Here is yet another example of generating pre-filled PDFs without using the FDF functions. This function takes two args: a URL to the PDF (like "http://domain.com/path/to/form.pdf" and an array with all the field's values.
/*
WARNING!! THIS FUNCTION SENDS HTTP HEADERS! It MUST be called before
any content is spooled to the browser, or the function will fail!
void output_fdf (string $pdf_file, array $pdf_data)
$pdf_file: a string containing a URL path to a PDF file on the
server. This PDF MUST exist and contain fields with
the names referenced by $pdf_data for this function
to work.
$pdf_data: an array of any fields in $pdf_file that you want to
populate, of the form key=>val; where the field
name is the key, and the field's value is in val.
*/
function output_fdf ($pdf_file, $pdf_data) {
$fdf = "%FDF-1.2\n%????\n";
$fdf .= "1 0 obj \n<< /FDF ";
$fdf .= "<< /Fields [\n";
foreach ($pdf_data as $key => $val)
$fdf .= "<< /V ($val)/T ($key) >> \n";
$fdf .= "]\n/F ($pdf_file) >>";
$fdf .= ">>\nendobj\ntrailer\n<<\n";
$fdf .= "/Root 1 0 R \n\n>>\n";
$fdf .= "%%EOF";
/* Now we display the FDF data which causes Acrobat to start */
header ("Content-Type: application/vnd.fdf");
print $fdf;
}