I am trying to replace our .doc type ECO documents with a PDF form I am creating in Adobe LifeCycle designer ES2. Our existing .doc files pre-populate with information from the custom properties (such as ECO number, department, initiator, etc.) which is written by EPDM and linked to the data card. However, with the PDF form I cannot find a way to link the custom property information directly to a text field. I have tossed around the idea of linking to a separate XML file or OLEDB database, but am not sure how to maintain it or link it to the data card. Does anyone know how to do this or have a better idea for linking the data card data to the fields in a PDF form?
To be clear, the information only has to go one way (from EPDM to the form) but a solution that was able to go both directions would be ever better (ie. be able to read data from the form and display it on the data card).
There is not a way to link epdm variables to Adobe files like there is with MSOffice files. Even with XML, we're adding meta data to a pdf and that meta data is only useful within epdm. The goal is to populate custom properties within an Adobe file like Quick Parts in Word and that facility isn't available.