Adobe Pairs PDF, XML

Adobe Systems is teaching PDF documents how to speak XML, to provide better ties to Web sites and corporate database systems.

The company is developing a new version of its Form Designer product, which like other Adobe products supports Portable Document Format (PDF). The new functions will enable companies to include XML schemas when creating forms. These forms can be distributed in PDF or XDP (XML Data Package) format. Once filled in, the forms can be processed as either PDF or XML files, Adobe says.

XDP files are XML files that contain XML form data, XML form templates, PDF documents, and other XML information. They work with enterprise applications via common XML tools and Web services, according to Adobe.

Eyeing Online Forms

"Enterprise systems are already speaking XML, so we are delivering XML technology [that] customers have asked for," says Charles Myers, product manager in Adobe's EPaper Solutions Group.

For example, a bank can make a loan application form available online. A customer can use the free Acrobat Reader software from Adobe to fill it in offline, and then submit the completed form to the bank. Because the data is submitted as XML, it can go directly into a loan processing system that supports XML, Adobe says.

The task is similar to that described by Microsoft in explaining functions of its new InfoPath XML form design program.

Microsoft is heavily emphasizing XML support in its forthcoming update of Office. Most applications in the Office 2003 suite can save documents in XML format.

Adobe's Update Due

Form Designer is a product that Adobe acquired when it bought Canadian electronic-forms software and service provider Accelio in April 2002. The new version of the software is scheduled to be available in early 2004, with a beta test phase planned for the fourth quarter of this year, Adobe says.

Pricing for the new Form Designer has yet to be determined. The current version costs $1695, according to Adobe's Web site.