Adobe Lifecycle Reader

Use the Form Design perspective to createform designs for LiveCycle applications. Create the form in Workbenchand design the form in LiveCycle ES4 - Designer 11.

When you openDesigner from Workbench, you can also create form designs in Designerand then check them into Workbench.You can create form designs for automated business processesthat require user interaction. For example, an online mortgage applicationstarts when a customer fills an online application form and submitsit to the bank. The bank then reviews the application and sendsthe status of the application to the customer.The Form Design perspective is a collection of default viewsfor creating form designs. It includes the views that you use tocreate a form design in Designer: Applications: A container for storing assets that are required for implementing aLiveCycle solution. Examples of assets are form designs, fragments,images, processes, DDX files, JavaServer pages, HTML pages, andSWF filesResources: A hierarchical display of all the content in the repository.Provides access to the folders that contain form designs, images,fragments, schemas, and WSDL, XML, and SWF files.Editor: Displays an image of the first page in a form design. Theeditor opens automatically when you open a form. Tabs in the editorarea indicate the names of the forms that are currently open forediting.

An asterisk (.) beside the name indicates that the fileor object has unsaved changes.You can switch between theForm Design perspective and other perspectives while you work. Asyou become more familiar with Workbench, you can open views thatthe Form Design perspective does not contain. (See.)Designerdoes not communicate with the LiveCycle repository. If your formreferences assets in a LiveCycle application, synchronize thosefiles on your local file system. If you do not synchronize the referencedfiles, they are unavailable to use in Designer. Create a form design using Workbench:.Open the Form Designperspective if it is not already open. (See.).Create an application and add resources.

(See.).Create the form design. (See.).Save the form design.

(See.).Preview and test the form design:.Previewyour form design as you work by using the Preview PDF tab in Designer.When you preview, Designer renders your form as a PDF file.You can test a form by using sample data. Using Designer,you can automatically generate sample data to preview and test yourform. (See “To automatically generate sample data to preview yourform” in.).Prepare the form design to work with Adobe LiveCycle ES4- Process Management 11.Form designs that become part ofa process require certain objects to function. An example is a formthat is part of an application that you want to make available inWorkspace. Add a button object to form designs for them to workin Workspace.

The button object must be a submit button or a button thatreferences a submit button.Designer includes two customobjects named Process Fields and Form Bridge thatyou can use to make forms work in Workspace. For more information aboutpreparing a form design for Process Management, see “Creating forms forProcess Management” in.

In Workbench, use the Applications view to create an applicationto store your form designs and assets, such as images and fragments.After you create an application, create folders to organize yourform designs and assets according to your needs. For example, youmany want to keep your form designs in the top folder and placefragments and images in subfolders. In this example, place fragments ina subfolder named Fragments and image files in a subfoldernamed Images.After you create forms or assets, check them into Workbench sothat they are available to other developers.Before you edit a form design, synchronize the assets on yourlocal file system. If you do not synchronize the files, they areunavailable for use in Designer. Withthe New Form wizard, you can create XDP and PDF form designs. TheNew Form wizard starts in Workbench and continues in Designer.The New Form wizard guides you through a series of steps whereyou choose the type of form design to create, how people fill it,and how the information is submitted. Choose one of the followingmethods to create a form design: Use a Blank Form: Allows you to specify the page size, orientation, and number ofpages.Based on a template: Allows you to select a predefined template to base the formdesign on.

The templates are divided into several categories.Import a PDF document: Allows you to import a PDF file from the local file system.You can specify if you want to import the PDF file as an interactiveform with either fixed pages or a flowable layout. If you selecta data model, the option to create an interactive form with fixedpages is unavailable because the form is saved as a PDF file.Import a Word document: Allows you to import a Word document from the local filesystem.When you finish the New Form wizard, the form opensin Designer, where you can design the form. Workbench displays acorresponding tab for each form design that is open in Designer.The tab displays an image of the first page in the form design.When you click the image on a tab, you switch to the open form in Designer.

Note: Clicking the Finish button creates an XDP formusing the default settings in the remaining New Form wizard screens. Name: The name of the form design.Description: (Optional) A description of the form design.

The description appearsin the Properties view. It also appears in Designer, in the FormProperties dialog box.Location: A list of all the applications that are synchronized on thelocal computer.

Select the folder where you want to create the formdesign.New Folder: Creates a folder in the selected location. Specify the nameof the folder. Note: Clicking the Finish button creates an XDP formusing the default settings in the remaining New Form screens.

Specify a data model for this form (data modelor schema): You can select or import a data model or an XML schema, orselect no data model. Different options appear based on your selection. Select a data model from a LiveCycle application: Select an XML schema or a data model from an applicationon your local computer.Import a data model: Import an XML schema or a data model file from your localcomputer to the current application.No data model: (Default) If you select No Data Model, the other optionsare disabled. If necessary, you can add a data model or schema inDesigner.Enter or select a data model: This option is available only when you select Select A DataModel From A LiveCycle Application. Select the data model for your form.The folder list displays all applications that are synchronizedon your local computer. The list displays only folders, schema files(XSDs), and data model files (FMLs).Import data model: This option appears only when you select Import A Data Model.Select the data model file to import.Enter or select the parent folder: This option appears only when you select Import A Data Model.Select the parent application folder where you want to store thedata model file. New Folder: This button appears only when you select Import A Data Model.

Clickthis button to create a folder for the imported data model. Note: Clicking the Finish button creates an XDP formusing the default settings in the remaining New Form screens. Form Submission Specifies how the form filler submits the form. You can also adda Submit button later in Designer. Form designs that become partof a process require certain objects to function. An example isa form that is part of an application that you want to make availablein Workspace.

Add a button object to form designs for them to workin Workspace. The button object must be a submit button or a buttonthat references a submit button. From LiveCycleWorkspace 11: (Default) The form filler submits the form from Workspace.A Form Bridge custom object and a Submit button are automatically addedto the form design.Through email: The form filler submits the form through email. A ProcessFields custom object is automatically added to the form design.The Process Fields custom object includes a Submit button. Adobe Acrobat/ReaderConfigure the following options if theform filler must use Acrobat or Adobe Reader to submit the form: Submit using Adobe Reader 9.1 or later: The form filler must use Adobe Reader 9.1 or later to submitthe form. A Submit button is not added to the form design. Selectthe format from the Submit Adobe Acrobat/Reader Form As option.Features that Adobe Reader users will use: Specifies features that form fillers use in Adobe Reader.

Commenting: Enables commenting on the form and creates a fixed form.If you create an XDP form, selecting this option sets the defaultserver rendering and the PDF preview formats to fixed. Use the ReaderExtensions service to apply usage rights.Digital signatures or certification: Enables digital signatures or certification on the form.The form submit type must be PDF and the Submit Adobe/Reader Form Asoption is set to PDF. If you also select Use Adobe Reader 9.1 OrLater, a Submit button is not added to the form.

Use the ReaderExtensions service to apply usage rights.Encryption: Enables encryption on the form.Submit Adobe Acrobat/Reader form as: Specifies the submission format of the form. The defaultis XDP.

However, if you select Digital Signatures Or Certification,it is set to PDF. If the submission format is PDF, use the ReaderExtensions service to apply usage rights. Ifyou are new to Designer, you can access the topics in and.Designer includes a selection of complete sample forms. Eachone includes a form design, sample data or schema, and the finalversion of the form. The sample forms illustrate both simple andcomplex form design techniques. The sample forms are installed inthe ENSamples folder under the Designer installation folder.is available from theHelp menu when you open a form design. For more information aboutforms, see the following topics in:.Getting Started.Sample Forms.Using LiveCycle Designer 11 Working with Form Designs Creating, opening, and saving Opening and saving forms To select the Acrobat and Adobe Reader target version.Working with Form Designs Importing Documents ImportingPDF documents as artwork.Using LiveCycle Designer 11 Working with Data Sources Connecting to a data source To create a data connectionto an XML schema and XML data file.Working with Form Designs Creating Forms for ProcessManagement 11.

An XML Schema is a description of a type of XML document.Typically, the description is expressed in terms of constraintson the structure and content of the XML document.You can create an XML Schema Definition file (XSD), connect itto a form, and bind specific elements and attributes defined inthe schema to fields in a form design. You use this to map datainto and out of form fields in a format that conforms to the schema.The procedures in this section presume you understand how tocreate and edit XML schema. Use the XML Schema Editor to create XML schema.Click File New XML Schema. The New XML Schemadialog appears.In the Name box, type a name for the schema.(Optional) In the Description box, type a description forthe schema.Enter or select a parent folder location for the XML schema.The schema appears in the Application view.Click Finish. The XML Editor appears.Create the schema as needed. For example, add elements andattributes to define your XML Schema Definition file.

You can usethe Design view or Source view to accomplish this task.To save the schema, do one of the following:.To save the schema in the previously specified location,click Save.To save the schema in another location, click Save As, inthe Save As dialog box specify a parent folder location and filename for the schema, and click OK.

. There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.

—Jerry SeinfeldPortable Document Format (PDF) is actually a family of file formats, and this chapter focuses on the ones that are relevant to LiveCycle Designer. You’ll learn how to create these various types of PDFs and understand how and why to use each one. All these types work best in the premier client tool for viewing and working with PDFs—Adobe Acrobat.Like PDF, Adobe Acrobat is a family with many members. It’s important to understand the features of the various Acrobat programs because their features affect how your PDF forms function. Acrobat has the agility to run as a standalone application or as a plug-in to your web browser, and it gracefully balances these two modes.

It can also handle the requirements of different types of users working with different types of PDFs. And it works on virtually every computer system and renders PDF files faithfully and efficiently regardless of the system’s fonts and software.Although Acrobat is the ideal tool, there are also many non-Adobe PDF viewers on the market. If you’re deploying PDFs to a heterogeneous user base, you need to know how your PDFs will perform in these third-party tools. The PDF FamilyThe term PDF refers to a family of file formats and an evolving set of technical specifications. Many of these formats and specifications are International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards, and some are specific intellectual property owned by Adobe. XFA PDF (PDF Form)Adobe uses the term PDF form to refer to the interactive and dynamic forms you create with Designer. It’s important to note that there’s another type of PDF form, called an Acroform, that’s different from the PDF forms you create in Designer.

The forms and files you create with Designer are based on Adobe’s XML Forms Architecture (XFA). In many ways, the XFA PDF file format is closer to an HTML file than it is to a traditional PDF file. For instance, the following code shows you what a simple text object looks like in an XFA PDF file: TextAs you can see, XFA forms are XML based. This well-structured and flexible format enables a LiveCycle Server to transform your Designer files into many different formats, including traditional PDF and HTML. You can see the complete XML structure of your forms in Designer by selecting the XML Source tab of the Layout Editor. As you learned in Part 1, “The Designer Tool,” all the objects and events in these XFA PDFs are scriptable at runtime, so this PDF type offers you a great deal of flexibility and power. You can create both static and dynamic XFA forms in Designer.

NOTEThe step-by-step instructions in this chapter were created with Acrobat Professional 11 for Windows. If you have a different version, the exact steps and screenshots may differ. Static formsStatic XFA PDF forms won’t change their layout at runtime, but they can be interactive for the user. In static forms (top), you can change only the background fill of your text field at runtime. Dynamic forms (bottom) enable you to change almost any property of your form at runtime.Follow these steps to create and view a dynamic PDF form:. Go back to your expenseReportCompleted.xdp file in Designer. Select File Save As to open the Save As dialog box.

Enter expenseReportDynamic.pdf as your filename, select Adobe Dynamic XML Form (.pdf) as your file type, and click Save. Launch your Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader program from the Windows Start menu. Select File Open and browse to the dynamic PDF you just created. Click the Add Expense button on the form. Notice that a new row is added because this is a dynamic PDF.Open your Comment tools and try to add a comment. Notice that you can’t add comments to this type of PDF form ( ).

NOTEDynamic PDF forms support all the XFA script constructs. However, HTML forms currently don’t support all the XFA scripting constructs. You’ll learn more about this in Part 3, “HTML Forms.” PDF File (Traditional PDF)The most popular and pervasive PDF format is the traditional PDF file. There are many ways of creating a traditional PDF file, including using Acrobat and many third-party tools. Acrobat provides all the following ways to create traditional PDF files. If you don’t have Acrobat installed, you may not see these options on your computer.

By capturing the print stream of a desktop application: Choose the Print command of an authoring application and select the Adobe PDF printer icon. Instead of a printed copy of your document, you’ll have created a PDF file of your document. By using the Acrobat PDFMaker plug-in with Microsoft Office applications: When you install Acrobat, it adds an Adobe PDF menu to Microsoft Office applications and an icon to the Office ribbon.

Adobe Livecycle Reader Extensions Es4

You can use these added features to create PDF files directly in Microsoft Office. By using Acrobat Distiller to convert PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files into PDFs: Distiller is typically used in print publishing and other workflows that require a conversion from the PostScript format to the PDF format.Static documentsUnder the hood, a traditional PDF is very different than an XFA PDF. It doesn’t have the same XML structure, and since it’s created by capturing the print stream of a file, a traditional PDF is a static and read-only file. The Acrobat toolbar in Designer’s Preview PDF tab. If you click Save A Copy, you’ll create an XFA PDF. If you click Print File, you’ll create a traditional PDF. Click the Print File button.

Select Adobe PDF as your printer, and click the Print button on the bottom right. Enter dunningNoticeTraditional.pdf as your filename, and click Save.

You have now created a traditional PDF file by capturing the print stream of your XFA PDF file. This new PDF file is static and read-only.Dynamic documentsSince the source file for the Dunning Notice is a dynamic Designer file, the rendered files will grow or shrink based on the length of your data ( ). There are additional data files in the Samples folder, and each has a different amount of data. You can repeat the steps in this exercise with these data files to see how different PDFs will be created each time. This is an example of dynamic document generation. Acroforms are Adobe’s older interactive form technology; they date back to Acrobat version 3. Adobe provides the Acrobat Forms API Reference, dated May 2003, to provide the technical details for this technology.

You can find a link to this on the book’s companion site. Acroforms are a combination of the following items:. A traditional PDF that defines the static layout and graphics of the form. Interactive form fields that are bolted on top with the form tools of the Adobe Acrobat program. Please note that these form tools are a small subset of what’s available in Designer.Acroforms can be enhanced and expanded with Designer.

However, even when you enhance an Acroform in Designer, it’s still a traditional PDF under the hood, and there are limits to how interactive and dynamic you can make these forms. For instance, only some of the form fields in Designer’s Object Library are supported in Acroforms, and even the ones that work are only partially supported.To move beyond the limits of Acroform technology, Adobe has invested in XFA to provide an XML form structure that’s both interactive and dynamic. If you’re moving from Acroforms to XFA PDFs, you need to know a couple of important facts about these two technologies:.Designer can edit a PDF form created in Acrobat, but Acrobat cannot edit a PDF form created in Designer. JavaScript works differently in these two technologies. Some of the JavaScript routines that work in Acroforms won’t work in XFA forms.

Adobe has documented these differences in a 43-page online PDF called “Converting Acrobat JavaScript for Use in LiveCycle Designer Forms.” You can find a link to this on the book’s companion site. As mentioned previously, Designer is a much more robust tool for using JavaScript in your forms, so I recommend that you learn how to script in Designer with the XFA object model.PDF/APDF/A (PDF for Archives) builds on the document storage benefits of traditional PDFs with many specific details that enhance long-term archiving. The traditional PDF file format offers many benefits for long-term document storage. The compact nature of PDF facilitates easy transfer and conserves space, and its well-structured nature enables powerful indexing and search capabilities. Traditional PDF has extensive support for metadata, and PDF has a long history of supporting many different computer environments.Like PDF, PDF/A is an ISO standard specification. It was developed by a task force that included AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management), NPES (National Printing Equipment Association), and the Administrative Office of the U.S.

Since the goal of the PDF/A specification is to provide a long-term archive format, many PDF features are omitted so the files can be self-contained. NOTEIt’s possible that your document message bar is hidden. You can change this Acrobat setting by going to Edit Preferences Forms and deselecting Always Hide Forms Document Message Bar.This message bar indicates that your file conforms to the PDF/A specification.

Another compliance indicator is found in the Results pane of Acrobat Professional’s Preflight tool. Follow these steps to see how it works:. Open the simpleWordFilePDFA.pdf file in Acrobat Professional if it isn’t already open.Choose Tools Print Production Preflight to open the Preflight dialog box ( ).

If you don’t see this option, select the Show Or Hide Panels option in the Tools drop-down in the upper-right corner of the Tools panel. Figure 4.7 The Acrobat Preflight tool shows you the results of the analysis.If you go back to the Profiles tab and compare your file against other PDF/A profiles, you’ll find that it doesn’t meet all requirements.

You can also open simpleWordFile.pdf and see the issues that this file has. Experiment with the features of this tool.

In many cases, you can use the Convert To PDF/A options to make your PDFs compliant with the various specifications. In some cases, you’ll need to go back to the source files of your PDFs and make changes in order to reach compliance.

LiveCycle Server can automatically convert your Designer files into PDF/A documents.