Automatically moving from one text field to another

[SteveBeginner]

I am just new to Livecycle and am trying to create a 2-page form that will be filled-in and then printed. I want the user to be able to type in to a text field on the first page of the form, and if they continue to type, to automatically jump to the text field on the second page.

Is there any way of doing this?

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

The standard approach is to set up the tabbing order, so that the user tabs from one field to the next. This will span pages, so that when the user tabs from the last field on page one, then will land inside the first field on page two.

There is a command setFocus, which you can use to change the focus onto a particular field, but you would need to decide what is going to trigger that command. For example when a field on page one is full?

Sometimes it is better to leave it to the user to navigate the form. If the focus suddenly changes to a different field the user may get confused or they may not notice that they are in a new field, if they are looking down at the keyboard.

So, tabbing is preferred option, otherwise have a look in the help file for setFocus.

Good luck,

Niall

[usuggestaname]

Thanks for that Niall. Is there a trick to having the user be able to tab from the last field on one page to the first field on the next page? I'm having trouble finding out how to make that work.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

Tabbing by default is set to automatic. The thing to remember is that the tabbing sequence from one field to another is affected by the relative x/y coordinates of objects, working from the top-left to the bottom-right. For example if an object on the right of the form is even a fraction higher than one on the left, it will receive focus first.

Also when set to automatic, once the user has tabbed into a subform, the sequence will run through all objects in that subform before working out to the main form again.

If you want a specific tabbing order then you can make changes in the Tab Order panel (available as a tab in the same panel as the hierarchy view).

Click custom and then depending on which version of LC Designer you have, you work through each objects are sets its order in the tabbing sequence.

However you should set a custom tab order at the very last step, as making changes to the form can throw the tab order out of sequence and you will have to set it again.

Generally I always use automatic tabbing, but make sure that objects are properly aligned and use subforms to group tab sequences.

Hope that helps,

Niall