can adobe acrobat pro connect to the sql database?

The answer is Yes, and No. Acrobat itself does not have any ability to connect to a DB directly. However, there are a couple of options.

1. On Windows, a LiveCycle form can connect to a DB through a standard ActiveX driver. This does not mean you have to recreate your form in LiveCycle, You could in fact create a LC form just for the purpose of transfering data into your DB. Of course you need that ActiveX driver, usually provided by the DB vendor.

2. In the old days we hooked a PDF into a DB through a server script. PDF submits to server, then server talks to DB. I use MySQL. Perl and other common server scripting languages have built in APIs for connecting to MySQL. So the trick is writing the server script. All the PDF does is submit data in a format the server script can parse, XML is a good choice for this.

BTW: I have loads of info on the LC database connection at www.pdfscripting.com.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info pdfscripting.com

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Having trouble, Why Doesn't my Script Work

Actually, versions of Acrobat prior to X were able to connect directly to a local DB. I have a working example of this available on my website: http://try67.blogspot.com/2009/05/acr...

Unfortunately, this feature was removed in Acrobat X...

How you put this together depends on the situation. Where is the DB phyiscally located? is it local, on a server? Who will use the form? people in the same office, a small group in different locations, or the general population?

Hi,

You can use the SOAP feature in Acrobat, create a web service that does the DB accessing for you, then get the resulting data to your Acroat PDF using the web client running on your PDF.

Yes, you can use SOAP. Howver, you can only do it from Acrobat Pro or Standard. Reader requires special enabling to use SOAP