creating a pdf version of a complicated form, populated with data from a database

[Uwe Ziegenhagen]

Yes, I would probably also not use R but rather Python. But basically any
programming language will do, that can access a database and pull out the
desired fields.

Uwe

Am Fr., 5. Apr. 2024 um 09:58 Uhr schrieb Steve Litt <
slitt at troubleshooters.com>:

> Christopher W. Ryan via texhax said on Wed, 3 Apr 2024 12:24:00 -0400
>
> >I dream of using R, Rmarkdown, knittr, and pdflatex to pull individual
> >records from a database and generate a form like page 1 here:
> >
> >https://www.cigna.com/static/www-cigna-com/docs/form-cms1500.pdf
>
> I'm not sure R, Rmarkdown, and knitter are the right tools. More
> later...
>
>
> >one pdf form per database record, with the form fields populated. Then
> >I could print them, and mail the bills to patients' insurers.
> >
> >The contents of many of the fields will be static: all records in the
> >database pertain to the same lab test, all are ordered by the same
> >physician (me), and all tests are conducted in the same place.
> >
> >The R coding seems straightforward, but using pdflatex to reproduce
> >this complex layout strikes me as daunting--even before trying!
> >Opinions: is this a fool's errand? Should I not even try?
>
> I was doing this formatting in the 1980's. The trick is to use a
> monospace font so you can treat the page as a 2 dimensional array.
>
> It's amazing how little those forms have changed since I created
> software to fill them in in almost 40 years ago. I see nothing on that
> form requiring statistics. Assuming all necessary data is already in a
> database, you can simply use any old language to read the database,
> employ a few business rules, fill in a 66x80 2 dimensional array, create
> a text file from the array, then run enscript or whatever to turn it
> into a postscript or PDF with the proper monospace font.
>
> This sounds easy to me. The only difficulties I expect are making sure
> all necessary data is available for reading, and all laws and rules are
> turned into business rules which are then turned into code. I've done
> it: It's not hard.
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
>
> Autumn 2023 featured book: Rapid Learning for the 21st Century
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21
>


-- 
Dr. Uwe Ziegenhagen
0179-7476050
<http://www.uweziegenhagen.de>
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