Flip / Rotate Textfield Using Axis Rotation in LiveCycle Designer (AEM Forms) | Community
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nireshmatheswaran
Level 1
January 27, 2026
Question

Flip / Rotate Textfield Using Axis Rotation in LiveCycle Designer (AEM Forms)

  • January 27, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 40 views

Hi Team,

We have a requirement to flip / mirror the content of a text field in an AEM Livecycle Forms created using LiveCycle Designer for SAP.

Requirement Details:

  • Ability to apply axis-based rotation (X / Z) on a text field

  • Expected outcomes:

    • Z-axis 180° 

    • X-axis 180° 

  • This is required at the textfield level, not at the page level

Observations:

  • There is no OOTB option for X-axis or Z-axis rotation

Queries:

  1. Is there any OOTB capability, hidden configuration, or supported workaround in LiveCycle Designer to achieve flip/mirror text?

  2. Is this achievable via:

    • FormCalc or JavaScript?

    • XFA-level properties?

    • Post-processing at the PDF level?

  3. Is this a known limitation of LiveCycle Designer?

Kindly let us know If any Adobe-recommended solution exists.
 

 

1 reply

P
Adobe Employee
Pranay_MAdobe Employee
Adobe Employee
January 30, 2026

Hi ​@nireshmatheswaran,

After reviewing the use case, we would like to clarify that AEM LiveCycle Designer (XFA-based forms) does not support axis-based text mirroring or flipping (X-axis or Z-axis) at the individual field level.

Key Details

  • LiveCycle Designer supports only 2D rotation of objects using the rotate property.

  • This rotation is limited to in-plane (Z-plane) rotation and does not include:

    • X-axis flip (vertical mirroring)

    • Z-axis flip (horizontal mirroring)

    • Any form of 3D text transformation

  • There is no OOTB option, hidden configuration, or supported XFA property to achieve this behavior.

Scripting Limitations

  • FormCalc and JavaScript in XFA can control layout, visibility, formatting, and 2D rotation only.

  • Scripts cannot apply transformation matrices or mirroring effects to text fields.

XFA Platform Limitation

This is a known and longstanding limitation of the XFA rendering model. XFA does not support 3D transforms or affine transformations required for text mirroring, unlike applications such as Microsoft Word or native PDF graphics engines.

Possible Workarounds (Outside XFA Scope)

While not supported within Designer itself, the following approaches may be considered depending on the use case:

  1. PDF Post-Processing (Not XFA-native)

    • Render the form to PDF using Output Service

    • Apply mirroring using a PDF-level tool or library (e.g., Acrobat Preflight, iText, PDFBox)

    • Note: This may impact interactivity, tagging, and accessibility

  2. Static Background Artwork

    • Pre-create mirrored/static text as vector artwork or background PDF

    • Suitable only for non-dynamic, non-editable content

Recommendation

If field-level mirrored text is a strict requirement for dynamic content, this functionality cannot be achieved within LiveCycle Designer in a supported manner. In such cases, redesigning the form layout or handling the transformation during PDF post-processing would be the recommended approach.

Thanks
Pranay

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