Working with a scanned document - any advice?

[PJA]

Hi,

We have a SQL server based system we use to manage our business. We produce our own Crystal Reports to satify our reporting needs.

We have a lot of paper based documents that we must complete as part of our sales process (head office requirements). These consume a lot of time. Most of the data is alread in our sql database.

I'm trying to develop a tool (application or ASP based) that a user can 'load in' an image of the document (jpeg, tiff, bitmap, whatever) - and then the image is displayied on the screen & the user can select database fields and place them over the image.

When the document is used, the data is pulled from the database, but the user has a chance to correct any data on the form - before printing it or saving it out as a file.

We have a few forms that have some simple maths on them, such as total plus taxes plus delivery - which is not held in the database, so the form must dynamically calculate it.

What I think I'm looking for is a 'user interactive' version of Crystal Reports - that users can amend data in BEFORE it's is printed?

Anyone know of anythign like this? Or can recommend a book or website for working with forms & embedding textboxes into images?


I've tried this with PDF's, but Adobe licensing is very restrictive about interactive forms.

I've tried it using a Crystal Report with parameters and pass it to the reports at runtime, but the user cannot interact with it - nor is it easy to setup new forms, as each form has to be developed and custom programmed separately...


Advice welcome...

Paul

 

[TonyScarpelli]

I don't know if I can help, mostly because I've been using FoxPro and Adobe.

We scan in vendor service reports using Adobe Acrobat. I think you can create forms with this app. that users can enter data into.

With us we have to link the scanned document with a work order so I create a filename based on the work order number that the user can copy and then place into the file "Save as" field. Then I have a table with this filename in it along with the device Id and Work order number. When the user looks at the work order, and a scanned document is available, it enables a button. The user can then click on this button to run Adobe reader along with the filename and the document is then displayed.

We also do this with e-mailed service reports and can open any type of document based on it's extension: .doc, .pdf, .htm, .html, or .xls. The FoxPro application just calls the correct application to view the file.

I think SQL server and .net can do similar functions, although I haven't tried it myself. But you would need Adobe Acrobat to be able to create .pdf files that can have data entry fields in it.

Hope this helps.


Tony Scarpelli
Clinical Engineering Dept.
Maine Medical Center
Portland, Maine 04102

 

[PRPhx]

You might be interested in something called Document Scan Server (dss0 from kofax (go to

http://www.kofax.com

to have a look). It consits of a box (around $1,000), plus a support scanner 9generally around $1,000, capable of doing < 40 ppm).

This box is self contained, used IE or Firefox, is web based and allows you to scan images into your existing scanning infrastructure. And there is NOTHING loaded on the client pc.


Might be something to think about. From some one who is in the high volume scanning business (I work in a corp records department of a large international business), you are basically going at it wrong. You should be able to create your index values from your scanned images or form some kind of Index page (we use bar code pages produced from FoxPro apps to generate the indexes). Once scanned, the image can then be retrieved, and the index info displayed, if desired. Having the index info generated at scan time also makes searching for a document much easier.

 

[PJA]

Thanks for your replies...

I've just found out that Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro allows users to save & print a completed form - up to 500 users per form...

With a small .net front end to query our database & create a XFDF file - this presents my form to the user, pre-filled. The user can then amend what they want, print it, save it or submit it...

PDF's are small & everyone has Adobe Reader 7 or 8 - this resolves my issue.

It's about time Adobe did this...

Paul