HOW TO: Use a form to fill out PDF

[jetstormtech]

I am stumped on this, I need a web application or a solution where a user can fill out a form and submit the form which then inputs the info into a PDF form. It also needs to be able to collect payments and then email the finished product. I need a place to start. Any Suggestions, Any already available platforms?

 

[conor]

I would suggest, depending on your experience, using PHP for something like this. If you have no experience in programming and no interest in learning then i would look into a Content Management System - there are many of them out there with shopping carts which will allow you to do what you want ( such as wordpress, joomla etc ).

If you are interested in PHP then your final product will be exactly what you want it to be, whereas with the CMS option you will have to make some compromises. Useful links for doing something like this in PHP:

PHP PDF Documentation ( for writing to pdf files ): http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pdf.php
PHP Paypal API ( for processing payments ): http://sourceforge.net/projects/apapi/
PHP mail function ( for emailing the finished product ): http://php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php

I should also note that if you use paypal it can automatically generate pdf invoices so there would be no need to create them manually.