ColdFusion CFPDFFORM does not populate PDF form fields

Question

I created a quick PDF file with two form fields, first name and last name (or FirstName and LastName), with a Submit button and used the following code to try to populate these fields in a new PDF file:

<cfpdfform action="populate" source="#variables.AbsPath#\test.pdf">
    <cfpdfformparam name="FirstName" value="foo" />
    <cfpdfformparam name="LastName" value="bar" />
</cfpdfform>

However, I receive this error:

The system has attempted to use an undefined value, which usually indicates a programming error, either in your code or some system code.
Null Pointers are another name for undefined values.
Platform, Locale, and Platform Name must not be null

I tried reading the PDF file to make sure the form fields were correct using this and they are:

<cfpdfform action="read" source="#variables.AbsPath#\test.pdf" result="fields" />

<cfdump var="#fields#">

The struct dumps out:

FirstName:  [empty string]
LastName:   [empty string]
Submit:     [empty string]

I tried searching the Adobe docs and around some other sites, but can't find a solution for this error. I also tried adding a "destination" parameter to the cfpdfform tag in case it was needed, but got the same result. The PDF file does exist. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

UPDATED: Here is the stack trace:

java.lang.NullPointerException: Platform, Locale, and Platform Name must not be null
at com.adobe.fontengine.fontmanagement.platform.PlatformFontDescription.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.adobe.fontengine.font.opentype.OpenTypeFont.getPlatformFontDescription(Unknown Source)
at com.adobe.fontengine.font.FontImpl.getPlatformFontDescription(Unknown Source)
at com.adobe.fontengine.font.FontImpl.getPlatformFontDescription(Unknown Source)
at com.adobe.fontengine.fontmanagement.platform.PlatformFontResolverImpl.addFont(Unknown Source)
at com.adobe.internal.pdftoolkit.core.fontset.impl.PDFFontSetImpl.addFont(Unknown Source)
at com.adobe.internal.pdfm.util.FontSetBuilder.loadFontsPath(FontSetBuilder.java:418)
at com.adobe.internal.pdfm.util.FontSetBuilder.loadSystemFonts(FontSetBuilder.java:346)
at com.adobe.internal.pdfm.util.FontSetBuilder.makePDFFontSet(FontSetBuilder.java:239)
at com.adobe.internal.pdfm.util.FontSetBuilder.getPdfFontSet(FontSetBuilder.java:93)
at com.adobe.internal.pdfm.PDFM7Factory.getPdfFontSet(PDFM7Factory.java:97)
at coldfusion.document.DocumentServiceImpl.getAssemblerFontSet(DocumentServiceImpl.java:512)
at coldfusion.pdf.PDFForm.populateFields(PDFForm.java:292)
at coldfusion.tagext.lang.PDFFormTag.doEndTag(PDFFormTag.java:347)
at cfsubmit2ecfm1224790315.runPage(C:\ColdFusion\wwwroot\nVision\projects\test\pdfform\submit.cfm:9)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:231)
at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:416)
at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65)
at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:381)
at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:48)
at coldfusion.filter.MonitoringFilter.invoke(MonitoringFilter.java:40)
at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:94)
at coldfusion.filter.LicenseFilter.invoke(LicenseFilter.java:27)
at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:70)
at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:46)
at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)
at coldfusion.filter.RequestThrottleFilter.invoke(RequestThrottleFilter.java:126)
at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:200)
at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:89)
at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.doFilter(FilterChain.java:86)
at coldfusion.monitor.event.MonitoringServletFilter.doFilter(MonitoringServletFilter.java:42)
at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)
at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.doFilter(FilterChain.java:94)
at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.service(FilterChain.java:101)
at jrun.servlet.ServletInvoker.invoke(ServletInvoker.java:106)
at jrun.servlet.JRunInvokerChain.invokeNext(JRunInvokerChain.java:42)
at jrun.servlet.JRunRequestDispatcher.invoke(JRunRequestDispatcher.java:286)
at jrun.servlet.ServletEngineService.dispatch(ServletEngineService.java:543)
at jrun.servlet.jrpp.JRunProxyService.invokeRunnable(JRunProxyService.java:203)
at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$ThreadThrottle.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:428)
at jrunx.scheduler.WorkerThread.run(WorkerThread.java:66)

Answer 1

I just wrote up a script to fix this issue here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/20408559/1223555

It's an issue with a font file not having a locale or platform name set. the PDF functions in Coldfusion call this

<cfset list=createobject("java","com.adobe.internal.pdfm.util.FontSetBuilder")>
<cfset dummy = list.getPdfFontSet()>

This enumerates every font and if one is bad it throws an exception and kills your process.

My code enumerates all the fonts in c:\windows\fonts and then tells you the bad ones.

Here are the ones we have issues with:

AdobeNaskh-Medium.otf
Mechanical.TTF
msgothic.ttf
MyriadArabic-Bold.otf
MyriadArabic-BoldIt.otf
MyriadArabic-It.otf
MyriadArabic-Regular.otf

Answer 2

You did not mention how you created your PDF file. Depending on how you created the PDF file the form fields may be contained within a subform. PDFs generated from templates within LiveCycle will do this. By default LiveCycle will name the subform "form1". In order to populate these form fields you need to include the cfpdfsubform tag. See the documentation here: cfpdfsubform documentation

So your code would look something like this:

<cfpdfform action="populate" source="#variables.AbsPath#\test.pdf">
    <cfpdfsubform name="form1">
        <cfpdfformparam name="FirstName" value="foo" />
        <cfpdfformparam name="LastName" value="bar" />
    </cfpdfsubform>
</cfpdfform>

The code that you included to read your PDF file should show you if the fields are included in a subform. The dump would show your form fields contained within another structure. That would be the name that you use in the cfpdfsubform tag's name attribute.

HTH.

Answer 3

I just realized after re-reading your question that I was going down the wrong path. I was thinking you were having an issue populating the fields in the pdf. But your real issue is the null pointer. Doh! Sorry about the confusion.

Usually that error is telling you that a variable you are using is not defined. The only variable I see in your example is #variables.AbsPath#. You are specifying the variables scope. Is that correct? The variables scope is available only on the page in which it was created (and to included pages).

You did not include how you are defining that variable. Can you share that?

Is the error happening randomly or all the time?

Are you sure the error is happening on that cfpdfform line and not somewhere else? I would put a cftry/cfcatch block around your code and dump the cfcatch structure to get a more specific error. Can you try that and post back?

Answer 4

I believe this is a font issue with the specific server being used. This is why the same code will work on the production server and not the testing server. I am experiencing the same issue and although I don't have a great solution here's what I learned.

1. The stacktrace shows that there's an error getting the getPlatformFontDescription of an OpenType font.
2. Our Windows server is listing some TrueType fonts as OpenType. Is yours?

3. Using the following code corrected the issue, but it's a work around only.

   <cfpdf name="local.pdffile" action="read" source="some path" >
   <cfscript>
   local.pdfReader = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfReader").init(tobinary(local.pdffile));
   local.outputStream = createObject("java", "java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream").init();
   local.pdfStamper = createObject("java", "com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfStamper").init(local.pdfReader,local.outputStream);
   local.Acroform = local.pdfStamper.getAcroFields();
   //Populating Form Fields     
    local.Acroform.setField("Field1",Arguments.Value1);
    local.Acroform.setField("Field2",Arguments.Value2);
    // etc.
    local.pdfStamper.setFormFlattening(true); //optional
     local.pdfStamper.close();
     local.pdfReader.close();
     local.pdffile = local.outputStream.toByteArray();
    </cfscript>
    <!--- flatten="no" must be set or you will get the error again  --->
    <cfpdf action="write" source="local.pdffile" destination="#variables.OutputPath##local.UUID#.pdf" overwrite="yes" flatten="no"  />
   

4. More Diagnostics: Simply listing all the fonts available to the server using the Java subsystem also fails. Try this.

    <cfset list=createobject("java","com.adobe.internal.pdfm.util.FontSetBuilder")>
    <cfdump var="#list#">
    <cfset dummy = list.getPdfFontSet()>
    <cfdump var="#dummy.toString()#">
    <!--- this should fail --->
   

5. We have "fixed" our problem at the moment by removing all the fonts from the Windows\Fonts folder, and isolating the damaged ones. It's painstaking but seems to work.

Good luck!