How are text/fields laid out in columns?

[Bryan_Capps]

Using Acrobat Pro Extended 9.4.5 and LiveCycle Designer ES2.  I'm creating a dynamic purchase order form that includes, of course, many fields, but also some static text (e.g., boilerplate "terms and conditions").  Up until now, I kept those terms and conditions in a separate (static) PDF, but that meant that 2 documents had to be transmitted, among other things.

For readability's sake and to save space, I want to format a section containing static text into 2 or 3 columns.  Here's how I'm doing it.

First, there are 3 content areas in the form:  FullWidth, LeftColumn, and RightColumn.  They are self-explanatory.  The FullWidth content area is set to the full height and width of the form (minus margins).  The LeftColumn and RightColumn content areas are set to full height and one-half of the width of the form (minus margins).  Only the x position of the two is different (RightColumn begins halfway across page, i.e., on right-hand half of form).

Second, the form is set to flowed.  Static/multi-column text is wrapped in a subform, set to flowed.  Subforms above and below that section are likewise set to flowed.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what combination of pagination/flow settings will achieve what I'm trying to do.  Instead, the subforms overlap, and while I can get the columnar text to flow between columns, it's not newspaper style (i.e., it's not equal-length columns), but rather, the first/left-hand column will fill to the bottom of the page before spilling over to the second/right-hand column.

I have to believe that LiveCycle layouts can switch back and forth between full-width and columnar layouts.

If using a table is the answer, I can't figure out how to flow the text between the table columns.

Can anyone help?  I could upload/furnish a simple test file.

Bryan Capps

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

Try setting the subform that contains the two column subforms to Positioned, but in the Layout palette, set its height to Expand to Fit.

Niall

[Bryan_Capps]

Thanks Niall for your reply, for which I am grateful.

Unfortunately, the proposed fix did not work.  I've e-mailed you the simple test document.

I think I understand LiveCycle, so this issue has me a little stumped.  Many dynamic forms are formatted in columnar layouts, so I can't imagine that LiveCycle can't do this.

Bryan Capps

[Bryan_Capps]

Thanks, Niall. Am grateful for your response. However, it didn't work.

See attached.

Bryan

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Bryan,

You cant attach or email files to the forums. You would need to upload your form to a file sharing site like Acrobat.com and then share your published link here.

I'll get to it when I can.

Niall

[Bryan_Capps]

Niall, thanks.  The test document is published at

https://acrobat.com/#d=GgE1H2V7f4ArpFDjP8YFLw.  It consists of two full-width subforms/sections (first one in red text, second one in blue), with a 2-column subform/section in between (in black text).

Anyone else have a suggestion for properly flowing (newspaper-style) columnar text?

Bryan Capps

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Bryan,

See does the way this form is laid out help you: http://assure.ly/iCNgAT

Note that the page contains a textfield.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[Bryan_Capps]

Not really.  The columns in that example are not newspaper style, i.e., two (or more) equal-length columns.  In other words, the overflow column on the second page is not two equal-length columns, but a single column.  If the default text in the field is reduced in length, the two columns on the first page also cease to be equal-length (i.e., they are only equal length in the example because the default text is long enough to fill both columns of the first page).

Bryan Capps

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Bryan,

I am not sure what you are trying to achieve. The example I posted is very similar to your form. In fact your comments could equally be applied to your form.

LC Designer handles flowed content reasonably well, but LC Designer is not a page layout program like InDesign.

The example shows an approach, but it is not a smooth or as flexible as InDesign. However it might help you to develop a solution that matches your exact requirements.

Good luck,

Niall

[Bryan_Capps]

Niall, thank you for your help on this issue. I'm grateful.

Bryan Capps

[Bryan_Capps]

Yes, the two forms are similar, because they both suffer from the same problem.  The form I uploaded/posted likewise is not formatted in newspaper-style columns.

What I'm trying to achieve is a form with both fields and with static text, e.g., a purchase order, subcontract, contract, etc.  Some of the content of these forms is variable, i.e., user-filled/entered, and some of the content is not variable, i.e., boilerplate terms and conditions, etc.  For readability's sake, I tend/like to use columnar text, not full-page-width text, for such boilerplate terms.  I don't seem to have any problem laying fields out like I want, alternating between full-width and columnar layouts, but cannot figure out how to properly render the boilerplate text in newspaper columns, whether using static text or a text field.

I appreciate your assistance.

Bryan Capps

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Bryan,

If the boiler plate info is static, then yes I would place this in a positioned subform, and layout the text as best as possible in tow text objects.

The trouble will be if the objects above the boilder plate can expand and push the boiler plate info to split over two pages. In this case the text flow won't work very well.

Can you place the expanding object beneath the two columns?

Niall

[Bryan_Capps]

That is indeed the problem.  The boilerplate/static text comes at the end of the contract, after content which varies in height (page length).  If LiveCycle's built-in functions/properties cannot handle newspaper-style columns, then I'm assuming that code would be required to evaluate the remaining space on a page (content area) and programatically break the columns into equal lengths.  For professional reasons, I cannot afford the time/expense of buying/learning additional software (e.g., InDesign).

Any suggestions (instructive samples/code) would be welcome.

Bryan Capps

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Okay,

Here are some, but I am not sure how instructive they will be.

• This was an example for someone, where they wanted the red text in a set position on the page. The effect could more easily be achieved by placing the text on the Master page and adjusting the content area. Hence it hasn't been uploaded on the site: http://assure.ly/pGOS6t.
• This example was also for someone who wanted the repeating objects on page 1 to skip over the second page. This accessed the "h" (height) property: http://assure.ly/qjcBCv.
• Then there is this example that shows how to access h/w/x/y properties of objects: http://assure.ly/hXsh10.

I can't share this one with you, but the basis is that there is a line inbetween the signs and the textfield. As more signs are added the line is pushed down the page. The script looks at the y-coordinates of the line and then reduce the height of the textfield accordingly.

I thought I had another example, but can't find it now.

You could try something similar:

1. Have two textfields with the font size set to 0pt. Then script in the exit event of the exapnding fields that would look at their position and reduce the height of the two textfields.
2. The font size should automatically reduce to take account of the reduced height of the fields.
3. I appreciate that you are not getting text to flow from the left textfield over to the right, but if the content is split eveny at design time, it should remain reasonably level as the font reduces in both.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[Bryan_Capps]

Thanks, Niall.  I will review the examples and explore what you suggest.  I do have constraints on reducing/changing font size, because some of the "boilerplate" includes provisions which are required to meet certain conspicuity requirements, including specific or minimum font sizes.

I find it remarkable that there are such helpful people like you willing to make themselves available as resources to users like me.  I so appreciate it.

Bryan Capps