# Re: Ruby and XFDF

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ruby-and-xfdf/99328>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [July 21, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ruby-and-xfdf/99328 "2006-07-21T19:33:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Frank\_Davis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/a9adbd/32.png) [@Frank\_Davis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Frank_Davis)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ruby-and-xfdf/99328/1 "2006-07-21T19:33:58Z")

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I’m doing the same thing in a C# application. The technique I use should  
work fine in Ruby also. The XFDF files are pure XML, so I use an XML  
builder to generate the XFDF file. Under Windows, I can also take  
advantage of the fact that files with a .xfdf extension are associated  
with Acrobat. For example, if I tell Windows to execute “MyForm.xfdf”,  
Acrobat will launch, read the xfdf file, and automatically open the  
Acrobat PDF listed in the xfdf, and populate the form fields using the  
data in the xfdf file.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frank\_Davis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/a9adbd/32.png) [@Frank\_Davis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Frank_Davis)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ruby-and-xfdf/99328/2 "2006-07-21T22:20:31Z")

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Frank Davis wrote:

> I’m doing the same thing in a C# application. The technique I use should  
> work fine in Ruby also. The XFDF files are pure XML, so I use an XML  
> builder to generate the XFDF file.

Yes, that’s exactly why I’d like to work with them. Very easy to do  
this accurately using REXML (or similar).

> Under Windows, I can also take  
> advantage of the fact that files with a .xfdf extension are associated  
> with Acrobat. For example, if I tell Windows to execute “MyForm.xfdf”,  
> Acrobat will launch, read the xfdf file, and automatically open the  
> Acrobat PDF listed in the xfdf, and populate the form fields using the  
> data in the xfdf file.

Intersting approach. I need this to run automated, on a (Linux)  
server, so this idea won’t work. Any other ideas?