v8.2 Tab Order - still having problems

[Jono_Moore]

I eagerly anticipated v8.2 fixing my tab order problems but that doesn't seem to have happened!



I have some forms that I've used v8.2 to attempt to fix the tab order but it's not working. I've tried resetting the tab order to Automatic and then redoing the manual changes but no luck.



I've checked the XML source and the traversal tags look to be correct. The tab order in the new palette looks correct and even the little arrow thingies point the right way - though some fields don't get the arrows when I hover over top of them, they do get the arrows when hovering over fields before or after them.



I'm thinking I may have to start from scratch on these forms but hoping not to!

[Jono_Moore]

This gets stranger...



I've reset the forms to Automatic tab ordering and they are now tabbing correctly even though the displayed tab order numbering isn't correct - somehow the forms are remembering the tab ordering that I want, even though there is only one traversal tag left in the xml.

[Former Community Member]

Ive just recently upgraded my Web Premium package to CS4 and I was really looking forward to LiveCycle 8.2.1 mainly because of the new tab order feature. Well, its not all as I had hoped and heres why:



Most of the dynamic forms I create are pretty advanced with scripting. One in particular Im having trouble with has 80-112 fields on a page and is 4 pages long. Creating this form has been a battle for a number of reasons, writing Adobes version of JavaScript, the program crashing, and setting the tab order, being some. I first experienced LiveCycle 8.0, and was really looking forward to some of the new features with 8.2 (with Acrobats 9 release). I was also hoping that there would be less bugs in 8.2, but now Im finding new bugs.



Working with so many fields on a page, setting the tab order is very important. I have subforms that are hidden, and based on the answer in one subform makes another subform appear, needing to tab to that field and continue regular sequence. Well, in order for that field to even show up in the Tab Order hierarchy, it has to be visible? Well, some are showing and some arent, hence one of the bugs.



So Ive made all my hidden fields visible so I can set the tab order. I start moving fields around to create my custom tab order, and things seem to be working well, except when I want to move the buttons that are at the top of the list, to the bottom. My whole tab order sequence got mixed up. So instead of moving that one field to the bottom, I decided to try to move ALL my fields to the top and it worked - a work around the bug. Weird work around, but it worked.



Move on to the next page. Started setting my tab order, and the first page got out of order. HUH?! Why would changing the tab order on the 2nd page mess up the 1st page? Now Im getting frustrated. Ive been spending 2+ hours trying to set the tab order (even more researching if there were any fixes or work arounds I didnt know about) on this form which is RIDICULOUS. There should be an easier, non-buggy way to do this, right?



Also, now I CANT set a field to NOT be a part of the tab order. Why would Adobe take that away in 8.2? That was a nice feature that I used frequently and now a user HAS to tab to EVERY field within a form? Thats a bit absurd. 8.2 is no less frustrating than 8.0, and with the program crashing on me and these bugs Ive mentioned, even more frustrating and disappointing. How can I set my tab order on this form? Am I missing something? Or do I need to keep waiting for another release and hope that the bugs are fixed again? I cant believe that Adobe would brag about how cool their fillable forms are, and then have a quirky program to try to create them.