From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On 26/06/2025 01:51, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:37:26 +0100, Peter Flynn wrote:

Because the "fields" (blank spaces) are the same location every
time, using LaTeX makes it possible to do the whole things from a
script.

I used to do something similar for filling out my GST return, only using a Python script and the Cairo graphics library -- import each page of the
PDF file, draw the filled-in entries on top of it, and print the result
out.

I did routines for things like splitting out the digits of a number so
each would fit, nicely centred, in its own box -- does LaTEX make this
sort of thing easy?

I wrote a couple of macros to do this. Not hard, but fiddly, and most
forms are internally inconsistent in that the digit boxes are not always
the same size or shape. OCR forms are better. Fortunately becoming less
and less common these days.

Peter
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 00:16:56 +0100, Peter Flynn wrote:

On 26/06/2025 01:51, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

I did routines for things like splitting out the digits of a number so
each would fit, nicely centred, in its own box -- does LaTEX make this
sort of thing easy?

I wrote a couple of macros to do this. Not hard, but fiddly, and most
forms are internally inconsistent in that the digit boxes are not always
the same size or shape.

This wasnrCOt hard in Python. Even if the digit boxes werenrCOt regularly arranged (they were), it would just have meant manually specifying the coordinates of each box.
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 22:58:31 +0200, Dom Adso von Melk OSB wrote:

On Sun, 22 Jun 2025, Peter Flynn wrote:

I'm curious to know WHY you want to edit a PDF, which was designed as a
non-editable end-of-line format.

Two possible reasons.

- I want to add annotations (e.g. I periodically dump my bank account
record of transactions, and wanto to add a sequence number to each
operation) ... procedure, open pdf with libreoffice, place my text
label, (re-)export as pdf, quit original file unsaved

I would save the result in a database (e.g. SQLite) or at least a CSV
file, for easier further processing. PDF is not suitable for that kind of record.

- I receive from some administration a pdf document containing a form
(it is NOT a "pdf form", their fault) which in principle should be
filled, signed, printed, scanned and returned (sic!) instead .,,

... open pdf with libreoffice, insert wished text, insert scanned pmg
woith my signasture, export as pdf andf send resulting file

I tend to do that with Inkscape. I can import the PDF file as background,
lock that layer against further changes, and put my data entry in a
separate layer. That way I can get things nicely lined up with the blank
field areas. Then re-export the completed result to a new PDF file, as you said.
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On 2025-06-25 00:40, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 22:58:31 +0200, Dom Adso von Melk OSB wrote:

On Sun, 22 Jun 2025, Peter Flynn wrote:

I'm curious to know WHY you want to edit a PDF, which was designed as a
non-editable end-of-line format.

Two possible reasons.

- I want to add annotations (e.g. I periodically dump my bank account
record of transactions, and wanto to add a sequence number to each
operation) ... procedure, open pdf with libreoffice, place my text
label, (re-)export as pdf, quit original file unsaved

I would save the result in a database (e.g. SQLite) or at least a CSV
file, for easier further processing. PDF is not suitable for that kind of record.

I get the record of transactions from my bank as an excel file (they
say). It can be a .csv file, but sometimes it is actually an html file
with tables. LibreOffice Calc opens them all just fine.

- I receive from some administration a pdf document containing a form
(it is NOT a "pdf form", their fault) which in principle should be
filled, signed, printed, scanned and returned (sic!) instead .,,

... open pdf with libreoffice, insert wished text, insert scanned pmg
woith my signasture, export as pdf andf send resulting file

I tend to do that with Inkscape. I can import the PDF file as background, lock that layer against further changes, and put my data entry in a
separate layer. That way I can get things nicely lined up with the blank field areas. Then re-export the completed result to a new PDF file, as you said.

I do the same, with LibreOffice writer.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On 24/06/2025 21:58, Dom Adso von Melk OSB wrote:

On Sun, 22 Jun 2025, Peter Flynn wrote:

I'm curious to know WHY you want to edit a PDF, which was designed as
a non-editable end-of-line format.

Two possible reasons.

- I want to add annotations (e.g. I periodically dump my bank account
-a record of transactions, and wanto to add a sequence number to each
-a operation) ... procedure, open pdf with libreoffice, place my text
-a label, (re-)export as pdf, quit original file unsaved

- I receive from some administration a pdf document containing a form
-a (it is NOT a "pdf form", their fault) which in principle should be
-a filled, signed, printed, scanned and returned (sic!) instead .,,

-a ... open pdf with libreoffice, insert wished text, insert scanned
-a pmg woith my signasture, export as pdf andf send resulting file

Interesting, thank you.

1. I would second Lawrence D'Oliveiro's suggestion to get the data
out of PDF and manage it some other way.

2. Much the same, except I do it using LaTeX to read the PDF and
overlay it with the data and signature and generate a new PDF.

I do [2] monthly for an insurance claim to an office which is about 30
years behind the times, and want the form filled in as paper, so I
generate the PDF and print it to send to them. They have never noticed
it's not automated, so they're happy and I'm happy. Because the "fields" (blank spaces) are the same location every time, using LaTeX makes it
possible to do the whole things from a script.

Peter
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:37:26 +0100, Peter Flynn wrote:

Because the "fields" (blank spaces) are the same location every
time, using LaTeX makes it possible to do the whole things from a
script.

I used to do something similar for filling out my GST return, only using a Python script and the Cairo graphics library -- import each page of the
PDF file, draw the filled-in entries on top of it, and print the result
out.

I did routines for things like splitting out the digits of a number so
each would fit, nicely centred, in its own box -- does LaTEX make this
sort of thing easy?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2