I am near to or involved in a number of projects that sent me to the web searching for a better solution. We are most often using SharePoints out of the box capabilities, along with InfoPath for forms; now that InfoPath has been sent to the chopping block, I feel we really do need a better answer.
Simple examples:
1. HR has a complex form, currently in a Word document, which is destined for online distribution and completion. Keeping it as a PDF is important to avoid tampering. In it are some sections that really only apply if someone selects a specific option, and they'd like for those to be hidden until the person picks that option; then they'd like the subsection to show, causing the document to reflow as necessary. The result would be a cleaner resulting document showing only the options that were relevant to the selections a user name, and not all the possible options showing all the time for everyone.
2. We have created evaluation forms which pull the standards from a datasource (in this case a SharePoint list), dropping values into specific fields based on position selected, and allowing people to add comments in additional fields. This would require the field sizes to adjust/change, and the document length to change according to flow.
I understand LiveCycle is very powerful and can do this and a whole lot more... but is it a good choice to tinker with now, for these simple needs?
In short, I think LiveCycle is my answer -- but wanted to get input from those who know the tool and are using it. And is that answer simply using LifeCycle Designer to create these forms, or do I need the whole back end server app, etc.?
One concern I have is that after downloading LiveCycle Designer today to start the free trial, I tried to start a form from a Word document. I'm using Office 2013, and the software didn't recognize that, erroring out telling me I had to be using Office XP or better. Is this software a key element of Adobe's strategy, and a good investment at this time? As I've tinkered with the Designer app, sometimes searching through help resources from Adobe online that hinge upon a product selection first DO NOT list LiveCycle! That concerns me.
Thanks for your insight.