field value disappears after save/close/reopen

[Former Community Member]

I've got a single page form where all but afew fields are bound to an xml schema. Two of the unbound fields -Names and Address- are causing me a bit of a headache. I can fill in the form, either manually or using a data import and all of the fields show up just fine. However, when I save>close>reopen the values in the Names and Address field are gone.

I even tried deleting and recreating the field just in case I had some kind of hang up and it still doesn't work.

Does anyone know what's happening?

Jennifer

[Former Community Member]

It would be easier if you can put your form and XML schema online or somewhere where others can take a look and help you.

[Former Community Member]

I have a similar thing happening to a form that is attached to a database. I enter all the details then when i save only half the fields are kept. I can go back in and complete the missing fields and save again and it holds them, but really need to be doing it in one go.

[Former Community Member]

I don't have a spot readily available/accessible to post my form and schema. I'm happy to email them to anyone who's willing to give it a look-see.

Janna -my form isn't tied to a db -and if I reopen and fill in it again it still won't stick. However, in instances where I've had this happen previously I've been able to delete the field and recreate it to get it to work. I know it's a lousy work-around, but if it get's you there....

Also, based on previous experiences with importing data via xml, sometimes the issue can be the connection to your Data Source. That is, if your connection runs when the form is opened, and it's trying to fill in all the available nodes, it empties those that don't contain any information in the data source. There's a work around for the xml import, but I don't know about the database connection.

[Former Community Member]

Hi Jennifer,



Could you describe your workaround in more detailed? I have the same problem.

Did you recreate your input field in Designer or at runtime via script ?

What is the version of the Reader you use ?

(any additional packages ?)



Thanks in advance!



Regards,

Ferenc

[Former Community Member]

I think this explains it. Sorry that it doesn't give a solution. Maybe it is fixed in the 7.1 version?



From the ReadMe.html file that is located in the following folder (for me at least) - C\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Designer 7.0\Documentation\EN\



Under the section on 'Data Issues'

"Only Data in Bound Fields Is Saved -

If some fields on a form are bound to a data source, data in fields that are not bound will be lost when the form is saved in Acrobat. If you want to bind some fields to a data source, all fields that you want to save the data for must be bound."

[Former Community Member]

This is not different in 7.1. If you bind to a schema, and have fields that are not defined and bound in the schema then the data for those fields will not be exported. If it was it would violate the schema. If you need data from fields that are not in the schema, then you need to either update the schema to include those fields, or not bind the form to the schema at all.



Chris

Adobe Enterprise Developer Support

[Former Community Member]

The work-around for importing pieces of data into a bound form involves importing the xml and then parsing it to fill only those fields you're looking for at that point.

You can find more info on that process in the following posts


Mark Schenecker, "Import an xml file into adobe designer field using javascript" #3, 5 Jul 2005 1:02...

David O'Hanlon, "Retrieve data from XML file" #3, 2 Jul 2005 5:51 am



Also note that you can always export as xdp to get ALL the field data -but if you export as xml it only exports the data tied to the schema.

On (re-)import, the xdp will attempt to fill all of the field in the form. The xml will attempt to fill all fields bound to the schema -even if the imported schema has no entries in the fields, it considers them tto be empty fields and will replace any data existing in the form with the blank from the schema.



And one more point - it is possible to bind fields to more than one data source. This doesn't mean that you can bind fields to more than one schema -rather that you can bind a field to both a governing schema and webservice. Unfortunately I'm not terribly skilled at this yet so I hesitate to give instructions. It's in the documentation, though.

Good luck!