Live Cycle for Dummies/Begginers???

[palango]

Hello All;

I have been thrust into a new position within my organization.  My new role is to learn everything I can about Live Cycle ES designer for custom forms, etc.  I have never worked with Live Cycle.  Google, Amazon and other searches for dummy/beginner resources yielded very dissapointing results.  I did watch a couple of videos/presentations on Adobe TV (very cool because I love visuals).  I am still looking and searching for dummy resources.  Any replies to this would be greatly appriciated.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

JP Terry's book on LiveCycle Designer is very good. Also there are guides on the Adobe website on LC Designer generally and on the scripting languages.

Also check out the sample forms that come with LC Designer, they can be found at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Designer 8.2\EN\Samples\Forms\ or similar depending on your install.

There are several examples covering static forms and dynamic forms. Jump right in!!

Good luck,

Niall

[djaknow]

Hi palango,

Were you given any specific criteria for what you expect Livecycle to do for your organization? I work for a county government office and we use Livecycle Designer coupled with Reader Extensions for all of our forms.

[palango]

We are trying to consoladate the over 200 forms that our field agents are using.  The problem is that each location may have a different form for the same procedure.  We neeed to get some uniformaty from our head quarters location.  So the first step is for the field office to fax us their forms.  We get here and try to see if we can create some universal forms that will address all their issues.  Its easier to have 1-5 standard STATWIDE forms with our logo that will take care all of all their needs rather than the current mess.  Thus comes in Adobe Live Cycle. I really wish there were some Dummy/Idiot books so I could get the basics down first.

[Former Community Member]

There are a number of good books out there (just do a ner search for LiveCycle Designer books and it will return numerous options). There are also good tutorials and information on the Adobe Devnet site.

Paul

[Jono_Moore]

The book mentioned by Niall is really good.

Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer by J.P. Terry.

[jhcarrell]

I'll second Niall's recommendation of J.P. Terry's book, "Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LifeCycle Designer".  It's been extremely helpful.

[AmandaVor]

palango,

I am also very new to the program and have found a membership on lynda.com extremely useful.  There are video workshops for different aspects of the program and I have found them to be interesting and informative.  It is, however a paid membership site.

[palango]

I just purchased the book called " Foundation Form Creation with Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES".  It has some cool tips and tricks, but I still need a beginner/dummy version which I have not found  in any google/bing/amazon search.  Someone can make good $$ by writing an idiot/dummy book on this issue or provinding interactive online tutorials (IF they market and price it right).  I am also going through the "Help" and tutorial portion of the Live Cycle product on my machine.

I guess I am used to hands on training or interactive training or  some type of dummy book.  Now I am just resigned that there is NO such thing.  I just have to play with it (and I have) and learn on the fly.

[Jono_Moore]

Have you checked out the book by J.P. Terry? It really is worth getting.

[JennyAnnRowe-ou]

You should get the book," Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer" by J.P. Terry. It gives a great introduction to how to work with forms, and it has many, many useful scripts and other resources. Another great resource is the Help button. Adobe has a very extenisive Help section. The "How To" is pretty limited and unproductive, however.

At least you found this discussion board!

Best regards,

Jenny

[Jono_Moore]

Here's a good video tutorial overview of LiveCycle and scripting - it covers basic structure and form flow as well.

https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a200985228/p87746471/

There are a lot of good tutorials at the Acrobat User Community as well.

[DimitriM]

Hi palango,

While not a 'dummies" book, it would be remiss not to mention "PDF Forms Bible" by Ted Padova and Angie Okamoto (Wiley publishers).  Half the book covers AcroForms ( created in Acrobat) and the other half LiveCycle Designer PDF forms.  A CD is included has lots of sample forms.

Hope this helps,

Dimitri

www.pdfscripting.com