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Looking to lock form on email submission and set something from the form in the email subject

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Level 3

I have added an email submission button. I've looked around but can't seem to find the answer to this - how do I lock the form on submission? The form has an auto-populate today's date box, and currently every time I open the form it resets it to the current date. 

Second, I have fields on the form for "forename" and "surname". Would it be possible to have the following in the "email subject": 

[specific text] - (forename initial) (surname initial)

 

Thanks!

61 Replies

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Level 3

Open the non-RE PDF in which program? Adobe Acrobat? If I open it in Acrobat, then the pre-filled fields are not editable - I cannot select the text inside them to delete.

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Employee

Have you added logic that blocks those fields right from the start? Or what kind of PDF are you saving in Designer?

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Level 3

Not sure what you mean by logic that blocks those fields from the start. On the time field I have this script:

form1.Page1subform.Datenamegradesubform.DateTimeField1::initialize - (FormCalc, client)

if ($ == null) then
$.rawValue = Num2Time(Time(), "HH:MM")
endif

In Designer I just save as a PDF. If I go to "save as", it seems to be saving as an "Adobe Dynamix XML Form (*.pdf)".

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Employee

when I do this with my form the fields are open and I can overwrite the date that was put in. Can you pass me your pdf so that I can have a look? Something is different between our two forms.

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Level 3

Just sent you a PM with a copy of my form - many thanks. 

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Level 3

Just added you to the shared list - should be OK for you now.

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Employee

got it and I see now that you made those 2 fields read-only - we need to think about how to solve this little conundrum.

I was confused about the locked thing. I will see if we can solve this.

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Level 3

Ah, I see. Is it as simple as turning off the read only function?

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Level 3

Really keen to get this issue finalised if anyone can help. Willing to share my form if that's of any assistance!

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Employee

Regarding your date field. Assuming that you used the Current Date field from the Custom library:

Just add an if to the ready:layout event of the date field so that it looks like that:

if ($ == null) then
   $.rawValue = num2date(date(), DateFmt(1))
endif

That should prevent the repeated prefilling once a date has been set.

In JavaScript

if (this.rawValue == null) {

   your code

}

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Level 3

Thanks - I have this in the layout:ready event of the date field (in FormCalc):

 

if ($ == null) then
$.rawValue = Num2Date(Date(), "YYYY-MM-DD")
endif

 

When I try and submit the form however, I get an error message:

 

"The value you entered for Current date: is invalid. To ignore validations for Current date; click Ignore."

 

If I click ignore, it will submit the form, but the auto-calculated date field doesn't lock and just updates again whenever the form is opened.

 

 

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Employee

Check your locale and date format in the patterns. Apparently the "date string" of the prefill does not match what the validation pattern expects.

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Level 3

Hi Kosta,

Thanks again for your input. I'm still struggling to get the date field to lock.

Regarding the code you told me to put into the layout:ready field - do I just copy your code and paste it in? I don't need to change anything such as DateFmt? Should that code all be in FormCalc rather than JavaScript?

When I change the DateFmt and have the following code in layout:ready with language set to FormCalc:

if ($ == null) then
$.rawValue = Num2Date(Date(), "YYYY-MM-DD")
endif

then the form fills in OK and I don't get any error message, but after submitting the form it doesn't lock the field, with the date updating each time I open the form.

When I just copy and paste it in, with the option set to formcalc, I can fill in the form OK and don't get a validation error message, but the field is not locked after submitting the form, and updates each time I open that form.

Locale for this field is set to "default locale" which is "English (USA)".

Thanks!

 

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Employee

Check out my sample. The way I use this form is to open it in Reader, today`s date is prefilled. For testing I set it manually to yesterday and then Save As another file (emailing2.pdf). When I open emailing2.pdf I get yesterday's date - which is expected result.

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:e600abc1-348d-47c7-b832-a71183a1a5a...

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Level 3

Thanks for that Kosta. I'm sorry, I've been an idiot. I've been working on the current date field, but testing on the current time field, for which I have not entered any code! Would you be able to advise on what I should put in the "current time" field to get it to lock that also?

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Employee

Use a DateTime field, set the patterns to time{HH:MM:SS} and Binding - Data Format to Time and the following script

if ($ == null) then
   $.rawValue = Num2Time(Time(), "HH:MM:SS")
endif

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Level 3

Hi Kosta, with your help I managed to get the time to lock. I'm still working on the date but should be able to get there.

Regarding having the Forename & Surname initials in the email subject field, I have the following script in the presubmit, as javascript;

var sMailUrl=this.resolveNode("#event").submit.target;

this.resolveNode("#event").submit.target=sMailUrl + "?subject=Some Text "+form1.Page1subform.PatientSubform.Forname.rawValue+" "+form1.Page1subform.PatientSubform.Surname.rawValue + "(" + form1.Page1subform.PatientSubform.Forname.rawValue.substr(0,1) + form1.Page1subform.PatientSubform.Surname.rawValue.substr(0,1) + ")";

However, I am still getting generic text in the email subject field and not the "some text" and initials like I should. Do I need to change anything with this script? Add an email address or anything? Thanks!