How can I set up a 2 column layout in LiveCycle?

[TingZilla]

Hi,

I'm new to working with LiveCycle Designer. I'm using version 10.4, the OEM version bundled with SAP. Aside from being quite buggy, the capabilities seem pretty similar to LiveCycle Designer ES4, which I downloaded in a trial version. All of which is to say that this is a newbie question.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to set up a 2-column layout.

On my master page, I have two content areas.

When I create a new page, I am able to drag fields into the first content area I created, but not into the second content area.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

Janet

[yvindevogel · Accepted solution]

My guess is that you have a "flowed top to bottom" layout.  Designer then automatically will put your content in the first area, until it's full.

[TingZilla]

This is helpful, thanks!

Is there any way I can confine the data elements to a specific content area?

Example:

My customers have 5 addresses.

I want 3 to appear in the left column.

I want 2 to appear in the right column.

The addresses vary in length, so I want each column to expand vertically to contain its addresses rather than flow to the next content area.

Is this possible?

[yvindevogel]

Before I answer a solution.  What happens if the 3 addresses on the left don't fit the size of your left column ?

You cannot change the height of an area at run time, so I would set it to maximum according to your page size.  But what do you want when those 3 grow too big ?

[TingZilla]

Hm. I thought a content area would expand vertically to fit. Isn't that what "Auto Fit" on the height is for? (Like I said: newbie questions.) However, I notice that checkbox is grayed out on the Object Layout tab.

The left 3 addresses overrunning the column would be an edge case; the way I would want to handle it is to truncate to the visible height.

Is it possilbe to insert a column break to force the addresses to the next column?

[yvindevogel]

No, a subform can expand, a content area is defined without any possibility to change it (not even with scripting).  Autofit is only applicable to subforms and objects (like TextField) but not to content area.  And that's a good idea, because this is what a content area is supposed to be.

In your case, I guess what you should do is this.  Put a conditional break to assure you have the break after address[2] (3rd has index 2, starting at 0)  When address 4 fits, it would go to the left, unless you force it to go that way.  There is no way to state on instance level where an object should go, only on the object itself.  But, with a conditional break, you can state that item[3] should have a break before, and be moved to the next page/content area.

[TingZilla]

Thank you! This was helpful.

In looking into assigning conditional breaks, I saw that on the Subform Pagination tab, I can select which content area to assign to a subform and what content area to put the next content into. This has solved my problem.

Thanks so much for your help!

[yvindevogel]

You're welcome

[F_Fuss]

Hi. 

I am not a new LiveCycle Forms designer.  I am using Workbench ES2 (9.0.0.2.20121123.884160).  I have run into a new design problem related to a two column page. The business analytsts have designed the form in Word, where columns work great.  I have tried two subforms within the page. The problem with that is when the right column subform overflows, it overflows to the left column (as the left column has not overflowed), or when the left column overflows (whether or not the right column overflows) the right column begins on the left column's overflowed page.

I have tried building a page with two side-by-side content areas in the Master Pages, including setting overflow parameters for each subform in the Design View, also with similar problems.

I have tried using a table with no header and 1 row.  That one is interesting.  When only one cell overflows to another page, it works correctly.  When both columns overflow, the first text box in the subform in each cell is displayed at the top of the page and the remaining content of both cells overflow to the next page, leaving a nearly blank page containing only the one-line text label in each of the two columns.

Is there some nearly hidden setting I am missing?  Is this possible within LiveCycle Designer Forms?

Thanks for your attention to this request.

Frank

[TingZilla]

I have solved most of my 2-column layout problems with tables.

Are you putting a subform with many fields into a table cell? Would it work to set up your table with more than one row--instead using a row for each field/data element? That would confine the overflow to continuing in the same table column page to page. I've used this solution successfully.

I also have achieved 2-column layouts by assigning subforms to named content areas on the master page. The Subform Pagination tab lets you assign a form to a specific content area, and then assign which content area comes next if the content overflows.

Hope that helps a bit. I have been very frustrated by trying to achieve two column layouts that work as I want them to.

[F_Fuss]

TingZilla,  Thank you for the quick response.  Yes, I have tried using a table.  However, I want the different items under the different sized categories to expand independently of the other items/categories.  The table design works correctly until both columns overflow.  Then only the top text label box in each column are left on the top of that page and the remaining content of both table cells paginate to the next page.

I have tried two content areas in the Master Pages and assigned the two subforms (not in a table for this) to each content area and selected which content area for overflows.  The problem here is when the left column overflows, the right column is paginated to the next page, leaving the right column on the original (page 2) page empty, whether or not the right column overflows.  Or, if only the right column overflows, it overflows to the left column on the next page, even when the overflow pagination on this content area is specified to overflow to the left content area.

Thanks for your ideas and any other ideas would be appreciated.   - Frank

[michal_nowak]

Hi,

I'm currently encountering very similar issue with the form which has two column layout - do you by chance managed to make it work properly ?

Kind Regards

Michał