Drop-down menu in table cells - how to expand over the column width?

[Former Community Member]

Hello!

A client is migrating their 2,400 forms from old JetForms to PDF (LiveCycle Designer) and would like to keep the same functionalities he's used to in the old platform. However, some of the old tool features do not seem to be present in LiveCycle.

Suppose a drop-down menu in a table cell, containing items which lengths are bigger than the table column. In JetForm, when you open the drop-down it spans over the columns to show all its contents, not cutting the drop-down list contents.

I tried this in LiveCycle, but the drop-down gets cut and its contents are limited to the table column (hence the drop-down menu) width.

Is there a way to work around this limitation, even if I have to use some scripting?

Thank you for any ideas!

Marcos

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Marcos,

The default behaviour of fixed width can not be adjusted without script.

I have a small script here, but I am not sure I would recommend it completely. Having the dropdown increasing in width is not what the user will expect and may reduce their experience of the form. You would just need to see how it works for your form.

The example is in this post: http://assure.ly/gkOD6C. The dropdown is on the right of page 2.

Good luck,

Niall

[Former Community Member]

Hi Niall,

Thank you very much for your help! I will definitely give it a try.

I couldn´t agree more with you about the user experience but, well, this client is really hesitant to abandon the old technology feel.

I have already implemented lots and lots of scripts and workarounds to make their PDF behave as their old JetForm forms.

Thank you!

Marcos

[Former Community Member]

Hi again, Niall!

Thank you again for your great examples!

The dynamic width drop-down will cover some of the client's expectations.

However, they would like it to work even when the drop-down is within a table cell with a width smaller than the width they want the drop-down to show when the mouse enters the field.

I'm afraid you will say this is not possible... Or at least not without a lot of coding, using subforms or the like.

Any ideas? 

Thank you very much!

Marcos

[Niall_O_Donovan · Accepted solution]

Hi Marcos,

I don't think that you will get this to work reliably in a table

Niall

[Former Community Member]

Hi Niall,

Thank you for your help!

Client won't be happy, but I've learned quite a lot from your script in the process.  :)

Best Regards!

Marcos