Sneak Peek

This article, part of a series, describes upcoming features that will be part of the next version of TX Text Control. A release date is not known yet and will be announced separately.

In the current version, the MVC and Angular DocumentViewer can be used to acquire signatures from users to sign documents electronically. The signature placeholder is a TextFrame object in the document with a specific name.

In version 31.0, TX Text Control will introduce native SignatureField objects that will be compatible to the DocumentViewer, but can be also used to digitally sign documents when exported to Adobe PDF.

Ribbon UI

The Insert ribbon tab received a new button Signature Field to add a new signature box into the document:

SignatureField objects are inherited from the FrameBase class and are handled similar to TextFrames, Images and other FrameBase objects.

In the Frame Formatting tab, additional signature properties can be adjusted including:

• Signer
• Title
• Address
• Contact information
• Reason to sign

These properties are also stored in the resulting PDF document and visible when opening the document in Acrobat Reader.

SignatureField API

Programmatically, a SignatureField can be added through the SignatureFields collection:

TXTextControl.SignatureField signatureField = 
    new TXTextControl.SignatureField(new Size(3000, 3000), "txsign_1", 0);
textControl1.SignatureFields.Add(signatureField, -1);

If a document is deployed using the TX Text Control ASP.NET DocumentViewer, the new signature boxes are converted into signature placeholders to acquire the electronic signature from users.

If this document is exported as a PDF, users can directly sign within Acrobat Reader:

Digitally Sign with Text Control

The following code applies a visual signature image and associates a certificate with the signature field:

// get the SignatureField by Name
TXTextControl.SignatureField signatureField = 
    textControl1.SignatureFields.GetItem("txsign_1");

// set the image
signatureField.Image = new TXTextControl.SignatureImage("signature.svg", 1);

// create a new digital signature
X509Certificate2 cert = new X509Certificate2("mycert.pfx", "123");
TXTextControl.DigitalSignature signature = 
    new TXTextControl.DigitalSignature(cert, null, "txsign_1");

// add the signatures
TXTextControl.SaveSettings saveSettings = new TXTextControl.SaveSettings() {
    SignatureFields = new TXTextControl.DigitalSignature[] { signature }
};

// export the document
textControl1.Save("results.pdf", TXTextControl.StreamType.AdobePDF, saveSettings);

TX Text Control is replacing the signature visually:

And when exporting to Adobe PDF, the signature field is associated with the digital signature:

Conclusion

Together with the MVC and Angular DocumentViewer, TX Text Control 31.0 will provide all required components to implement electronic and digital signatures in document workflows. Individual signature fields can be signed with multiple certificates within a document.

Stay tuned for more features of TX Text Control 31.0!