Form Filler

FormFiller reads and fills AcroForm fields using incremental updates, preserving the original PDF structure and any existing signatures.

Opening a PDF

use Phpdftk\Pdf\Toolkit\FormFiller;

// From file
$filler = FormFiller::open('form.pdf');

// From string
$filler = FormFiller::openString($pdfBytes);

// Encrypted PDF
$filler = FormFiller::open('secured.pdf', password: 'secret');

Reading field information

List all fields

$names = $filler->getFieldNames();
// => ['name', 'email', 'subscribe', 'country']

Get field details

$info = $filler->getFieldInfo('email');

$info->name;     // 'email'
$info->type;     // FieldType::Text
$info->value;    // current value or null
$info->flags;    // int (PDF /Ff flags)
$info->maxLen;   // ?int (max length for text fields)
$info->options;  // ?string[] (options for choice fields)
$info->rect;     // ?float[] ([x1, y1, x2, y2] widget rectangle)

Get all current values

$values = $filler->getFieldValues();
// => ['name' => 'Jane', 'email' => null, 'subscribe' => 'Off', ...]

Check field existence

if ($filler->hasField('signature')) {
    // field exists
}

Filling fields

Text fields

$filler->fill('name', 'Jane Doe')
       ->fill('email', 'jane@example.com');

Fill multiple fields at once

$filler->fillMany([
    'name'  => 'Jane Doe',
    'email' => 'jane@example.com',
    'city'  => 'Toronto',
]);

Checkboxes

$filler->check('subscribe');          // check
$filler->check('subscribe', false);   // uncheck

Choice fields (dropdowns, list boxes)

$filler->select('country', 'Canada');

Saving

// To file
$filler->save('filled.pdf');

// To string
$bytes = $filler->toBytes();

Field types

The FieldType enum covers the four PDF interactive field types:

Enum case	PDF value	Covers
FieldType::Text	Tx	Text input fields
FieldType::Button	Btn	Checkboxes, radio buttons, push buttons
FieldType::Choice	Ch	Dropdowns, list boxes
FieldType::Signature	Sig	Signature fields

Document info

$filler->getPageCount(); // int

Escape hatch

$reader = $filler->getReader(); // PdfReader