Create expandable text boxes & maintain Indesign interactive features

[ReggieWalker]

I have a form created in indesign which has interactive buttons included. I exported to pdf and now need to add expandable text boxes. I tried to do this in Livecycle but when i imported the pdf as a flowable form (with a view to make it dynamic) the interactive buttons i had created disappeared. is there a way around this so that i can create expandable text boxes but still maintain the buttons i have created?

PS i am completely new to Livecycle

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

I would be inclined to import the InDesign as a JPEG background (on the master page). While interactive buttons generated with InDesign come into Acrobat OK, in my experience they do not import into LC Designer. Some of your buttons may come through, but you will need to update your script to be compliant with the particular flavour / syntax of Javascript that LC Designer uses. There are plenty of LC Javascript guides on the Adobe web site.

If you get your artwork into LC, then you can recreate the interactive buttons in LC. Just make the buttons with no fill and no border and place them over the static InDesign buttons.

Difficulties with your (static) artwork may happen when you introduce expanding textfields. It depends on the level of detail.

Not much good to you, I hope you get it working,

N.

[ReggieWalker]

Hi Niall

thanks for your help i have done as you suggested and things seem to be woring ok. One thing however the buttons that i have recreated in livecycle are supposed to direct the user to specific pages. how do i get the buttons to go to a page in the same document and if my form is dynamic and the page numbers change will the buttons still direct to the correct page?

R

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

I am heading out the door...

Have a look at the following and see do they help:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/1896825#1896825

http://forums.adobe.com/message/1949149#1949149

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2093952#2093952

Good luck,

N.

[ReggieWalker]

Hi Niall

thanks again for your help.

I followed your advice and created buttons referenced to a numeric field. However the buttons all take you to the first page of the document. There are 11 buttons on the master page all of which should direct you to a different page in the document. This is the script i have been using

form1.Master.Page1.Button1::click - (JavaScript, client)

xfa.host.currentPage

= Introduction.But1.rawValue -

1;

Obviously for each button the page name etc is different. do you know why they are all directing to the same page.

Also is it possible to attach a pdf document to my form so that i can create a link to it. I know you can do this in Acrobat but when i tried it the advanced editing features were disabled? any ideas?

Thanks,

R

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Reggie,

Becuase your form is dynamic the number of pages can grow. As you have done you can still keep track of the page number of specific pages by including a hidden numeric field on each of the 11 specific pages that you want to jump to.

This hidden numeric field (I am presumming is called "But1") would have the following javascript in the ready:Layout event:

     this.rawValue = xfa.layout.page(this); // this is based on a 1 origin

This will give each field the current page number depending on the number of pages in the form.     

The script you have for the button looks OK, provided the "Introduction" is the name of a particular page in the hierarchy and is different for each button. Also that the name of the numeric field is correct for each page.

     xfa.host.currentPage = Introduction.But1.rawValue - 1; // based on 0 origin

If you have only one hidden numeric field on the master page it won't work. You need to put a hidden numeric field on each of the 11 pages. Each button will then refer to the value of the associated numeric field.

XFA Forms are different to Acrobat AcroForms. LC wraps the XFA form in a wrapper that can be opened in Acrobat. A lot of the editing features normally available in a AcroForm and not available in a LC Form when opened in Acrobat.

Paul Guerett has a thread for scripting the attachment of a file into a LC Form. Try searching the LC Designer ES forum for "attach", "file", "attachment" and you should find it. Some way down the thread Paul attached the form, which you can download. From what I remember there were issues with Reader, either it didn't work with Reader or only if the form was enabled.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[ReggieWalker]

Hi Niall

my script for the numeric field and the buttons seem to be right but they are still taking me to the same page which is my title page. This doesn't contain any numeric field only an image and a text box. Any ideas if it is any use to you i can attach the form?

I don't think i explained the other part of my question very well. what i want to do is to attach a number of pdfs to my form so that the reader can access them when they click on a link. I can attach the files to the form in acrobat but the link feature in advanced editing is disabled. Do you have any ideas or script that can achieve this

R

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Reggie,

Here are two versions. One form with a fixed number of pages and the other with a variable number of pages (you can add additional page 1).

In the fixed number of pages, the click event of the index button includes the following instruction to go to a target page:

xfa.host.currentPage = 1;

This works because the page we want is always "1".

If the form is dynamic and the number of pages can increase (or decrease) from those set at design, then we need to track the actual page number of each target page, at runtime.

The script in the index button now looks like this:

xfa.host.currentPage = page2.thisPage.rawValue - 1;

Here the target page is page2 and on this page we have a field called "thisPage". The instruction is to jump to the current value of thisPage on page 2.

For each target page that you want to index, you will need a hidden field (thisPage). You need to put this on each page and not on the Master Page.

Hopefully the examples will help explain this.

This is how we do it, there probably are other solutions out there.

In relation to the second part, the link feature in Acrobat will not work with a form developed in LC Designer. Paul has a thread (http://forums.adobe.com/message/1923918#1923918) with a PDF for attaching documents, which were then listed in a list box. This could help you in developing your form.

Another option is to have a button which becomes visible is there are attachments in the PDF. The click event then shows/hides the attachment panel. The user can then see the attachment and double click on the one they want/need. I know it is not as clean, but it is easier to implement. The javascript for the button would be:

app.execMenuItem("ShowHideFileAttachment");

Hope that helps,

Niall

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