Saving a FDF merge as a PDF to server

I have successfully created a web app that fills a FDF Tax form out with data from MSSQL. However there seems to be a dependency that is created between the PDF form I saved with PHP (the filled out tax form) onto the server and the template PDF (template tax form). I ideally would like to email the completed tax form as a PDF to the individuals but I can't do it without sending the template with it. Am I missing something? Here is an excerpt of the code I'm using: // CREATE ARRAY OF FORM FIELDS AND ASSIGN DATA TO THE CORRECT FIELDS $pdf_data = array( "f1-1"=>$date1, "f1-2"=>$date2, "f1-3"=>$date3, "f1-4"=>$ssNum, "f1-5"=>$name, "f1-6"=>$corpID1, "f1-7"=>$corpID2, "c1-5"=>"On", "f1-8"=>$divisionAddress, "f1-15"=>$preparer, "f1-18"=>$payments, "f1-35"=>$contrib401k, "f1-112"=>$IDs, "f2-28"=>$supplemental1, "f2-29"=>$supplemental2); // FILL IN FIELDS WITH 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_template) >>"; $fdf .= ">>\nendobj\ntrailer\n<<\n"; $fdf .= "/Root 1 0 R \n\n>>\n"; $fdf .= "%%EOF"; // CREATE FILENAME $filename = $row['First_Name'] . $row['Last_Name'] . "_" . $row['Tatum_ID'] . ".pdf"; // CREATE PDF $fdffp = fopen($filename, "w"); fwrite($fdffp, $fdf, strlen($fdf)); fclose($fdffp); Should I be using something different to save the resulting file? Thanks! Ron