bitwikiorg import json import sys
from pypdf import PdfReader
Extracts data for the fillable form fields in a PDF and outputs JSON that
Claude uses to fill the fields. See forms.md.
This matches the format used by PdfReader get_fields and update_page_form_field_values methods.
def get_full_annotation_field_id(annotation): components = [] while annotation: field_name = annotation.get('/T') if field_name: components.append(field_name) annotation = annotation.get('/Parent') return ".".join(reversed(components)) if components else None
def make_field_dict(field, field_id):
field_dict = {"field_id": field_id}
ft = field.get('/FT')
if ft == "/Tx":
field_dict["type"] = "text"
elif ft == "/Btn":
field_dict["type"] = "checkbox" # radio groups handled separately
states = field.get("/States", [])
if len(states) == 2:
# "/Off" seems to always be the unchecked value, as suggested by
# https://opensource.adobe.com/dc-acrobat-sdk-docs/standards/pdfstandards/pdf/PDF32000_2008.pdf#page=448
# It can be either first or second in the "/States" list.
if "/Off" in states:
field_dict["checked_value"] = states[0] if states[0] != "/Off" else states[1]
field_dict["unchecked_value"] = "/Off"
else:
print(f"Unexpected state values for checkbox ${field_id}. Its checked and unchecked values may not be correct; if you're trying to check it, visually verify the results.")
field_dict["checked_value"] = states[0]
field_dict["unchecked_value"] = states[1]
elif ft == "/Ch":
field_dict["type"] = "choice"
states = field.get("/States", [])
field_dict["choice_options"] = [{
"value": state[0],
"text": state[1],
} for state in states]
else:
field_dict["type"] = f"unknown ({ft})"
return field_dict
Returns a list of fillable PDF fields:
[
{
"field_id": "name",
"page": 1,
"type": ("text", "checkbox", "radio_group", or "choice")
// Per-type additional fields described in forms.md
},
]
def get_field_info(reader: PdfReader): fields = reader.get_fields()
field_info_by_id = {}
possible_radio_names = set()
for field_id, field in fields.items():
# Skip if this is a container field with children, except that it might be
# a parent group for radio button options.
if field.get("/Kids"):
if field.get("/FT") == "/Btn":
possible_radio_names.add(field_id)
continue
field_info_by_id[field_id] = make_field_dict(field, field_id)
# Bounding rects are stored in annotations in page objects.
# Radio button options have a separate annotation for each choice;
# all choices have the same field name.
# See https://westhealth.github.io/exploring-fillable-forms-with-pdfrw.html
radio_fields_by_id = {}
for page_index, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
annotations = page.get('/Annots', [])
for ann in annotations:
field_id = get_full_annotation_field_id(ann)
if field_id in field_info_by_id:
field_info_by_id[field_id]["page"] = page_index + 1
field_info_by_id[field_id]["rect"] = ann.get('/Rect')
elif field_id in possible_radio_names:
try:
# ann['/AP']['/N'] should have two items. One of them is '/Off',
# the other is the active value.
for v in ann["/AP"]["/N"] if v != "/Off"]
except KeyError:
continue
if len(on_values) == 1:
rect = ann.get("/Rect")
if field_id not in radio_fields_by_id:
radio_fields_by_id[field_id] = {
"field_id": field_id,
"type": "radio_group",
"page": page_index + 1,
"radio_options": [],
}
# Note: at least on macOS 15.7, Preview.app doesn't show selected
# radio buttons correctly. (It does if you remove the leading slash
# from the value, but that causes them not to appear correctly in
# Chrome/Firefox/Acrobat/etc).
radio_fields_by_id[field_id]["radio_options"].append({
"value": on_values[0],
"rect": rect,
})
# Some PDFs have form field definitions without corresponding annotations,
# so we can't tell where they are. Ignore these fields for now.
fields_with_location = []
for field_info in field_info_by_id.values():
if "page" in field_info:
fields_with_location.append(field_info)
else:
print(f"Unable to determine location for field id: {field_info.get('field_id')}, ignoring")
# Sort by page number, then Y position (flipped in PDF coordinate system), then X.
def sort_key(f):
if "radio_options" in f:
rect = f["radio_options"][0]["rect"] or [0, 0, 0, 0]
else:
rect = f.get("rect") or [0, 0, 0, 0]
adjusted_position = [-rect[1], rect[0]]
return [f.get("page"), adjusted_position]
sorted_fields = fields_with_location + list(radio_fields_by_id.values())
sorted_fields.sort(key=sort_key)
return sorted_fields
def write_field_info(pdf_path: str, json_output_path: str): reader = PdfReader(pdf_path) field_info = get_field_info(reader) with open(json_output_path, "w") as f: json.dump(field_info, f, indent=2) print(f"Wrote {len(field_info)} fields to {json_output_path}")
if name == "main": if len(sys.argv) != 3: print("Usage: extract_form_field_info.py [input pdf] [output json]") sys.exit(1) write_field_info(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2])