Regarding the tutorial on creating a lookup table from a database

[Former Community Member]

Hi all,



I am writing this in response to the tutorial on populating a form from a database. Though it is functional, I find the tutorial too short and it does not explain on what the code does. It really does not explain very clearly on why we need to use javascript for the drop down list and suddenly we have to use FormCalc for the refresh button.



The strangest of all things is why do we need a Refresh button when we can just implement the 'refresh' functionality within the drop down list?



Pardon me, but can any kind soul out there explain what the code does?? I am just getting started to Adobe LiveCycle Designer but I am so lost in this maze where the LiveCycle Designer help manual does not 'help' much and I have searched through books on Acrobat 7 and all of them , if they do touch on LiveCycle Designer, only 'touch' on the surface and explain very superficially on what it can do.



Can anyone out there also suggest how I get started on using LiveCycle Designer especially on the part of connecting to a database? Any help would be appreciated.



Thanks for reading!

[Former Community Member]

Hi Peggy:

There's a small issue with that tutorial, in that it tells you that you need to write all that JS code...



That's not exactly true. Under "Custom" in the "Library" palette, there's an option for "Data drop-down list". If you drag that to your form, you can easily populate the list of form elements from a database. I'm working on writing up a small tutorial on how to connect to a MySQL database under Windows.



The code at the end, though it is FormCalc, could also be JS based. I'll be showing that in the tutorial as well.



What other, specific, questions did you have?



Mike

[Former Community Member]

Thanks for answering my question. I'll be glad to also see how it interacts with mySQL database. I guess I have to try the Custom under the Library palette.



A stranger thing happened to me just yesterday. I just updated my Acrobat to 7.0.5 and then when I launched my Adobe LiveCycle Designer, my PDF Preview tab is missing! I even went to the View > PDF Preview setting and is disabled. Strange. Before that, when I have the PDF Preview tab, Acrobat will have a dialog box and prompt me to save it in my computer and it will assign a miscellaneous name to it. I thought you preview it rather than saving it? But strange is that when I go back to the Body pages to author the form, it will periodically open a blank web page. Strange isn't it?



Thanks for reading!

[Former Community Member]

Mike:



You mentioned in the above reply that you were working on a small tutorial on how to connect to a MySQL database under Windows.



I have completed both "Quick Start Tutorials" within Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7.0. Thus far I have connected via (ODBC) a sample form with MySQL database, but have not figured out the JS code to insert, update, delete, etc records.



Thanks for any help!



Rick



Could you please let me know if that tutorial is posted?

[Former Community Member]

I would also find that of much interest.