Is it possible to import pdf form data to an access db

Question

My organization has a bunch of PDF forms filled out and uploaded to a SharePoint site. They would like to run reports on the data in those forms. They also have an access file that syncs with several SharePoint lists they maintain to generate reports.

I'm wondering if there's a way to get the data from the pdf files to their access database without changing their workflow. Which is fill out a pdf form, upload it to sharepoint library, sync access db and run reports. Is there a way to sync this data like a SharePoint list?

Answer 1

I ended up writing Adobe Javascript to send the form data via a SOAP web service to a SharePoint list on save. Once in the SharePoint list I have everything I need to run reports. The Adobe JavaScript looks like below only with ID's and test column data pulled from the pdf form and added to the SOAP XML.

try {
    var oAuthenticator ={ UsePlatformAuth: "true"};
    var oRequest = {
        soapValue: "<UpdateListItems xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/'> <listName>PDFList</listName> <updates> <Batch OnError='continue' ListVersion='1'> <Method ID='1' Cmd='Update'> <Field Name='ID'>1</Field> <Field Name='testColumn'>ValueChanged</Field>     </Method>   </Batch> </updates> </UpdateListItems>"};
    var cAction = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/UpdateListItems";
    var ver = SOAPVersion.version_1_2;
    var response = SOAP.request({
        cURL:'http://SHAREPOINT_SITE_URL/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx',
        oRequest:oRequest,
        cAction:cAction,
        oAuthenticate:oAuthenticator,
        bEncoded:false,
        cVersion:ver
        });
    } catch(e) {
    app.alert(e.toString()); 
}