Create AcroForm - Create Fillable PDF in C#

The following code snippet also work with Aspose.PDF.Drawing library.

Create form from scratch

Add Form Field in a PDF Document

The Document class provides a collection named Form which helps you manage form fields in a PDF document.

To add a form field:

1. Create the form field you want to add.
2. Call the Form collection’s Add method.

Adding TextBoxField

Below example shows how to add a TextBoxField.

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddTextBoxFieldToPdf()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "TextField.pdf"))
    {
        // Create a field
        var textBoxField = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.TextBoxField(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(100, 200, 300, 300));
        textBoxField.PartialName = "textbox1";
        textBoxField.Value = "Text Box";

        // Configure border
        var border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(textBoxField);
        border.Width = 5;
        border.Dash = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Dash(1, 1);
        textBoxField.Border = border;

        // Set color
        textBoxField.Color = Aspose.Pdf.Color.FromRgb(System.Drawing.Color.Green);

        // Add field to the document
        document.Form.Add(textBoxField, 1);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "TextBox_out.pdf");
    }
}

Adding RadioButtonField

The following code snippets show how to add RadioButtonField in a PDF document.

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddRadioButtonToPdf()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Create PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document())
    {
        // Add a page to PDF file
        document.Pages.Add();

        // Instantiate RadioButtonField object with page number as argument
        var radio = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonField(document.Pages[1]);

        // Add first radio button option and also specify its origin using Rectangle object
        radio.AddOption("Test", new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(0, 0, 20, 20));

        // Add second radio button option
        radio.AddOption("Test1", new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(20, 20, 40, 40));

        // Add radio button to form object of Document object
        document.Form.Add(radio);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "RadioButton_out.pdf");
    }
}

TextBoxField can be added with some widget annotations.

// For complete examples and data files, please visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddTextBoxFieldToPdf()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Create PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document())
    {
        // Add a new page in the created document
        var page = document.Pages.Add();

        // Defining an array with rectangle data for widget annotations. 
        // The number of elements in the array determines the number of widget annotations to add.
        var rects = new Rectangle[]
        {
            new Rectangle(10, 600, 110, 620),
            new Rectangle(10, 630, 110, 650),
            new Rectangle(10, 660, 110, 680)
        };

        // Defining an array with DefaultAppearance used to specify how widget annotations are displayed in the added field.
        var defaultAppearances = new DefaultAppearance[]
        {
            new DefaultAppearance("Arial", 10, System.Drawing.Color.DarkBlue),
            new DefaultAppearance("Helvetica", 12, System.Drawing.Color.DarkGreen),
            new DefaultAppearance(FontRepository.FindFont("TimesNewRoman"), 14, System.Drawing.Color.DarkMagenta)
        };

        // Create a field
        var textBoxField = new TextBoxField(page, rects);

        // Setting the appearances of widget annotations
        short i = 0;
        foreach (WidgetAnnotation wa in textBoxField)
        {
            wa.DefaultAppearance = defaultAppearances[i++];
        }
        textBoxField.Value = "Text";

        // Add field to the document
        document.Form.Add(textBoxField);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "TextBox_out.pdf");
    }
}

The following code snippet shows the steps to add RadioButtonField with three options and place them inside Table cells.

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddRadioButtonWithOptionsToPdf()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Create PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document())
    {
        // Add a page to PDF file
        var page = document.Pages.Add();

        // Create a table
        var table = new Aspose.Pdf.Table();
        table.ColumnWidths = "120 120 120";
        page.Paragraphs.Add(table);

        // Add a row to the table
        var r1 = table.Rows.Add();

        // Add cells to the row
        var c1 = r1.Cells.Add();
        var c2 = r1.Cells.Add();
        var c3 = r1.Cells.Add();

        // Create a RadioButtonField
        var rf = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonField(page);
        rf.PartialName = "radio";
        document.Form.Add(rf, 1);

        // Create RadioButtonOptionField options
        var opt1 = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonOptionField();
        var opt2 = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonOptionField();
        var opt3 = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonOptionField();

        opt1.OptionName = "Item1";
        opt2.OptionName = "Item2";
        opt3.OptionName = "Item3";

        opt1.Width = 15;
        opt1.Height = 15;
        opt2.Width = 15;
        opt2.Height = 15;
        opt3.Width = 15;
        opt3.Height = 15;

        rf.Add(opt1);
        rf.Add(opt2);
        rf.Add(opt3);

        // Configure borders and captions for options
        opt1.Border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(opt1);
        opt1.Border.Width = 1;
        opt1.Border.Style = Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.BorderStyle.Solid;
        opt1.Characteristics.Border = System.Drawing.Color.Black;
        opt1.DefaultAppearance.TextColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
        opt1.Caption = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("Item1");

        opt2.Border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(opt2);
        opt2.Border.Width = 1;
        opt2.Border.Style = Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.BorderStyle.Solid;
        opt2.Characteristics.Border = System.Drawing.Color.Black;
        opt2.DefaultAppearance.TextColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
        opt2.Caption = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("Item2");

        opt3.Border = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.Border(opt3);
        opt3.Border.Width = 1;
        opt3.Border.Style = Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.BorderStyle.Solid;
        opt3.Characteristics.Border = System.Drawing.Color.Black;
        opt3.DefaultAppearance.TextColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
        opt3.Caption = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("Item3");

        // Add options to the cells
        c1.Paragraphs.Add(opt1);
        c2.Paragraphs.Add(opt2);
        c3.Paragraphs.Add(opt3);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "RadioButtonWithOptions_out.pdf");
    }
}

Adding Caption to RadioButtonField

Following code snippet shows how to add caption which will be associated with RadioButtonField:

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddingCaptionToRadioButtonField()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Load source PDF form
    using (var form1 = new Aspose.Pdf.Facades.Form(dataDir + "RadioButtonField.pdf"))
    {
        using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "RadioButtonField.pdf"))
        {
            foreach (var item in form1.FieldNames)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(item.ToString());
                var radioOptions = form1.GetButtonOptionValues(item);

                if (item.Contains("radio1"))
                {
                    var field0 = document.Form[item] as Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonField;
                    var fieldoption = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.RadioButtonOptionField();
                    fieldoption.OptionName = "Yes";
                    fieldoption.PartialName = "Yesname";

                    var updatedFragment = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFragment("test123");
                    updatedFragment.TextState.Font = Aspose.Pdf.Text.FontRepository.FindFont("Arial");
                    updatedFragment.TextState.FontSize = 10;
                    updatedFragment.TextState.LineSpacing = 6.32f;

                    // Create TextParagraph object
                    var par = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextParagraph();

                    // Set paragraph position
                    par.Position = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.Position(field0.Rect.LLX, field0.Rect.LLY + updatedFragment.TextState.FontSize);
                    // Specify word wraping mode
                    par.FormattingOptions.WrapMode = Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextFormattingOptions.WordWrapMode.ByWords;

                    // Add new TextFragment to paragraph
                    par.AppendLine(updatedFragment);

                    // Add the TextParagraph using TextBuilder
                    var textBuilder = new Aspose.Pdf.Text.TextBuilder(document.Pages[1]);
                    textBuilder.AppendParagraph(par);

                    field0.DeleteOption("item1");
                }
            }

            // Save PDF document
            document.Save(dataDir + "RadioButtonField_out.pdf");
        }
    }
}

Adding ComboBox field

The following code snippets show how to add ComboBox field in a PDF document.

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddComboBoxToPdf()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Create PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document())
    {
        // Add page to document object
        document.Pages.Add();

        // Instantiate ComboBox Field object
        var combo = new Aspose.Pdf.Forms.ComboBoxField(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(100, 600, 150, 616));

        // Add options to ComboBox
        combo.AddOption("Red");
        combo.AddOption("Yellow");
        combo.AddOption("Green");
        combo.AddOption("Blue");

        // Add combo box object to form fields collection of document object
        document.Form.Add(combo);

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "ComboBox_out.pdf");
    }
}

Add Tooltip to Form Field

The Document class provides a collection named Form which manages form fields in a PDF document. To add a tooltip to a form field, use the Field class AlternateName. Adobe Acrobat uses the ‘alternate name’ as a field tooltip.

The code snippets that follow show how to add a tooltip to a form field, first using C# and then Visual Basic.

// For complete examples and data files, visit https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
private static void AddTooltipToField()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    var dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Forms();

    // Open PDF document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "AddTooltipToField.pdf"))
    {
        // Set the tooltip for textfield
        if (document.Form["textbox1"] is Aspose.Pdf.Forms.Field field)
        {
            field.AlternateName = "Text box tool tip";
        }

        // Save PDF document
        document.Save(dataDir + "AddTooltipToField_out.pdf");
    }
}