Adding a watermark to a form...

[perpetualjon]

I’d like to add a watermark to a form I’ve created that will look like a light grey bold text that runs diagonally along the entire pate (not unusual for a digital watermark). My problem is that it seems like Acrobat has this as a built in feature but LiveCycle doesn’t. Initially, I’d prefer vector graphics for a number of reasons. First, I have found that having an image in the background of a form will begin to annoy the user if they’re cursor is in the “selection” mode and not the Hand Tool. Clicking on a blank part of the form will highlight the entire page if the watermark is actually an image behind the form…

So here’s what I’ve attempted first: I created the desired watermark text, color, and shape in Word using “word art” to create the graphic. I then saved the blank page with the single graphic to a PDF file. Sadly, this won’t allow me to transfer all of the form geometry and text to this new PDF document as I created the form starting with a blank page and not an existing PDF…

After that, I simply saved the watermarked PDF template as a PNG file and imported this image as a background (sending the object to the back of the file). This does have the desired effect but with a few drawbacks: I lose the grid I was using extensively in the form making process. This isn’t too big of a deal as I’ll just keep the watermark out of the file until I’m completely done (although this will make revisions in the future a real pain). Also, as stated before, the image is selectable within Acrobat and that can get confusing / annoying for the end-user.

Ultimately, I’d like to create the watermark within LiveCycle as vector geometry for both a smaller file size and to prevent this geometry from being selectable by the user of the form. I’ve attached an example of what I’m working on to this message if you’d like to see what I’m talking about…

Any help would be hot!
Thx everyone.

[Former Community Member]

You shoudl put the image on the Masterpage .....then it willl not affect you when you are designing.

Paul

[Niall_O_Donovan]

... also remember to tick the embed image data under the url window in the Object Draw tab.

In an object you could have the following Javascript in the initialise event, which will ensure that the Hand tool is selected:

app.execMenuItem("HandMenuItem");

Good luck,

N. 

[perpetualjon]

Putting the PNG file in the master page helps somewhat. It makes the image unselectable in the design view but it still blanks out the grid dots in the design view. Also, the image is still selectable within Acrobat when the form is saved. Surely I can't be the only one that's hoping to create a form with a watermark in the background!! Any other ideas?

[perpetualjon]

The frustrating thing is that I believe I'm getting close to the solution. I can create a perfect PDF form by using MS Word to create the watermark in the background. If I try and import the Word document straight into LiveCycle, it converts the word art to an image (poorly to boot). I can convert the Word document to a PDF and it looks wonderful. If I use that PDF to start with in LiveCycle, all of the text capabilities are turned off for some reason. I can create text FIELDS or check boxes but there can be no text within them. Still, the resulting PDF has a wonderful watermark that isn't selectable in Acrobat. I would just hate to have to create this entire form within Word and then only be able to use LiveCycle to create the check boxes and text fields. The problem with this process is that every time I have to make updates or revisions, I would have to re-import them from Word and create the form completely again.

Any thoughts?

BTW, thanks so much for your responses so far! I just haven't been able to sit down with this software since I posted the question to try out the possible solutions until tonight!

[Niall_O_Donovan · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Here is an example of using an ImageField on the master page instead of an Image object. You can script the ImageField directly so it may serve your purposes better.

Good luck,

Niall

[perpetualjon]

Thank you so much Niall!! That looks like just what I needed!! You guys are the best.

[perpetualjon]

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm totally happy with the results of your solution Niall! But I just noticed that the thumbnail preview now created by the revised PDF document with the watermark added, is as shown below. Is there some other revision I need to make to have the thumbnail render correctly now? If not, I'm not too upset as I'm more concerned with a good watermark that isn't selectable (which I now have). Here's a screenshot for comparison between the before and afters...

Any ideas about this one?

[Niall_O_Donovan]

I'll be honest; I'am stumped. It is like the coversheet in a PDF portfolio, in this case warning that previewers cannot view the form. I thought it might be something to do with the target version or if the file was saved as dynamic versus static. I have a range of LC forms are some have the form preview/thumbnail, but others are like the coversheet. I cannot see why there would be a difference.

Hope someone comes up with an answers 'cos its bugging me now,

N.

[perpetualjon]

Yeah, I think I'm going to open a new thread since this one is just about creating a watermark properly (and that problem is solved). I'll go ahead and start it shortly. Thanks again everyone for your help!!

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

Add app.execMenuItem("FitPage"); to the script in the imageField docReady event.

Niall

[perpetualjon]

Man, Niall, when do you sleep?! Thanks for that script help!! That worked perfectly. Now I'll update the new thread I've created to at least mention that I've solved that issue... Now for the thumbnail problem...