Thanks for the ideas. For that document I found that Acrobat Pro can rename fields, which then leads to them being stored separately, if a field was used more than once.
But I have another one to work with, which seems to have another set of issues. We'll see :-) Thanks again for looking at it so quickly! On Tue, 12 Aug 2025, 15:33 sahy...@fileaffairs.de, <sahy...@fileaffairs.de> wrote: > Hi, > > I also had a look. A somewhat simpler approach which should work, at > least for the fields I've looked at, is to add a T entry to the widgets > which don't have a T entry in the COSDictionary. This would - after > reloading - treat them as fields. > > The approach Tilman suggested is more complete and gives you more > control. > > BR > Maruan > > Am Dienstag, dem 12.08.2025 um 15:14 +0200 schrieb Tilman Hausherr: > > Am 12.08.2025 um 14:50 schrieb Ulf Dittmer: > > > For OBJ2 that makes sense, as it is the same info on both pages. > > > But > > > filling in any of OBJ4, OBJ9 or OBJ10 (to name just a few), that > > > data > > > appears on both page 1 and 3, in fields that have nothing to do > > > with one > > > another. > > > > OBJ4 is also on several pages (which is allowed). I opened the PDF in > > Adobe and entered my first name, and it then appeared on page 3 at > > the > > "wrong" place, but that's the problem of whoever created (or altered) > > the PDF. > > > > I think what you really want is to consider "Is there a way within > > the > > PDFBox API to dis-ambiguate those fields" as an isolated question, > > i.e. > > create a new field for each of the extra widgets. > > > > Yes it would be possible. You'd have to create a new COSDictionary, > > copy > > all the key/values (except kids, except T and AP), then create a new > > PDField from that dictionary, add one of the widgets (and delete it > > from > > the original field), calculate a new "T" value (field name). > > > > I don't know if there is a commercial tool for this. It can probably > > be > > done with PDFBox in less than a day. I might help for free but I'd > > prefer you try first. > > > > Tilman > > > > > > > > > > org.apache.pdfbox.examples.interactive.form.PrintFields only lists > > > those > > > fields once, but they do appear to be used on multiple pages. > > > > > > Ulf > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 12, 2025 at 2:41 PM Tilman > > > Hausherr<thaush...@t-online.de> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > I don't see how these field names are double. Some of the fields > > > > have > > > > several widgets, e.g. OBJ2 is on page 1 and page 3. This is done > > > > to have > > > > the content on several pages. > > > > > > > > Tilman > > > > > > > > Am 12.08.2025 um 14:14 schrieb Ulf Dittmer: > > > > > Hello- > > > > > > > > > > I'm encountering PDFs with forms that have non-unique field > > > > > names. > > > > > Sometimes fields with the same names are used for the same > > > > > information (a > > > > > useful scenario, making filling them out programmatically > > > > > easier). But > > > > > sometimes the same names are used for entirely different field > > > > > purposes. > > > > > > > > > > Is there a way within the PDFBox API to dis-ambiguate those > > > > > fields? Or > > > > are > > > > > there tools that can do this (we do have a budget, so payware > > > > > would be > > > > OK, > > > > > within limits)? > > > > > > > > > > These are government PDFs, so we don't control their creation. > > > > > But if > > > > there > > > > > is a way to edit them that addresses this, that would also work > > > > > for us - > > > > > the forms do not change frequently. > > > > > > > > > > http://ulfdittmer.com/Guide_TH.pdf is an example of such a PDF. > > > > > OBJ3, > > > > OBJ4, > > > > > OBJ10, OBJ18 and OBJ24 are field names that are used twice. > > > > > > > > > > Any help would be appreciated. > > > > > > > > > > Ulf > > > > > > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > ---- > > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail:users-unsubscr...@pdfbox.apache.org > > > > For additional commands, e-mail:users-h...@pdfbox.apache.org > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@pdfbox.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@pdfbox.apache.org > >
