something).  In KPDF, the checkboxes are empty
>> if filled in by Okular.
>
>This looks like a bug in the library we use for PDF documents, Poppler.
>Please report it to https://bugs.freedesktop.org, "poppler" product.
>KPDF does not support forms in any way, btw.

I have reported it to Poppler, bug 23068.

I referred to KPDF because if I check a field in Acroread, KPDF sees it (along 
with all the other fields of the form that have values entered in them).  If I 
check a field in Okular and "save as" to another name, then Acroread sees the 
check, but KPDF does not.  Both Acroread and KPDF see the values in other 
fields (strings and numbers) in the form filled in by Okular.  I figured 
knowing there was a difference between Acroread, KDPF, and Okular for reading 
checkboxes might help locate the issue.

I just read that Evince also uses Poppler, and indeed, the checkbox is marked 
in Evince the same as in Okular.

>
>> 4) If you use "Save As" and save the file on top of itself, it screws up
>> the file making it unreadable and you better hope you had a backup. 
>> Seeing as there is no "Save" in Okular, like there is in Acroread, using
>> "Save As" to save on top of the file is a natural thing to do.  Please
>> either fix it to work, or add checks to disallow it.  Or, better still,
>> add a real "Save" button.  When you fill out a form, and then go back to
>> correct an error, you don't want to have to save it under another name and
>> then rename the file outside Okular after.
>
>Looks almost reasonable, except the acroread comparison.
>
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Thanks,
  Bob

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