I have a form where users can enter a case number and click a button. The button then creates 3 subforms throughout the main form using addInstance(). In the first subform there is a button that says “Delete Section”. Once that is clicked I want all 3 subforms to be deleted. The user may have created a number of sections so I need to identify the correlating two sections.

I thought I could just rename each subform based on the case number that the user entered and then reference each subform to be removed that way, but it doesn’t work.

I can ‘apparently’ rename the subform, but when using the new name when using removeInstance() it doesn’t work.

Test rename of subform:
// this is in the initialization parameter of the field containing the policy number

this.rawValue = “123”
app.alert(this.parent.name); // provides the current subform name correctly.
this.parent.name = this.rawValue; // should change the subform name to “123”
app.alert(this.parent.name); // shows the value “123” which is what I would expect and want

BUT

if I now click a button saying: ._123.removeInstance(0);
it doesn’t work.
If I now click a button saying: .OriginalFormName.removeInstance(0);
it works.

So it doesn’t appear that the subform name is really being changed at all. It’s a ruse 🙁

Any help would be great.

Hi Stefan,

There are some questions I would like to make relating to Instance Manager:

1 – I know one can define at design-time a initial count to a repeated section, so that when the form open, the user will see that number of instances. But what about see those instance at design-time, also?

2 – I´m truing to programmatically set values to fields in a repeating section using InstanceManager.If there is a previous instance (row) at design-time, because I´m adding additional instance my data was not being place at the first row. However I change my script and now it works.

Then I set the initial count property to 2 and I realize the second row would never be filled with data, as if I write the first 2 rows values at the same instance. To set the values to these predefines instances I´m using:

fldRegNodes.item(i).parent.ItemSet.nodes.item(auxinst) -> I think “item” will give me a reference to the “n” item in the field set, right?

Thank you!

Hi Stefan.

I have a problem related to the InstanceManager.
I have a subform defined as a repeater. The data inside the repeater is bound to an XML schema.
As a sibling of the repeater, there is a button to add a new instance. When it is clicked, I call the script “global.InvitedTowns._InvitedTownSubform.addInstance(1);”.
The new instance is properly created but some of the data in the repeater is lost when I reopen the form.

I could notice the following:

1. The data lost is that of the complex subtype in the XML schema. That is, the repeater subform is bound to the element ” invitedTown[*]” of the XML schema. The simple elements inside there are properly kept; i.e. field “name”. But the field with an extra level of depth in the XML schema (those regarding the address of the town) are lost: “address.street”, “address.postalCode” and so on.
2. The data of the first instance (default instance already existing when opening the form) is properly stored, also for the “address” details. However, the address data for the new instances created dynamically is lost after saving, closing and reopening the form.
3. As a workaround, if I open an empty form, add all the needed instances (empty), save it and close it, I can properly fill in the data after reopening the form and nothing is lost afterwards.

After all those tests, I guess there could be a bug related the dynamically generation of instances (maybe, memory management) and the binding of those dynamic instances with complex XML structures.

Have you detected any similar problem or do you have any suggestion to solve it?

Many thanks.

Hello Stefan,
I am encountering some issues with either .instanceManager or _SubForm.addInstance.
Basically, I have a form (FRM1 – Flow Content). I have sub form (FRM2 – Position Content, Repeat Subform for each data item, Min 1) in FRM1. Similar to the example you had. I also had one button to add instances of FRM2 dynamically and Email button to see XML. Only code I have is _FRM2.addInstance(1) on click event. When I do PDF Preview, and click on button, nothing happens. The form is not repeated. But when I check the saved XML, I can see two instances.
I tried the sample from Adobe site http://blogs.adobe.com/formbuilder/samples/im/AddRecalculate.zip, that works but if I try to replicate this same example, no luck.

Am I missing something here?

Regards,
Snehal

Thanks Stefan,
I did look at the properties and I made it work. With that working, I have two more question since I tried to implement a hypothetical example.
In my example, I have to create instances of a subform on the fly, but place them randomly. So e.g. if I have PDF where I have following hierarchy.
Page 1
— General Info
— Client1
– Personal Info
– Location Info
– Order Info
— IMAGE FILLER SECTION

Total Info

In my General Info section, I have an option to say, “How many clients?” and “Per Client, How may products in the order?”.

So Question 1 is,
Using the dynamic instancing of subform for client section, can I create a form but place it say after IMAGE FILLER SECTION? I can create one after the other, but I want to have some other form or section in between two instances…

And Question 2 is, after putting each Order Info page, there is a final total page which I want to show it at the bottom. Which ever page it is on, it has to be at the bottom. Using “Flow Content” layout, it always sticks to the bottom of last object. But I want it to have it at the very end.

I tried quite a few tricks of using container area placement, overflow.. But got nowhere..

Any help is sincerely appreciated. I am not sure, whether I shall post this question on Adobe forums or it looks at here.

regards,
Snehal Shah

Stefan —

Hopefully a quick question. I have a form where I use InstanceManager to repeat a subform (min. count 2). I would like to repeat a full page of the subform rather than just one subform at a time. I have not max limit set. Is there a way to do this? This form is used to submit a series of data about specific porducts so it is more than one line repeating.

Thanks

Michelle,

I’m not certain I follow you when you say that you

“would like to repeat a full page of the subform rather than just one subform at a time.”

Are you saying that you would like to be able to determine the exact number of instances of this repeatable subform that fit on a page and show this number of instances initially, all in script when the form is loaded in Acrobat?

Or are you simply asking how to specify an initial number of instances of this repeatable subform?

Have you though about offering a field in which the person may specify the number of products for which they wish to provide data and then simply setting the number of instances to the specified count? This might get around the problem where you would provide too little or too many initial instances of the repeatable subform.

Krish,

The “removeInstance(int)” method is expecting the zero-based index of the instance of the subform which you wish to remove.

If 4 subforms have been added and the user presses the “delete” button on the second subform, you need to call

_ContainerSF.removeInstance(1);

where “_ContainerSF” is the instance manager for the flowed subform which contains the instance of the subform that needs to be removed.

You can get this index number by retrieve the index of the delete button’s parent object (which is the instance of the subform to be removed). From the delete button’s Click event, use this script:

_ContainerSF.removeInstance(this.parent.index);

MK,

The important detail to note about the addInstance method of the Instance Manager is that it returns a reference to the new instance. That means that when you add a new page to your form (after adding a new row), you get a reference to that new page which you can then use to populate fields that it contains.

In your particular situation, you need to pass information from fields within a row in the summary table to fields on a detail page within your form. What you could do is use a script object which contains a variable to which you assign the new instance of the detail page that’s associated with the summary row that gets added. Putting the reference in a script object will let you “remember” what that instance was as the filler proceeds to fill the fields in the summary row. Then, each field would have a script on its Exit event which would refer to the variable in the script object and use it to access the pertaining fields in the detail page it references in order to set values (each field sets the pertaining detail page field’s value).

You can create a script object simply by right-clicking on the root subform (usually named “form1”) in the Hierarchy palette and choosing the “Insert Script Object” command. You then create a variable simply by declaring it like this:

var oDetailPageRef = null;

And you assign it a value like this (likely from a button you use to add a new summary row and detail page, assuming you named the script object, “MyScriptObj”):

MyScriptObj.oDetailPageRef = _DetailPage.addInstance(0);

Now this is an extremely simple implementation which may already have few usability flaws depending on how elaborate your form is. For instance, can the filler change the summary information on the associated detail page and, if so, do those changes have to be replicated back to the pertaining summary row? If that’s the case, then you need to synchronize the fields on the summary row with the fields on the detail page and this gets more complicated. Here’s a hint: You could use an 2D array as your script object variable in order to associate a summary row reference with a detail page reference. The array would associate an index with an array of two object references such that the index of the detail page or summary row would correspond with the index in the array which is associated with the sub-array that contains the references to the other object. I’m happy to elaborate on this if it’s what you would like to do.

As a followup to the second half of your response to my original question, I would be very interested in how to synchronize the forms more closely. I’m not sure that I have the technical abilities yet to incorporate it into my form (see my previous post), but at the same time new insights are always a good thing to learn…

Thanks.

Stefan,

Thanks again – this site is great! Okay, in the interim, I started playing around with some advice you had given another user, along with the advice you’ve given me. In the process I noticed something wierd – Acrobat gives me the “no properties” error when I reference (just as you showed above) the variable if I am referencing off of the container that has “Flow Content” (i.e., page 2). However, if I put a subform on page 2 of the same size as the margins, put my content there, and have that subform called by the instance manager – the referencing works beautifully. I’m not sure I explained that correctly – so let me show you my code:

1. I added a field asking for how many instances I want (TextField1)
2. On that field’s exit, I put the following code:

var j = TextField1.rawValue
_summary.setInstances(j)
page2._Details.setInstances(j) // you’ll note that I’m not increasing the number of instances for page 2, but for a subform in page 2
for (var i = 0; i

Hi Stefan, I have a little challenging task my work gave me, I work at a church and they wanted a new registration form and wanted to do it in .pdf. I have already created the form, but I can’t get it to work like they would like it. The form is a family registration form where they add general family information and then there is mini boxes where they can fill out information per member. The church wan’t certain fields to be required, now obviously if there is only 3 memebers and there are 6 available spaces, it is not going to allow them to submit it unless thoes other fields are filled out. I found out about the way you can make a subform repeat, and that could work, but I don’t exactly understand how, especially in a example I found it had the subforms going down below, and I need them to start on the left and go to the right and continue on a second page if needed. I hope you can help and if you would like to see what the form looks like so you can get a better idea of what I am talking about please let me know.

Dan,

Sounds like an interesting project!

One very important thing to note about repeatable subforms is that they must be contained in a flowed container (another subform with it’s “Content” property, on the Subform tab of the Object palette, set to “flowed”). Once a subform is flowed, you can then specify the Flow Direction property to either be “Top to Bottom” (the default where new instances appear below existing ones) or “Western Text” (where new instances appear to the right of existing ones until there’s no horizontal space for new instances, at which point new instances start appearing on subsequent “lines” below existing ones).

“Western Text” flow sounds like that you’re looking for in your form. Have a look at this sample in response to a question posted on my Scripting Table Columns article. (You’ll need Designer/Acrobat 7.x to edit/run it.) The sample is using a flowed container subform (“MockTableSF”) to act as a table column container and a repeatable subform (“ColumnSF”) which acts as a column of which many instances may be added from left to right by clicking on the “Add Column” button above.

Hopefully this sample form gives you some inspiration for your form!

Hi Stefan,

I’m trying to create a dynamic table which will be displayed to the user when the form loads. Let me back up a bit first though. The user will select which columns s/he wants displayed on an .asp page, which will then write the names of those columns as csv string into a database field. Now, when the form loads, I’m using the js split function to put those columns into an array. Then I’m looping through the array and adding columns to the table according to what the user has selected.

The js code looks something like this:
(for now, I’m following your example on http://forms.stefcameron.com/2006/10/28/scripting-table-columns/)

var myColumns = “Col0Name,Col1Name,Col2Name,Col3Name,Col4Name”;
var arrMyColumns = myColumns.split(“,”);

for (i = 0; i < arrMyColumns.length; i++)
{
    //Create a New Column
    Table1.HeaderRow._Col3SF.addInstance(0);
    Table1.Row1._Col3SF.addInstance(0);
}

So, up to this point, the proper amount of rows are written, but the values in the header columns are all the same. Is there a way I can reference the instance I have just added and then change the header value for that particular column? In my case, the value would be arrMyColumns[i].

Thanks a lot!
Brent

Brent,

Cool project! All you should have to do in order to set names into your header column fields is to capture the reference to the new instance returned from the “addInstance” method into a variable and then access the field(s) it contains.

For example, let’s say the “Col3SF” column subform contains a text field, named “ColNameTxt” which has a value set to the column name. In order to set the ColNameTxt field’s value to the pertaining column name from the arrMyColumns array, you would do the following:

for (i = 0; i < arrMyColumns.length; i++)
{
    //Create a New Column
    var oNewCol = Table1.HeaderRow._Col3SF.addInstance(0);
    oNewCol.ColNameTxt.rawValue = arrMyColumns[i];

    Table1.Row1._Col3SF.addInstance(0);
}

Dan,

You would simply add a new button object to the form next to the “Add Column” button and use the “removeInstance” method of the Instance Manager to remove the last instance of the “ColumnSF” subform (which can be determined by using the Instance Manager’s “count” property):

if (MockTableSF._ColumnSF.count > 0) // then there's an instance you can remove
    MockTableSF._ColumnSF.removeInstance(MockTableSF._ColumnSF.count);

Brent,

I think the problem you’re running into is that you aren’t working with the new instance of the row that you’ve added — you’re actually still working with the first instance because whenever you’re using

Table1.Row1.

it’s the same as saying

Table1.Row1[0].

when you’re actually wanting

Table1.Row1[1..n].

If I’m following you correctly, then I think you have a table, named “Table1”, which contains two rows, named “HeaderRow” and “Row1”, where “Row1” is repeatable (via the “Repeat Row for Each Data Item” property on the Binding tab of the Object palette) and contains a single column, named “Col3SF”, which is also repeatable (via the instructions I give on my article on script table columns).

You are then able to add columns to the HeaderRow and the first instance of the Row1 row but you’re now stuck when it comes to adding columns to a new instance of the Row1 row, correct?

If so, then I think it’s a matter of getting a reference to the new instance of the row that’s returned by the addInstance method:

var myColumns = "Col0Name,Col1Name,Col2Name,Col3Name,Col4Name";
var arrMyColumns = myColumns.split(",");

// Let's say you're wanting 3 rows under the header row. You'll first need to add 2 more instances of Row1:
Table1._Row1.addInstance(0);
Table1._Row1.addInstance(0);

for (var i = 0; i < arrMyColumns.length; i++)
{
    //Create a New Column
    var oNewCol = Table1.HeaderRow._Col3SF.addInstance(0);
    oNewCol.ColNameTxt.rawValue = arrMyColumns[i];

    // As you loop through the items in the array, you'll need to access the new instances of Row1.
    //  You can do this by using the resolveNode method in JavaScript.
    for (var j = 0; j < Table1._Row1.count; j++)
    {
        // get Row1[0], then Row1[1], ..., Row1[j-1]
        var oRowInstance = Table1.resolveNode("Row1[" + j + "]");

        // add a new column to the instance of the row for each column added to the header row
        oRowInstance._Col3SF.addInstance(0);
    }
}

Give that a try and let me know how it goes.

Hi Stefan,

I am wondering if it’s possible to count the number of instances on a page so I can acess the first instance on the page and the last instance on a particuler page. What I am trying to do is…is I have a text field that is repeatable. This text field has paragraph numbers in it. I want to be able to get the first instance on the page and the last instance on the page and concatanate them together so that it tells me what paragraphs are on that particular page. For instance page 1 one can have 3 subforms with paragraph numbering of 1, 1.1, and 1.2…then when it is concatanted together says “Paragraph 1 through 1.2” and then on the second page have 5 subforms say 1.3, 2, 3, 4, 5 “Paragraph 1.3 – 5” etc

Thanks,

Tyler

Interest point we just discovered with reader v 8.

We have had a script that has been working fine in reader 7 where we have a table of data in a contract that is filled in from a data input page.
Each line in the table is a subform that is added using instanceManager.addInstance() but before this is done all existing subforms (table rows) were removed in a loop using instanceManager.removeInstance(int index). This is in case changes were made on the input page they would not be just appended but updated.

This worked fine in ver 7 but we just found that in ver 8 the script failed at the first instanceManager.addInstance(). My guess is that once the last instance of the subform has been removed by instanceManager.removeInstance(int index) then the subform is no longer there to add an instances of.

The work around was to remove all but index 0 in instanceManager.removeInstance(int index) and then after all the new instances have been added using addInstance() then remove instance 0

Karl,

Unfortunately, I don’t think I can tell what’s going on. There’s nothing that I can see with the code you’ve provided that would be causing data in all the other instances to be cleared.

I thought maybe i could post a issue since it seems to be similar to some of the issues listed here. I’ve built a form with 4 seperate tables. Each table has 2 header rows, both are grouped together to act as one. I’m using the addInstancemanger to add rows and all that is working great. All this is on a single page and i can span onto multiple pages but for some reason if i add enough rows from any one of the tables to create a 3rd page none of the header rows appear like they do on the 2nd page. I’ve been pulling my hair out on this one for the last couple of days, it doesnt make sense to me that the header rows would paginate onto the 2nd page but not the 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc..

MJ

I worked around the issue I listed above. I doubt its the “correct” fix, but it works.

I set the “initial value” of the subform to a large number (I called it 40). I tracked how many line items the user added in a hidden field. And on the initalize function for the form I used the setInstances() function to whatever the hidden field count is. It works, I’m happy, thanks.

Thanks for your reply Stefan, I’ve found so much useful information from your post’s on all your Blogs. Sorry for my vague question, I’m still learning.

The structure of the form is:

Header Layout
There is a header subform that is set to positioned and it contains several text fields.

Table Layout
I have 4 tables with 2 header rows on each and 13 columns (first header row for title of table and add row button, second row is used for column titles). The 2 table headers for each table are grouped as a table sections.

Structure:
Main page(subform-holds all page elements).table(subform-holds all tables).table1(subform-only holds table1).table1(table) — Inside each table is 1 header group for the 2 header rows and 1 table row for the data along with a remove button to remove specific instances from the table. The remove button is wrapped in a subform but it is the only table field that is wrapped in a subform on the “1 table” row.

The remaining tables all match this structure with the exception of the name changes from table1 to table2, etc.

Footer Layout

At the bottom of the form is a positioned subform that contains a static text field along with a text and date field. These items get pushed down as more rows are added to the tables.

It was by chance that i even noticed this issue but my form is pretty much packed on a single landscape page and as soon as i add a single row to any table a new page is created which is all great but lets say i just kept hitting the add button on table 1 and it keeps adding rows as it should. The table 1 header rows are repeated onto the second page as expected but if i continue to hit the add button and a 3rd page is created, none of the header rows get created on the 3rd page for table1. I can only see them for the first 2 pages of the form. Now if i stop adding rows to table1 and start adding rows to table2 it will do the same thing and duplicate the header group for the next 2 pages then it stops duplicating the header row onto each page after 2 more pages are created.

I can only guess that there is a setting that I’m missing, that indicates the number of times a table header row can be repeated or in my case a header group.

thanks for you reply and help on this,

Mark J

Mark J,

I inquired about this table header bug and it seems there’s no bug after all: You should make sure that your section is set to repeat on subsequent pages (via the “Object palette > Pagination tag”) as well as making sure that it’s repeatable (by checking the “repeat for each data item” option on the “Object palette > Binding tab”). Doing this fixed the issue in my form.

As for the issue with overflow leaders having flowed content, that’s apparently not yet supported. Only overflow leaders with positioned content are fully supported at this time.

Give it a try and let me know.

Hello,

How is the second instance of the subform being generated? Are you using a button’s click event and executing the “addInstance” method of the subform’s Instance Manager? If that’s the case, are you calling “addInstance(1)”? The “1” as the parameter will cause new instances to be merged with any data that has yet to be merged into the form. If you’re calling “addInstance(0)”, any remaining data will not be merged into the new instance.

You mentioned you were using dynamic captions. I assume you’re doing this with Designer’s Dynamic Property feature. Consider the following data:

<info>
	<instance>
		<caption>cap 1</caption>
	</instance>
	<instance>
		<caption>cap 2</caption>
	</instance>
	<instance>
		<caption>cap 3</caption>
	</instance>
</info>

If you had a repeatable subform with a text field inside of it and you wanted the text field’s caption to be “cap 1” for the first subform instance, “cap 2” for the second instance and “cap 3” for the third instance, you would define the subform’s binding as “instance[*]” and the text field caption’s dynamic property binding simply as “caption”.

Troy Seiler,

Normally, flowed content such as repeatable (dynamic) subforms is placed on body pages, not master pages. I don’t think master page content flows quite the same way. You should be able to move those subforms onto the body pages and use the “Object palette > Pagination tab” to ensure that they get placed on the correct master pages (“landscape” vs “portrait”) and then use the “Overflow” property as you’ve set it. That should get the subform placed on the “landscape” master page to overflow correctly onto another instance of the “landscape” master page.

About master pages vs body pages: Note that body pages contain the content that flows from one master page to another. A master page defines various properties about the pages onto which body content flows. Master pages can have one or more content areas which define where body content (on the body pages or “Design View” since Designer 8.0) flows. A new instance of a master page is created every time all the content areas on the current master page instance have been “filled” with body content from the body pages. You can dictate what master page is used for the next “physical” page (needed by the remaining flowed body content) by using the “Object palette > Pagination tab” (available for subform-based objects).

the hierarchy spacing was not preserved in my last post. To clarify, the body pages are below their respective subforms in the hierarchy, and ‘portrait’ and ‘landscape’ represent the two master pages

Hello,

I have a subform that includes an image field (the one you click to load your own). Let’s assume there are two instances of the subform with different images in each. When I insert an instance between the two the image in number 2 (now 3) disappears. If I remove instance 2, instance three (the original 2) comes back with the image loaded. If I add an instance at the bottom everything stays copacetic. It is only when inserting between rows that the images disappears. How can I get the loaded image to travel with the moving instance?

Thank you

Evan Buxton,

It looks like you’ve discovered a bug. Thanks for pointing this out. Fortunately, there’s a workaround in the meantime: After inserting the subform instance, force the form to be re-rendered using xfa.layout.relayout():

_subform1.insertInstance(1);
xfa.layout.relayout();

What’s happened is that the image has, in fact, followed along with the instance of the subform however Acrobat/Reader hasn’t properly updated the form’s layout after inserting the instance in the middle. I’ll make sure this is reported appropriately.

Stefan,

I’m trying to create a form calculation that returns 20% of the sum of some other fields but has bounds on both ends at 200 and 450. Here is the code that i have thus far…

if ((this.getField(“Provident_YSP”).value + this.getField(“Check_Total”).value – this.getField(“Appraisal”).value) * .2 > 450 )
this.getField(“Superior_Lending_File_Fee”).value = “450”;
else if ( (this.getField(“Provident_YSP”).value + this.getField(“Check_Total”).value – this.getField(“Appraisal”).value) * .2 < 200 )
this.getField(“Superior_Lending_File_Fee”).value = “200”;
else
this.getField(“Superior_Lending_File_Fee”).value = (this.getField(“Provident_YSP”).value + this.getField(“Check_Total”).value – this.getField(“Appraisal”).value) * .2;

The problem i am running into is that it doesn’t work after i close and reopen the form. It does show the minimum 200 value, but doesn’t update when the preceding fields are changed. Could you help me out with this?

-Jeff

Brad Gubanich,

I just found your comment from last June still awaiting moderation. The email notification must’ve been flagged as spam and got deleted.

In case you’re still wondering how to do this, based on the code you quoted:

details being my table name, detail being my row name and lglIdentity being the cell to copy and past to the next row.

var lglIdentity
lglIdentity = details.resolveNode(“detail”).lglIdentity.rawValue;
xfa.host.messageBox(“legal is: ” + lglIdentity, “Debugging”, 3) //this captures the object just fine

var inst = details._detail.addInstance(1);

var lglIdentity1
lglIdentity1 = details.resolveNode(“detail[1]”).lglIdentity[1].rawValue;
inst.lglIdentity1.value = lglIdentity

you would simply execute this script when adding a new instance of the “detail” row (assuming I understood what you’re trying to do):

var newInst = _detail.addInstance(0);
if (_detail.count > 1)
{
    // get value from preceding instance
    newInst.lglIdentify.rawValue = details.resolveNode("detail[" + (_detail.count - 1) + "]").lglIdentity.rawValue;
}

The above code will determine if there’s more than 1 instance after adding one. If there are at least 2 instances, there’s a preceding one from which the value of lglIdentity can be retrieved. The code proceeds to get that value by crafting an expression like “details[x]” which it gives to the “resolveNode” method of the “details” table object (where “x” is the instance number of the preceding instance). From there. it gets its lglIdentity field value and assigns it to the new instance.

I figured it out. So simple i feel stupid but setting the radio button set to Global on the Binding tab gave me this intentionality.

thanks,

Mark

Laura,

You’re welcome!

Are you running this script in JavaScript or FormCalc? Are you seeing any error messages? If you’re using FormCalc, you should get a message box with an error. Otherwise, you’ll have to look in the JavaScript Console in Acrobat to see if there are errors (when previewing your form in Designer, click on the form and then press “Ctrl + J” to show the console).

Hilary,

What you actually need to do is get the layout height of the table after the user has entered their text. It’s only once the form has been re-rendered that you can get the true height.

Since your table’s height varies, if you were to get the height of the table, it might say “5in” when it’s actually 11.483 inches tall after all the text has been entered into all of the rows. Same goes for an individual row: It’s height might be “3in” but it’s set to grow in height to accommodate multiple lines of text in the fields it contains. The actual row height might be 5 inches for a particular row.

The way you get the rendered height of the table or a row is by using the xfa.layout.h() function which takes a reference to the object whose height you want to retrieve.

To get the height of the table, you would call

var tableHeight = xfa.layout.h(Table1, "in");

The second parameter represents the units in which the height should be returned. You can specify “in”, “pt”, “cm” and “mm”.

To get the height of each row, you would do this:

var totalHeight = 0;

for (var i = 0; i < Table1._Row1.count; i++)
{
    var row = Table1.resolveNode("Row1[" + i + "]");
    totalHeight += xfa.layout.h(row, "mm"); // calculate total height in millimeters
}

Note, however, that you can't use the xfa.layout.h() function until the form has been rendered which means you would typically use it in a Click event initiated by the user or you would use it in the LayoutReady event which is fired after the form has been rendered.

Hi Stefan,
Just a bit of amendment on my post above, actually if I press the Print button, when the print dialog comes out, it only displays one page which is the 1st page of all rendered pages, so if there are totally 3 pages, it will miss out the two pages then.

On debugging, I check out that xfa.host.numPages = 1 instead of should be 3.
and when I intend to force printing all 3 pages using:
xfa.host.print(1, “0”, “2”, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0); it becomes worse that it doesn’t prompt out a print dialog and seems stop running code.

Hi Stefan,

Thanks for your prompt rely but I had tried relayout() already that it doesn’t work. Taking out the “Close Preview” step can avoid the blank pages but only first page of the rendered pages got printed. It seems that xfa.host.numPages still equal 1 after relayout().

Any other method that I can perform these steps in just one button?
Preview (rendering) => Print => Close Preview

Stefan,
Thanks for your help indeed.
Actually I have solved the problem by using:
app.execMenuItem(“Print”);
which seems that it does exactly what I want. Anyway I will try your solution as well.
BTW, another question, how can I check a textfield is overflowed? I know there is the “full” event but I need to do other programming task through a button to determine the event.
I know you can check if (event.fieldFull) in Acrobat but is it available in lc designer?
Many thanks again.

I have what I hope will be a simple question with a simple solution. I havea table (“Table1”) with header and footer rows as well as detail rows (“Row1[*]”). The detail rows relate to products that the form user can click on to order, and if the check box in the row is clicked, the fields for quantity and price are required fields. If the check box for a particular row isn’t clicked, then prior to printing the quantity and price fields are reset (so the totals won’t be fouled up) and the row is hidden.

What I’d like to do is figure out how to check that if none of the rows are checked (i.e., the customer didn’t order any of that particular product, and thus there are no detail rows in the table), the balance of the table (the header and footer rows) are hidden too.

It seems like using instanceManager in some fashion should be able to return a 0 or otherwise indicate that there are no detail rows in the table, but I’ll be hanged if I can figure it out.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Hi Stefan,

The field does not have maximum number of characters limit but has “Limit Length to Visible Area property” set.
Actually I wanna similate the situation that codes will run on event full but instead I have to do it on a program basis. ie. through some scripts on a button click.

Hi Stefan,

Love your blog!

I have a form with 20 fields, and at the bottom you have the option to add another request. When the user presses this button a validation takes place to confirm the user has entered all the necessary information. If the user has, the 20 fields repopulate in the form and the add another request button moves down to accommodate the 20 fields.

The problem I am having is when the user clicks on the add another request button again the validation script is ignored because (I think) it reads the first 20 fields (that are already filled in) and thinks everything is fine so it spits out another 20 fields. Now there are 60 fields and only the top 20 are validated.

My question is how do I reset my validation to run again once a new set of 20 fields appears?

My validation code is pretty simple. I got it off of an adobe sample and modified it for my form. Here is the link to the original validation code:

http://livedocs.adobe.com/livecycle/8.2/acrobat_designer/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=Adobe_LiveCycle_Designer_Help&file=001206.html

Hi Stefan,

Grateful for your responses, here another question (seems simple but just can’t figure it out!) I need to seek your help.

I have a dynamic form that get several text fields, these text fields are expandable and can be input values that may span more than 1 page, however the values flow to next page while no caption will be shown for the field on the next and extra pages. (I want to have the caption shown for the field even if it overflow to extra pages)

I have tried using table but if data for a row is more than one page, there will be strange look.

I have also tried using overflow leader subform (containing the caption) for the field (inside another subform) but the caption only appears on the next page while get missing on extra pages. Anything wrong?

Any ideas?

Hilary,

Well, there is the AcroForm Doc object’s print() method which has a “bSilent” parameter which can be set to true in order to suppress the dialog however I’m guessing that this parameter can only be set in a privileged/trusted environment due to security issues…

In an event, you can get the event.target object, which is the AcroForm Doc object representing the PDF which contains the XFA form, and you can then execute its print() method.

Hilary,

I tried to reproduce the behaviour you were describing with the header section using Designer 8.2 and Acrobat 9 but was not able to. What version of Designer and Acrobat are you using?

Hilary,

I can only assume that all necessary events required to render the form properly for print, which should be the same as what you would see when you open the form, will fire so that it ends-up being printed correctly.

I have to place images in a dynamic table. This table has one row and within that row I have placed an ImageField. I am trying to increment the table row at the initialize event of the page where the table is placed. How to assign values to the imageField when the rows are incremented… The images are read from a byte stream….rendering images are not a problem, but placing these images within the growing table row is not working.

obj = xfa.datasets.data.Appraisal.Photos.nodes;
for(i=0;i “<” obj.length;i++){
form.pg_page1.sf_subForm1.tbl_Photos.Row1.instanceManager.addInstance(true);

}
Hope someone could answer my question….

Thanks
Eshwari

Stefan
I have a problem while remove the table rows.
I have put in the correct javascript for adding an additional row and for deleting the row. When I click add button, it increases the number of row one below the other, but, when I click the remove button, it does not remove the final row in the table. Instead it removes some other row in the middle.
I am using Livecycle designer 8.0. Could you please provide a solution.
Krish

Krish76,

If you always want to remove the last row, you’ll have to figure-out the number of rows, then pass the correct parameter to the removeInstance() method:

if (_TableRow.count > 0)
    removeInstance(_TableRow.count - 1);

where '_TableRow' is the instance manager of the table's repeatable row.

Hilary,

It sounds like there’s a timing issue with xfa.host.print in that it doesn’t occur immediately when you call it. So when you call this

app.setTimeOut(’xfa.host.print(1, “0?, (xfa.host.numPages -1).toString(), 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);xfa.form.form1.myclosePreview();’, 500);

‘xfa.form.form1.myclosePreview();’ gets executed before ‘xfa.host.print()’ does. Maybe that’s the “strange look” you get?

As for looping through records and printing the form, as long as you aren’t trying to circumvent the print dialog where the user must click the “print” button in order for the form to actually print, then I don’t see why you couldn’t do it.

Prabhakaran T K,

The problem with your script is the event in which you’re attempting to execute it. Master Pages are directly related to the form’s layout and therefore they don’t exist until the form has been rendered.

You have two options: (1) Put your code in the Layout:Ready event (however note that this event will be triggered every time the form’s layout changes, not just once on start-up), or (2) add hidden field to the body page, get/set the value there, set its name to be identical to the name of the field on the master page and then set its “Object palette > Binding tab > Default Binding property” to “Global” (if you’re binding it to a node in a data connection of some kind, then set the same binding on both fields instead of setting them to “Global” binding). The effect of (2) is that any value you put in the hidden field on the body page will be automatically reflected in the field on the master page. This way, you can keep your code in the Initialize event.

Hilary,

Here’s what comes to mind:

First, I think master pages must be used otherwise you won’t get the page number always at the bottom of the page.

Second, instances of fields on master pages are created when the master page instance is laid-out during a render. I believe this render happens once the form knows how many pages will be needed. In the master page field’s Layout:Ready event (which will occur once the form has been rendered), you could call a script object function, passing a reference to the field (‘this’) in order to get back the “page x of y” string. That script object function could first determine what physical page the field is sitting on (by using ‘xfa.layout.page(objectRef)’). Then it would search the flowed body section where the record instances appear, figuring-out where one set ends and the next begins. Finally, it would resolve the master page field’s physical page into a subset of pages pertaining to a set of records, effectively returning “page 2 of 3” for the second “page” of record #2.

Does that make sense to you?

Hello Stefan,

I have a form with 5 paragraphs. I wrapped each paragraph in a subform(sf1, sf2, sf3, sf4), also wrapped all these subforms in a flowed subform. Now, I want to hide and unhide these paragraphs based on a condition. This condition is sent through a payload XML.

Let us say, i have a sequence
1,2,3 sent in the payload XML to render the form. Based on this condition, I have to display first three paragraphs and I never had a problem to display this sequence.

Now if i have a sequence,
3,1,4.
How can i change the sequence of the paragraphs in a flowed subform?
All i know is, subforms in a flowed container are displayed in the order they are built in the hierarchy.

Can you please let me know whether my approach is correct or not? Also, can you give me a solution to change the sequence of the subforms in a flowed container.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you Stefan.

I really appreciate your patience in solving others problems.

Randy,

Assuming the cells enabled by the checkboxes are disabled by default and that the cells enabled by the checkboxes are in the same row as the checkboxes themselves, the script that enables a related cell when a checkbox is checked shouldn’t be trying to access a particular row instance. For example, if a checkbox enables a cell named CellA, its Click event would have script that checks for its rawValue and, if equal to “1”, would simply do “CellA.access = ‘open’;”. Scoping rules would result in the CellA field pertaining to the same row in which the checkbox resides.

Hello Stef,

I’m making a form that allows users to write instructions for maintenance routines.

The form has an expandable table. Each row has an “Add”, “Delete”, “Up” and “Down”. When the user presses the “Add” button, a new row can be added. The “Delete” button removes the row where the button is location. The “Up” and “Down” moves each line on step depending on the direction. I was able to program these buttons thanks to you! Your blog saved me many hours of frustration and headache. Thank You!!

However, I do have another problem. I also added a drop list that will automatically populate the table with default values depending on the choice. I used the setInstance function to change the number of rows.

Suppose the user added so many lines that the table expands to 2 pages (30 rows). Then, the user picks a value in the dropdown list that reduces the number of table rows to 12, which results in just a 1-page form. Adobe Reader proceeds to alternate between a “Bad Parameter” error and a “Software Failure” error. I’m not sure what’s happening.

Thank you for your response. As instructed, I selected the “Go To Page” option with some undesired results. I played with some of the other settings on the SF object pallete without success. There may be some things in the code causing conflict, I copied and pasted most of it and changed things to suite my form. It may be a little overkill, but I’m learning. See if I am on the right track.

dataroot.MainPage.SF1.SiteObSF.Dk-SpFld::initialize – (JavaScript, client)
/* This listbox object will populate two columns with data from a data connection.

sDataConnectionName – name of the data connection to get the data from. Note the data connection will appear in the Data View.
sColHiddenValue – this is the hidden value column of the listbox. Specify the table column name used for populating.
sColDisplayText – this is the display text column of the listbox. Specify the table column name used for populating.

These variables must be assigned for this script to run correctly. Replace with the correct value.
*/

var sDataConnectionName = “< value &lt”; // example – var sDataConnectionName = “MyDataConnection”;
var sColHiddenValue = “< value <“; // example – var sColHiddenValue = “MyIndexValue”;
var sColDisplayText = “< value <“; // example – var sColDisplayText = “MyDescription”

// Search for sourceSet node which matchs the DataConnection name
var nIndex = 0;
while(xfa.sourceSet.nodes.item(nIndex).name != sDataConnectionName)
{
nIndex++;
}

var oDB = xfa.sourceSet.nodes.item(nIndex).clone(1);
oDB.open();
oDB.first();

// Search node with the class name “command”
var nDBIndex = 0;
while(oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).className != “command”)
{
nDBIndex++;
}

// Backup the original settings before assigning BOF and EOF to stay
var sBOFBackup = oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.getAttribute(“bofAction”);
var sEOFBackup = oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.getAttribute(“eofAction”);

oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(“stayBOF”, “bofAction”);
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(“stayEOF”, “eofAction”);

// Clear the list
this.clearItems();

// Search for the record node with the matching Data Connection name
nIndex = 0;
while(xfa.record.nodes.item(nIndex).name != sDataConnectionName)
{
nIndex++;
}
var oRecord = xfa.record.nodes.item(nIndex);

// Find the value node
var oValueNode = null;
var oTextNode = null;
for(var nColIndex = 0; nColIndex < oRecord.nodes.length; nColIndex++)
{
if(oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex).name == sColHiddenValue)
{
oValueNode = oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex);
}
if(oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex).name == sColDisplayText)
{
oTextNode = oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex);
}
}

while(!oDB.isEOF())
{
this.addItem(oTextNode.value, oValueNode.value);
oDB.next();
}

// Restore the original settings
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(sBOFBackup, “bofAction”);
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(sEOFBackup, “eofAction”);

// Close connection
oDB.close();
dataroot.MainPage.SF1.SiteObSF.CatFld::initialize – (JavaScript, client)
/* This dropdown list object will populate two columns with data from a data connection.

sDataConnectionName – name of the data connection to get the data from. Note the data connection will appear in the Data View.
sColHiddenValue – this is the hidden value column of the dropdown. Specify the table column name used for populating.
sColDisplayText – this is the display text column of the dropdown. Specify the table column name used for populating.

These variables must be assigned for this script to run correctly. Replace < value < with the correct value.
*/

var sDataConnectionName = “< value <“; // example – var sDataConnectionName = “MyDataConnection”;
var sColHiddenValue = “< value <“; // example – var sColHiddenValue = “MyIndexValue”;
var sColDisplayText = “< value <“; // example – var sColDisplayText = “MyDescription”

// Search for sourceSet node which matchs the DataConnection name
var nIndex = 0;
while(xfa.sourceSet.nodes.item(nIndex).name != sDataConnectionName)
{
nIndex++;
}

var oDB = xfa.sourceSet.nodes.item(nIndex).clone(1);
oDB.open();
oDB.first();

// Search node with the class name “command”
var nDBIndex = 0;
while(oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).className != “command”)
{
nDBIndex++;
}

// Backup the original settings before assigning BOF and EOF to stay
var sBOFBackup = oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.getAttribute(“bofAction”);
var sEOFBackup = oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.getAttribute(“eofAction”);

oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(“stayBOF”, “bofAction”);
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(“stayEOF”, “eofAction”);

// Clear the list
this.clearItems();

// Search for the record node with the matching Data Connection name
nIndex = 0;
while(xfa.record.nodes.item(nIndex).name != sDataConnectionName)
{
nIndex++;
}
var oRecord = xfa.record.nodes.item(nIndex);

// Find the value node
var oValueNode = null;
var oTextNode = null;
for(var nColIndex = 0; nColIndex < oRecord.nodes.length; nColIndex++)
{
if(oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex).name == sColHiddenValue)
{
oValueNode = oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex);
}
if(oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex).name == sColDisplayText)
{
oTextNode = oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex);
}
}

while(!oDB.isEOF())
{
this.addItem(oTextNode.value, oValueNode.value);
oDB.next();
}

// Restore the original settings
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(sBOFBackup, “bofAction”);
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(sEOFBackup, “eofAction”);

// Close connection
oDB.close();
dataroot.MainPage.SF1.SiteObSF.ObDesFld::initialize – (JavaScript, client)
/* This listbox object will populate two columns with data from a data connection.

sDataConnectionName – name of the data connection to get the data from. Note the data connection will appear in the Data View.
sColHiddenValue – this is the hidden value column of the listbox. Specify the table column name used for populating.
sColDisplayText – this is the display text column of the listbox. Specify the table column name used for populating.

These variables must be assigned for this script to run correctly. Replace < value < with the correct value.
*/

var sDataConnectionName = “< value <“; // example – var sDataConnectionName = “MyDataConnection”;
var sColHiddenValue = “< value <“; // example – var sColHiddenValue = “MyIndexValue”;
var sColDisplayText = “< value <“; // example – var sColDisplayText = “MyDescription”

// Search for sourceSet node which matchs the DataConnection name
var nIndex = 0;
while(xfa.sourceSet.nodes.item(nIndex).name != sDataConnectionName)
{
nIndex++;
}

var oDB = xfa.sourceSet.nodes.item(nIndex).clone(1);
oDB.open();
oDB.first();

// Search node with the class name “command”
var nDBIndex = 0;
while(oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).className != “command”)
{
nDBIndex++;
}

// Backup the original settings before assigning BOF and EOF to stay
var sBOFBackup = oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.getAttribute(“bofAction”);
var sEOFBackup = oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.getAttribute(“eofAction”);

oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(“stayBOF”, “bofAction”);
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(“stayEOF”, “eofAction”);

// Clear the list
this.clearItems();

// Search for the record node with the matching Data Connection name
nIndex = 0;
while(xfa.record.nodes.item(nIndex).name != sDataConnectionName)
{
nIndex++;
}
var oRecord = xfa.record.nodes.item(nIndex);

// Find the value node
var oValueNode = null;
var oTextNode = null;
for(var nColIndex = 0; nColIndex < oRecord.nodes.length; nColIndex++)
{
if(oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex).name == sColHiddenValue)
{
oValueNode = oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex);
}
if(oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex).name == sColDisplayText)
{
oTextNode = oRecord.nodes.item(nColIndex);
}
}

while(!oDB.isEOF())
{
this.addItem(oTextNode.value, oValueNode.value);
oDB.next();
}

// Restore the original settings
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(sBOFBackup, "bofAction");
oDB.nodes.item(nDBIndex).query.recordSet.setAttribute(sEOFBackup, "eofAction");

// Close connection
oDB.close();
dataroot.MainPage.SF1.SiteObSF.AddSubform::click – (JavaScript, client)
// nSubLength stores the number of XML elements contained in SF1.
var nSubLength = SF1.nodes.length;

// nNumSub is used to calculate the number of subform objects contained in SF1.
var nNumSub = 0;

// This script uses a For loop to cycle through all of the objects contained
// in SF1.
for (var nCount = 0; nCount < nSubLength; nCount ++) {

// If the current XML element in Subform1 is of type subform, then increment
// the variable nNumSub by one.
if (SiteObSF.nodes.item(nCount).className == "SiteObSF") {
nNumSub = nNumSub + 1;
}
}

// An if-else statement is used to prevent form authors from adding more than the
// maximum number of four subform instances to a form.
if (nNumSub == 4) {
xfa.host.messageBox("Click Add Page for more Descrepencies", "Attention", 3);
}
else {

// This script uses the addInstance() method to add a new instance of the
// SiteObSF object contained in SF1.
SF1.SiteObSF.instanceManager.addInstance(1);
}
xfa.form.recalculate(true)

dataroot.MainPage.SF1.SiteObSF.RemoveSubform::click – (JavaScript, client)
var nNumSub = 0;
var nSubLength = SF1.nodes.length;
SF1.SiteObSF.instanceManager.removeInstance(nNumSub);

I can email a copy of the form if you like.

Tim

Tim,

Perhaps you are running into the issue where your table is being “cut-off” at the bottom of your page (and might even be running over top your footer) instead of flowing onto the next page.

If you have 2 master pages just so that you can have 2 pages, that’s not necessary. A master page is simply the “background” to all the body pages. You can get fancy and create different master pages with different setups like multi-columns, headers, footers, etc., and have body form objects flow between various master pages but that sounds way more complex than what you’re trying to accomplish.

I would start by deleting the second master page.

Then, make sure your table is allows to break between pages by checking the “Object palette > Table tab > Allow page breaks within content”.

Finally, make sure your table is within a flowed container. This will ensure that anything below your table flows down nicely as you add rows.

As for your footer, make sure the content area object on the master page doesn’t overlap your footer, otherwise body content will flow over top of it. The content area object on the master page defines where body content can flow within the page.

The dynamic form portions of my MAX 2007 tutorial explain this in depth.

Mike S,

It sounds like you’re previewing as a Static (non-interactive) PDF rather than a Dynamic PDF.

The Instance Manager will only work in Dynamic PDFs. See this post on how to ensure you’re previewing as a Dynamic PDF.

@Haylee,

This is certainly possible, but will require some script to make it work.

Setup your table as you described it. Then select the Row2 row and make it repeatable by checking its “Object palette > Binding tab > Repeat Row For Each Data Item property”. Since all instances of a repeatable row or subform are always kept in sequence (“together”), this will ensure that new instances of Row2 appear after the last instance of Row2 and before Row3.

Add the “Add Row” button beneath the table.

Select the table and set its “Object palette > Table > Allow Page Breaks Within Content” property.

Select the page subform (named “(untitled Subform) (page 1)” in the Hierarchy palette) and set its “Object palette > Subform tab > Content property” to “Flowed”. This, combined with the previous step, will ensure that the table isn’t cut-off at the bottom of the page (a new page will be generated instead) if you add enough rows to fill a page.

At this point, the table, followed by the AddRow button, should be at the top left corner of your form. Now for the scripts.

Select the AddRow button and use the Script Editor palette to set its Click event script (make sure you set the language to “JavaScript”):

// JavaScript:
// get the last instance of Row2 to copy values from
var previousRow = Table1.resolveNode("Row2[" + (Table1._Row2.count - 1) + "]");

// add a new Row2 instance
var newRow = Table1._Row2.addInstance(0);

// copy values from the previous instance
newRow.TextField1.rawValue = previousRow.TextField1.rawValue;
newRow.DateTimeField1.rawValue = previousRow.DateTimeField1.rawValue;

The script above will add a new instance of Row2 and copy values from the last instance that was added prior to that. (Note that the names of the fields which represent the text field and date time fields in Row2 may be different for you depending on how you created your table so make sure you use the right names.)

Now select the Delete button in Row2 and set its Click event script:

// JavaScript:
// delete this row only if there's more than one row left
if (Table1._Row2.count > 1)
    Table1._Row2.removeInstance(this.parent.index);

The script above will remove the instance of Row2 to which belongs the Delete button that was clicked.

@Devra Glowinski,

I’m glad you find my blog useful!

Regarding flowed vs positioned subforms: To make a subform repeatable (such as the “continuation pages”), that subform must be inside a flowed subform. The “continuation page” subform itself doesn’t have to have flowed content (as you can see). Look at the subform that contains the “continuation page” subform: its content should be flowed.

Regarding removing pages: You are correct in thinking that setting a minimum count would prevent instanceManager.removeInstance() from working properly. I would suggest setting the minimum to zero and the initial and max counts to 1. That would give you an instance of each page from the start and removeInstance() should work just fine after that.