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Comb styles

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2011-09-08 10:15:33
harveya915
Registered: Sep 8 2011
Posts: 2
Answered

I'm creating a pdf form and need comb fields. The ones that I am able to create using acrobat x are not the ones that I want. I've seen this type of comb boxes on other forms and would like to use the same one.
|_|_|_|_|_| Of course the lines would be connected and the vertical lines in between would be smaller than the outer vertical lines. So it would be the first vertical line is tall and then the next four vertical lines would be half the size, followed by the 5th vertical line being tall just like the first one, and the pattern keeps repeating.
Is this a style that I would be able to create with Acrobat X or is it in another version of Acrobat?

Harvey

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 10.0, Windows
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2011-09-08 10:19:50
#1
George_Johnson
Expert
Registered: Jul 6 2008
Posts: 1875
A form field can't be set up with that type of border style, but you can create it on the underlying PDF and add a comb field that has no visible border on top of it.
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2011-09-08 10:43:51
#2
harveya915
Registered: Sep 8 2011
Posts: 2
how would i create that. I first did my form on a excel worksheet, then converted it to the form pdf.

Harvey

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2011-09-08 11:08:21
#3
George_Johnson
Expert
Registered: Jul 6 2008
Posts: 1875
Accepted Answer
That's a good question. In Excel it would be possible, if a bit tedious, to create the lines by drawing them (Insert - Shapes - Lines). You could also importing a graphic that you create with something else.
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2011-09-16 13:12:05
#4
satwright71
Registered: Jun 22 2011
Posts: 3
I don't understand; I would like a comb field for entering SS# in my form. I tried creating it but the numbers did not fit into the boxes nor space correctly. I am using Pro X. Thank you.
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2011-09-16 13:43:12
#5
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
Have you tried adjusting the size of the field or the font size?

For the SSN format you should have comb field length of 11 to allow for the display of the delimiter hyphens or dashes.

You could also make individual 1 character fields and add the necessary 'goNext()' script. This is the method used before the introduction of the comb field type.

George Kaiser

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2011-09-19 12:26:05
#6
satwright71
Registered: Jun 22 2011
Posts: 3
Can I create this comb now that I have converted my form to the pdf? Also do I make the comb using either capital L or a |and an _ bar and underline? I am not familiar with javascript, but will also give that a try.

Thank you.
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2011-09-19 16:14:28
#7
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
The comb field will create a box for each character if you select the border color, style, and style for the field. You can try the different styles to see what they look like. If you do not like any of them, then you will have to include the bar and underline in your original form document and place a comb field over the area and use a no color for the background and border.

Unless you are dynamically adding the field, you do not need JavaScript. And I try to stay away from adding fields with JavaScript for a form since Reader can not add a field with JavaScript.

George Kaiser

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2011-09-20 11:56:23
#8
satwright71
Registered: Jun 22 2011
Posts: 3
Thanks, George for your help!!
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