Acrobat guru shares 101 favorite tips, tasks as free eBook

Get a free eBook of Ted Padova's favorite tips and frequently used tasks in Acrobat 8, JavaScript and LiveCycle Designer.

By Kurt Foss – November 7, 2007

 

Renowned author and Acrobat guru Ted Padova has taken to the next level his generosity for freely sharing with the user community his wealth of product expertise.He's now put together a compilation of "101 of my favorite tips and frequently used tasks in Acrobat, JavaScript and LiveCycle Designer" in eBook format, and is offering it as a free download.

"Due to the popularity of a session on Acrobat tips," he says in a recent blog post, "I thought I'd put together a little document for all of you who couldn't attend the conference. It's a collection of some of the most frequent tasks I use when creating Acrobat PDF forms and LiveCycle Designer forms, from the design stage through adding JavaScripts."

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101 Forms eTips
by Ted Padova
Download [PDF: 21.5 MB]

Tips featured in the 101 Forms eTips document are divided into several sections, and include:

Designing forms

  1. Breaking Page Borders
  2. Changing Midpoints on Objects
  3. Creating PDFs with Adobe PDF Layers
  4. Adding Buttons to Layers
  5. Adding Hyperlinks in Application Documents
  6. Designing for Run Form Field Recognition
  7. Replacing Pages
  8. Replacing Pages in Tiled Views
  9. Editing Text on a Form
  10. Editing Images on a Form
  11. Adding Document Properties
  12. Flattening Fields

Working with Fields

  1. Using Run Form Field Recognition
  2. Scanning for Run Form Field Recognition
  3. Creating Comb Fields
  4. Creating Arbitrary Masks
  5. Formatting Numbers
  6. Adding Button Faces
  7. Adding Rollovers to Button Faces
  8. Duplicating Buttons Across Multiple Pages
  9. Adding a Reset Button
  10. Submitting Forms to eMail Addresses
  11. Creating a Table
  12. Managing Fields
  13. Setting Appearance Defaults
  14. Duplicating Fields
  15. Adding an Address Block
  16. Renaming Fields
  17. Duplicating Check boxes and Radio Buttons
  18. Adding Barcode Fields

Initial Views

  1. Setting Initial Views
  2. Opening in Full Screen Mode
  3. Hiding the Cursor in FS Mode
  4. Hiding the Navigation Panel
  5. Viewing the Navigation Panel
  6. Setting Custom Zoom Levels

Writing JavaScripts

  1. Navigating Views
  2. Creating an Application Alert
  3. Dismissing Application Alerts
  4. Adding Line Breaks to Alerts
  5. Invoking Actions on Field Entry
  6. Assessing Viewer Versions
  7. Assessing Viewer Types
  8. Assessing Document Information
  9. Autotabbing Fields
  10. Printing Pages Via JavaScript
  11. Printing from the JavaScript Console
  12. Eliminating Fields From Print
  13. Printing with Annotations
  14. Creating Document Actions
  15. Date Stamping a Document
  16. Summing Rows and Columns
  17. Using Simplified Field Notation
  18. Summing Data with JavaScript
  19. Calculating a Sales Tax
  20. Calculating a Shipping Charge
  21. Importing Images
  22. Showing/Hiding Fields
  23. Resetting a Form
  24. Setting Fields to Read Only
  25. Deleting Fields
  26. Deleting Zeros from Calculation Fields
  27. Adding URLs to Text
  28. URL Links in New Windows
  29. Adding Annotations Using JavaScript
  30. Adding Fields Using JavaScript
  31. Determining x,y Coordinates
  32. Changing Text Colors
  33. Spawning Pages From Templates
  34. Changing OCG States
  35. Limiting Character Strings
  36. Popup Menus for URL Navigation
  37. Popup Menus for Page Views
  38. Popup Menus for Opening Files
  39. Emailing a PDF
  40. Emailing Form Data
  41. Checking for Empty Fields
  42. Creating Fixed Response Options
  43. Creating Application Response Dialog Boxes
  44. Adding Data to Secondary Forms

Adding Menu Items

  1. Counting Fields
  2. Counting Page Templates
  3. Listing Menu Items
  4. Adding a URL to a Menu
  5. Add a File | New Menu Command

Adobe LiveCycle Designer (Windows-only)

  1. Changing the Default Template
  2. Adding an Address Block
  3. Adding Button Imports
  4. Editing Backgrounds
  5. Binding an XML Sample File to a Form
  6. Testing the XML Data File
  7. Creating a WSDL Connection
  8. Enabling an XML Form
  9. Distributing an XML Form
  10. Adding a PDF Background
  11. Converting a PDF Form
  12. Using Transparent Images
  13. Calculating Columns
  14. Creating Tables
  15. Adding a Total Field to a Table

In case you're wondering, tip 101 is a collection of other helpful resources that he recommends, such as:

  • Samples in the Designer 8.0 folder: Open the folder inside the Acrobat 8.0 folder and open the EN (for English installations of Designer). Open the Samples folder and review the many sample files installed with Designer.

  • FormCalc Manual: Open the Designer 8.0 | Documentation | EN folder and you'll find a manual for using FormCalc.

  • Visit the Designer Home: Choose Help | Adobe on the Web. Your default Web browser opens and takes you to the LiveCycle Designer homepage.



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