Curious problem with drop-downs and flowed layout

[RusticRanger2]

Hi - I have a form (hopefully to become a series of forms) that has a flowed layout which works fine. I introduced a drop-down list which is populated from an XML data file. The user selects the item from the dropdown, and the result forces the name into another text field, and the address into a different text field. In order to get the XML embedded, I have gone into Acrobat and imported the data file into the form - this enables me to Reader enable (using LiveCycle Reader extensions) and all works fine, except for on curious behaviour: The drop-down populates the text fileds as expected, but as soon as I go into the first flowable text box therafter, add in some text and expand the box, the data-populated text fileds become blank. The user would then be in a situation where they would have to complete all flowable areas before they choose from the drop-down. I want the drop-down populated text fields to stay populated.

I tried giving the fields this script on Exit:

setItemState(i

,true)

[Former Community Member · Accepted solution]

What is the binding that is set for the fields that disappear? Look at the Binding tab in the Object palette.

Paul

[RusticRanger2]

I hang my head in shame - indeed, the binding was set to none - changed it to normal and it now works just fine. Thanks as always for the help.

[RusticRanger2]

I have an further question that comes from a user, and I think this might

become quite common. My drop-down has 380 entries, which means that some beginning

letters might be 30 or so entries, such as towns beginning with

B. The user has asked if there is any way to type in the first two or three letters

in the drop-down to get closer to the town of their choice, rather than

the single charater selection.

[TheRealAgentK]

Hmm, you could certainly allow the users to enter text in the drop-down field and then compare the first 3 (or all) characters against your data by looping over it. I doubt though that that'd work in real time, e.g. provide a user experience as in a Flash/Flex application where the number of options actually decreases visually.

Cheers

Kai