George,

Thank you so much for your reply.

I'm such a noob at JavaScript, I must  be missing something very simple.

This is what I've done:

• Copied your scipt into a document JavaScript, which I named ShowCharCount.
• Replaced the f_name with the name of the text field that is used to display the character limit. It's name is txt_remainingCharacters. So the replacement is f_txt_remainingCharacters.

There must be a place in the script to enter the name of the text field that has the character limit. It's name is txt.comment, but not sure how to do that.

My document JavaScript looks like this:

// Function in a document-level JavaScript

function remaining_count(f_txt_remainingCharacters) {

    // Get a reference to the field to display the remaining character count

    var f = getField(f_txt_remainingCharacters);

    // Get the character limit of this text field

    var max_chars = event.target.charLimit;

    // Get a string of all the characters that have been entered into this field

    var s = AFMergeChange(event);

    // This many characters are in this field

    var total_chars  = s.length;

    // Display the remaining character count

    if (total_chars) {

        f.value = "remaining: " + (max_chars - total_chars) + " chars";

    } else {

        f.value = "";  // Display nothing if this field is blank

    }

}

By the way, what I actually want to show in the txt_remainingCharacters text field is the number of characters already typed and the total number of characters available. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear. So the display would look like this, for example:

255 characters allowed / 210 characters typed.

If the user tries to exceed the total number of characters, Acrobat beeps, but I'd like to give a little more specific message, such as displaying an error message:

"Maximum allowed characters exceeded."

The reason I'm trying to be so explicit is that this is an accessible form, and messages must be obvious to a blind person.

George,

I don't know where or how to add a custom Keystroke script to the field. Do I put it in Text Field Properties, Validate tab? Please give me some guidance on that.

As the person is typing, I would like the txt_remainingCharacters field to display something like:

230 characters typed / 255 characters allowed.

The first number (characters typed) should update and display the number of characters typed as the user continues typing. The second number, total number of characters allowed, would not change.

If the user tries to exceed the total number of characters (255 in this example), an alert text message should pop up and say something like "Maximum allowed characters exceeded."

George,

Got it! Everything is now working perfectly. Thanks so much for your help.