How a form field behaves is determined by the form field properties you set in the Properties dialog box for individual fields, depending on the type of form field. You can configure its general field attributes, such as line style, text font, determine actions to be associated with the form fields, set data formatting, and more.

Take buttons as an example. You decide its appearance, and how it reacts when triggered. For text fields, you can set up text alignment, text display, actions, data formatting, validation, and calculation.

General

The General tab appears for all types of form fields and includes the following options.

  • Field Name. Give the form field a unique name.

  • Hover Text. The text you enter displays when the pointer hovers over the form field.

  • Orientation. Rotate the form field by 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees.

  • Attributes. Specify the text color, line style, line thickness, font and the color used to fill and outline the selected form filed.

  • Visible. Check to make the selected form field always visible on screen.

  • Print. Check to make the selected form field visible in print.

  • Read Only. Check to prevent others from making any changes to the form field content.

  • Required. Require the users to fill in the selected form field. If the required field is left blank when you attempt to submit the form, an error message appears and the empty required field is highlighted. Also, you can set a special color to highlight the required form fields in the Preference dialog box.

Options

The Options tab appears for all type of form fields except digital signatures. The options available within the tab vary depending on the type of form field selected.

 

Radio Button

You can create a group of radio buttons to have users select only one choice among a set of choices.

  • Radio Button Style. Specify the icon that appears when the radio button field is selected. Choose a shape of marker from the list: check, circle (default), cross, diamond, square, or star. The setting does not affect the shape of the radio button form field itself.

  • Export Value. Define the value that represents the field if the form data will be exported.

  • Button is checked by default. Check to make the radio button field selected when users first open the form.

  • Buttons with the same name and value are selected in unison. Enable one click to select multiple related radio buttons. For instance, if you select a radio button which has the same field name and selection state as others, all are selected.

 

Check Box

  • Check Box Style. Specify the icon that appears when the check box field is selected. Choose a shape of marker from the list: check (default), circle, cross, diamond, square, or star. The setting does not affect the shape of the check box form field itself.

  • Export Value. Define the value that represents the item if the form will be exported. If the field is not selected, it shows Off in the resulting data file.

  • Check box is checked by default. If this option is selected, the check box remains checked even if Reset Form Fields is used to clean up all field entries. If this option is not selected, the check box becomes unchecked when you use Reset For Fields to remove field entries.

 

Combo box and List box

  • Item. Type text for options used to appear in the menu for the field. Click to add the text to the item list on the right-hand side.

  • Export Value. The value you specify represents the item if the data will be exported. If left blank, the selected option is used as the export value.

  • Item List. This displays all the options available in the list. The highlighted item in the list appears as the default selected item in the list or combo box. You can change the default item by highlighting another item from the item list.

  • Sort Items. Select to enable rearranging the listed items numerically and alphabetically. If there are numbers, a numerical sort is performed before an alphabetical sort.

  • Multiple Selection (List boxes only). Select this to enable users to select more than one option. Ctrl-click to make multiple selections.

  • Allow user to enter custom text (Combo box only). Select to enable users to enter a value besides the ones already available in the list.

  • Commit selected value immediately. Select to enable saving the value right away after the item is selected. If deselected, the data is saved only when you click on another form field or anywhere out of the current field. This option is not available when Multiple Selection is selected.

 

Text Field

  • Alignment. Align the text left, right or center within the selected text field.

  • Default Value. Specify the text which appears in the text field by default until others make changes to it by typing in the field.

  • Multi-line. Select to allow more than a single line in the text field.

  • Scroll long text. Select to enable typing without length restrictions. You can scroll to view everything typed in the text field. This is not available if you select Auto from the Font Size drop-down menu under the General tab.

  • Limit of ____ characters. Define the maximum number of characters to be entered into the text

  • Password. Display all user-defined entries as a series of asterisks (*). This option is available only when Multi-line is not selected.

  • Comb of ____ characters. It evenly spreads all user-entered text across the width of the text field. For example, if you enter 5, the field is evenly divided into 5 boxes with only one character allowed to be entered into each box. This option is available only when no other checkbox is elected.

Position

  • Units. Select a unit.

  • Position. Determine the position or size the currently selected field or fields. The Height and Width options are used to adjust the size of fields, while the rest are used to change their position.

  • Do not change height and width when changing the position. Check to move fields without resizing them.

Actions

You can specify any actions associated with the selected form field, such as go to a page view, open a file, reset a form, or show/hide field(s). All types of form fields include the Actions tab and the following options:

  • Select Trigger. Specify the user action that launches the action associated with the field: Mouse Up, Mouse Down, Mouse Enter, Mouse Exit, On Focus, or On Blur.

  • Select Action. Specify the event occurring when the user triggers the action: Execute a menu item, Go to a 3D view, Go to a page view, Import form data, Multimedia Operation, Open a file, Open a web link, Play a sound, Play Media (PDF 1.4 Compatible), Play Media (PDF 1.5 and later Compatible), Reset a form, Run a JavaScript, Show/Hide field(s), and Submit a form.

  • Do Action. All triggers and actions are listed here.

  • Add…. Click to open the widow where you configure settings for the selected action.

  • Delete. Click to remove the selected trigger-action pair from the Do Action list.

  • Edit. Make changes to the selected action. Select an action from the Do Action list and click Edit to open a dialog box with specific options for the selected action.

  • Up and down buttons. Rearrange the actions listed under the same trigger. The buttons are available only when there are multiple actions for the same trigger.

Format

The Format tab in the properties dialog box only appears for combo box fields or text fields.

  • None. This means the input in a combo box or text field doesn’t require any specific formatting.

  • Number

    • Style. Specify the placement of periods and commas.

    • Currency. Set the type of currency, such as Dollar, Pound, or Yen.

    • Decimal. Define the number of digits that appear to the right of the decimal point.

    • Symbol Location. Decide where to put the specified currency symbol in relation to the number. This field is available only when a currency symbol is selected.

    • Negative. Decide how negative numbers are displayed. Choose Show Red, Show Parentheses, Both, or Neither.

  • Date. Decide how to display the date. The drop-down menu provides variations you can choose from: m means month, d means day, and y means year.

  • Time. Decide how to display the time. H means the hour on a 24-hour clock, MM means minutes, h means the hour on 12-hour clock, ss means the seconds, and tt means am or pm.

  • Special

    • Zip Code. This option is for entering a five-digit U.S. postal code.

    • Zip Code +4. This option is for entering a nine-digit U.S. postal code.

    • Phone Number. This options is for entering a ten-digit telephone number.

    • Social Security Number. This option is for entering a nine-digit U.S. Social Security Number. Hyphens are inserted automatically after the third digit and the fifth digit.

  • Arbitrary Mask

It changes the format category to custom and makes another text field available, in which you can type a custom format. Use this option to specify which types of characters the user can enter in any given position, and how the data displays in the field.

    • A accepts only letters (A-Z. a-z).

    • X accepts spaces and most printable characters, including all characters available on a standard keyboard and ANSI characters in the ranges of 32-126 and 128-255.

    • The letter “O” accepts alphanumeric characters (A-Z. a-z, and 0-9)

    • 9 accepts only numeric characters (0-9). For example, a mask setting of AAA--p#999 accepts the input BOE--p#767.

  • Custom

This is the section where you can enter custom JavaScript for formatting and keystrokes.

    • Keystroke Script. The setting box displays custom JavaScript you have added to validate keystrokes. You can click the Edit… button to open the JavaScript Editor dialog box in which you can edit or write new scripts.

    • Format Script. The settings box displays custom JavaScript you have added for formats. You can click Edit… to open the JavaScript Editor dialog box in which you can edit or write new scripts.

Validate

The Validate tab, available only for combo boxes and text fields, restricts entries to specified ranges, characters, or values.

  • Validate field value. Check to turn on validation.

  • Field value is From ____ To _____. Set a numeric range for form fields. This option is available only when you select Number in Format

  • Run custom validation script. Validate using the JavaScript you create or provide. Click Edit… to create and edit JavaScript.

Calculate

The Calculate tab, available only for combo boxes and text fields, provides options you can use to perform mathematical operations on existing form field entries and report the result.

  • As the sum(+) of selected fields. Add selected fields. Click the Pick … button to the right of the dialog box to start selecting fields.

  • As the product(X) of selected fields. Multiply selected fields. Click the Pick … button to the right of the dialog box to start selecting fields.

  • As the average of selected fields. Calculate the average of selected fields. Click the Pick … button to the right of the dialog box to start selecting fields.

  • As the minimum of selected fields. Get the minimum of the numbers entered. Click the Pick … button to the right of the dialog box to start selecting fields.

  • As the maximum of selected fields. Get the maximum of the numbers entered. Click the Pick … button to the right of the dialog box to start selecting fields.

  • Using simplified field notation. This uses JavaScript which contain field names and arithmetic signs. Click the Edit… button to open the JavaScript Editor dialog box in which you can edit or add new scripts.

  • Using custom calculation script. This uses any custom JavaScript you have added for calculations. Click the Edit… button to open the JavaScript Editor dialog box in which you can edit or add new scripts.

  • Value is not calculated. The value of the selected form field is not involved in the calculation.

Sign

The Sign tab, available for digital signature fields only, lets you decide what happens when a digital signature is applied to the form.

  • Do nothing when signed. Nothing happens when the field is signed. All fields are still available.

  • Marked “All fields” as read-only. All fields in the current PDF document become read-only (locked) after the digital signature field is signed.

  • Marked “All fields except followings” as read-only. Only the selected fields are available after the digital signature field is signed.

  • Marked “Just these fields” as read-only. The selected fields will be locked. You cannot make any changes to the selected fields after the digital signature field is signed.

  • Execute following script when signed. Activate a custom JavaScript when the form is digitally signed. Click Edit… to edit or create a new JavaScript action.

Value

The Value tab is available for barcode fields only.

  • Encode using. Select a format, either Tab Delimited or XML, from the drop-down menu. Then click .. and select the fields you wish to be encoded in the barcode field.

  • Include field names. Include the field names in the barcode data. If you do not want to include the field names, uncheck it.

  • Custom calculation script. This displays the default script. Click the Edit… button to open the JavaScript Editor dialog box in which you can edit or add your custom scripts for the barcode.

  • Reference to published form. It shows the path to the PDF form. You are allowed to edit this by typing in information in the field. The URL reference is encoded into the barcode and displayed on the form below the barcode if you choose to encode the barcode field using XML values.

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