plans to preserve field type info during pdf import?

[Larry Evans]

On 12/27/13 12:24, Larry Evans wrote:
> Opening the irs f1040 form for 2012:
>
>    f1040.pdf
>
> with LibreOffice4.1.2.3 on my ubuntu system:
>
> ~/prog_dev/LibreOffice/file_conversion/inp $ uname -a
> Linux evansl-Inspiron-531 3.2.0-57-generic #87-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 12
> 21:35:10 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
> ~/prog_dev/LibreOffice/file_conversion/inp $
>
> and saving as f1040.fodg did not preserve the field types.
> IOW, the checkboxes in the .pdf were coded as:
>
>      <draw:polygon draw:style-name="gr5" draw:layer="layout"
> svg:width="0.281cm" svg:height="0.281cm" svg:x="4.642cm" svg:y="7.267cm"
> svg:viewBox="0 0 282 282" draw:points="0,282 282,282 282,0 0,0">
>       <text:p/>
>      </draw:polygon>
>      <draw:frame draw:style-name="gr45" draw:layer="layout"
> svg:width="0.273cm" svg:height="0.336cm" svg:x="4.161cm"
> svg:y="7.264cm">
>       <draw:text-box>
>        <text:p text:style-name="P1"><text:span
> text:style-name="T13">2 </text:span></text:p>
>       </draw:text-box>
>      </draw:frame>
>      <draw:frame draw:style-name="gr47" draw:layer="layout"
> svg:width="7.249cm" svg:height="0.336cm" svg:x="5.08cm" svg:y="7.27cm">
>       <draw:text-box>
>        <text:p text:style-name="P1"><text:span
> text:style-name="T7">Married filing jointly (even if only one had
> income) </text:span></text:p>
>       </draw:text-box>
>      </draw:frame>
>
> which gives no indication its a checkbox of any sort.  The same is
> true of text fields because the "First Name and intial" field is coded
> as:
>
>      <draw:frame draw:style-name="gr176" draw:layer="layout"
> svg:width="3.922cm" svg:height="0.336cm" svg:x="1.34cm" svg:y="3.05cm">
>       <draw:text-box>
>        <text:p text:style-name="P1"><text:span
> text:style-name="T25">YourFirstNameAndInitial</text:span></text:p>
>
>       </draw:text-box>
>      </draw:frame>
>
> Are there any plans to actually convert the fields into some form of
> xform fields which are currently available in LibreOffice writer:
>
>    https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/XML_Form_Documents_XForms
>
> ?
>
> TIA.
>
> -regards,
> Larry Evans
>
FWIW, idrsolutions is already doing this conversion, but to html5
instead of to odf:

http://www.idrsolutions.com/jpedalxfa/

I tried their online converter on the f1040.pdf file, and,
in the resulting html, I could edit the fields and save
them.

-regards,
Larry