PDFFileElement: XFDF property

Value

An object with these properties and methods. The methods behave like the file's own, but read and write XFDF files (application/vnd.adobe.xfdf, .xfdf).

src

A string that reflects the xfdf:src HTML attribute: the URL of an XFDF file to apply after the PDF loads, and after every reload. A failed fetch is retried once through the built-in proxy.

URL

src resolved against the document's base URL, as a URL object.

name

The file name the methods save under: the last part of src, the name you set, the name of the file you opened, or the PDF's name with .xfdf.

open()

Shows a file picker for .xfdf files and applies the one you pick. See PDFFileElement.open().

load(data)

Applies form data: an XFDF string, a Blob, a File, a FileSystemFileHandle (which is then remembered) or an XMLDocument. A URL sets src. Without an argument, it reads the remembered .xfdf file again, or else fetches src again. It takes one argument only; to load a PDF and its XFDF together, use load(pdf, xfdf) on the file.

save(options)

Saves the form data, like PDFFileElement.save(). The options are name, declare (an XML declaration, true), indent (pretty print, true), href (the <f href> of the file, by default its name) and src (true: use the file's URL as href).

saveAs(options)

Saves the form data under a new name, like PDFFileElement.saveAs().

saveCopy(options)

Saves a copy of the form data, like PDFFileElement.saveCopy().

close()

Forgets the remembered .xfdf file and returns an Array of its handle: empty without the File System Access API.

saveData(options)

Resolves to the XFDF as a string.

export(options)

Resolves to the form data as an XMLDocument (the default), a String, a Blob or a File; pass the type as options.type or as the only argument.

XFDF stores one <field name> with a <value> per filled field. Radio groups store the chosen button's value, checkboxes their export value (or nothing when unchecked), multi-select lists one <value> per option. Loading matches fields by name.

Examples

Saving and loading form data

const file = document.querySelector("pdf-file");
await file.XFDF.save();                         // a .xfdf file of the filled fields
const xml = await file.XFDF.export(String);      // the same, as a string
await file.XFDF.load(xml);                       // applies it again

Filling a form from a file

<pdf-file id=f src=//new.webpdf.pro/forms.pdf xfdf:src=answers.xfdf></pdf-file>
<pdf-page of=f></pdf-page>

Specifications

Not part of any specification. <pdf-file> and <pdf-page> are autonomous custom elements defined by WebPDF.pro. It implements:

Browser compatibility

See also

• Forms and XFDF
• PDFFileElement.formData
• PDFFileElement.load()