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Inspiration becomes reality.™
www.Adobe.com
www.Adobe.com
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©2000 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
February 2000
Using
JavaScript
with Acrobat
Forms
James C. King
A Principal Scientist
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JavaScript in Acrobat Forms
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Brief Introduction
Examples
Brief Introduction
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JavaScript is a programming language
Defined by Netscape
n Object oriented
n Classes: Boolean, Number, Date, Math,
String,and Array.
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Has been specialized for Acrobat use
Predefined classes and objects
n Objects: app, console, doc, event, field, global,
util and of course this.
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Brief Introduction
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Learn Acrobat Forms in stages
The basics
n Validate, calculate, actions
n Submit and receive with WWW Server
n Scripting simple things
n Scripting programs
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Learn by Example
Copy and modify example scripts
n Can do a lot with very simple scripts
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Documentation
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Two important documents
JSSpec.pdf
n AcroJS.pdf
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Found in the Acrobat “Help” folder
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See especially “Field Properties” section of
AcroJS.pdf
Alerts
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Example -- before typing into field
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Field A:
Field A -- Actions Script:
app.beep(0);
app.alert("Please be accurate while typing into this field.");
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Asking Questions
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Example -- accessing other fields
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Field B:
Field B -- Actions Script:
app.beep(0);
var happy = app.alert("Are you happy?", 3, 2);
var h = this.getField("HappyFace");
var s = this.getField("SadFace");
if (happy == 4) {h.hidden = false; s.hidden = true;}
else {h.hidden = true; s.hidden = false;}
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Mouse overs
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Example -- changing properties
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Field C:
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Field C -- Actions Script on
Mouse Enter:
var f = this.getField("FieldC");
f.fillColor = color.yellow;
f.strokeColor = color.blue;
f.textColor = color.black;
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Field C -- Actions Script on
Mouse Exit:
var f = this.getField("FieldC");
f.fillColor = [ "CMYK", 1.0, 0.2, 0.2, 0.0];
f.strokeColor = color.yellow;
f.textColor = ["RGB", 1, 1, 1];
Calculate Script
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Example -- complicated sums
Cost
* Quantity
=
Total
Cost.0
$2.00
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Cost.1
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Cost.2
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Cost.3
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$2.00
Total -- Calculate Script
var L1 = "Cost"; var L2 = "Quantity";
var N = 4; var sum = 0;
for (var i = 0; i<N; i++)
{
var tok1 = L1 + "." + i; var tok2 = L2 + "." + i;
sum +=
this.getField(tok1).value * this.getField(tok2).value;
}
f = this.getField("Total");
f.value = sum;
Levels of Scripts
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Field Level -- in field actions, validate,
calculate
Document Level -- in
“Tools->Forms->Document JavaScripts”
Plug-in Level -- in
“Plug-ins/AcroForms/JavaScript” folder
Levels of Scripts
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Example Document Level -- Change all
backgrounds
Mouse Up Action:
Push Me!
for (var i=0; i<this.numFields; i++)
{f = this.getField(this.getNthFieldName(i));
f.fillColor = ["RGB", 0.8, 0.8 ,0.0 ];}
Mouse Up Action:
ChangeAllBackgrounds(color.transparent);
Reset Colors!
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In Document JavaScripts:
function ChangeAllBackgrounds(color)
{for (var i=0; i<this.numFields; i++)
{f =
this.getField(this.getNthFieldName(i));
f.fillColor = color;}}
Variable categories
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Locals -- use “var y”
Document wide -- use “this.y”
“Within Session Globals” -- use
“global.setPersistent (y, false)”
“Across Session Globals” -- use
“global.setPersistent (y, true)”
Variable categories
Var: (ZZ)
local value set
this: (YY)
setup
Persistent(false): (WW)
setup
Persistent(true): (XX)
setup
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Set All:
setup
®
b
c
Inspiration becomes reality.™
www.Adobe.com
www.Adobe.com
b
c
©2000 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Variable categories
Var: (ZZ)
local value set
this: (YY)
setup
Persistent(false): (WW)
setup
Persistent(true): (XX)
setup
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