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Hierarchy in Designer 7 vs 8

JohnLT4
Registered: Jun 6 2007
Posts: 29

I have set the hierarchy in my form using Acrobat Pro 7. The forms are being sent to a company that has Acrobat Pro 8 and the fields are showing a different sequence. Will I have to redo the field hierarchy in a version 8 program? Is there a difference in the programs?

JohnLT4
Registered: Jun 6 2007
Posts: 29
Let me explain a little more...
In version 7, I placed seven fields that were in nonsequential order on the first page in the first seven spaces on the hierarchial order They are also named in the "binding" with clear alphabetical order (AAA_Date, AAB_Number, etc). In version 7 they show up on the report.csv in the first seven columns which makes it very easy to transfer the data to an Excel spreadsheet. When the data gets opened in report.csv on version 8 the fields are in the order as they appear on the first page. Can I solve this issue in my version 7 Acrobat or do I need to do something in Version 8?
JohnLT4
Registered: Jun 6 2007
Posts: 29
Please - this is really urgent...
How do you order the data when designing the form in Acrobat (LiveCyle) 8 so when it is returned and merged to a datasheet (Excel - report.csv) the order is as you need it and not in the sequence in the form. This was possible in 7 by setting ther hierarchy and using alphabetical order. This apparently doesn't work in 8. How do I make the order work the way I need the items displayed. There doesn't appear to be any logic to it but obviously I'm missing something.
TP
Registered: Sep 30 2007
Posts: 11
My work college and I had two different versions of Adobe, me having 7, her having 8). And we had so many issues that in the end we downgraded her to 7. Fields moved, went missing, tabbing was a nightmare.
Has your clients set there reader to read both 8 and 7?
Not the answer you were looking for but it might be worth upgrading to 8
JohnLT4
Registered: Jun 6 2007
Posts: 29
I should have done what you did and had them go back to 7. I did get 8.1 and the issues are the same. I'm still experimenting. The simple form authored in 7 still works fine. But the complex one in 8 is not functioning even though it worked perfectly in 7. I even installed Excel2003 since that is the starting point for version 8 - According to Adobe techs it is not supported by 2000 or 2002.
pdftrainer
Expert
Registered: Dec 14 2005
Posts: 180
My assumptions:
1) You are talking about forms created in LC Designer.
2) You are using the Acrobat 8 command "Forms | Manage Form Data | Merge Data Files into Spreadsheet" to get the data into Excel.

The export order for XFA forms is set in the hierarchy of LC Designer. Some posters have said they set the hierarchy in Acrobat. Unfortunately, there is no hierarchy in Acrobat. The only hierarchy is in Designer.

Let's say you have a form with fields named A, B and C in the Hierarchy of LC Designer. Make sure the fields are in alpha order in the hierarchy.

Open the form in Acrobat and enter some data and export to an XML file. Use the "Forms | Manage Form Data | Merge Data Files into Spreadsheet" command in Acrobat 8.
When you open the spreadsheet the data should be in alpha order.

Close the form in Acrobat. Reopen the form in LC.
Open the Hierarchy window in LC and move the field named C above A and B in the hierarchy. Notice that the fields stay in the same position in Design and Preview modes.
Save the file in LC and open the revised version in Acrobat. Enter some data and export to an XML file. Use the "Forms | Manage Form Data | Merge Data Files into Spreadsheet" command in Acrobat 8.
This time you should see that the data from field C is now in the first column instead of A.

My reading of the questions in this thread is that the issue is in the setup of the LC form, not in Acrobat.

Hope this helps.

Carl Young
www.pdfworkflows.com

A certified expert on Adobe Acrobat, Carl Young is an Adobe Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer trainer and consultant based in Phoenix. He is the producer of the [link=http://www.pdfconference.com/]PDF Conference[/link].

lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
There is a suggestion for reordering the form fields after the data has been merged into Excel on another worksheet within the Excel file at:
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?id=282

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.