Hi Joel,

If you are trying to populate a dropdown field dynamically from a data base then this post might help, http://blogs.adobe.com/formfeed/2009/10/populate_a_listbox_from_a_web. html.

If you are taking the data from the database and adding it to the form at design time then this sample shows two ways of doing that, https://acrobat.com/#d=BgXrrCR3IkelMhRn*6DYMw

Regards

Bruce

Hi Joel,  I reckon, if the information doesn't change much then your best bet is to keep the form as self contained as possible, that is have the information contained within the form.  There are a number of connectivity problems your users could experience with an external data source.  I would not expect performance to be an issue, I have developed forms with thousands of selections in a drop down, you may find the sample I made of a searchable dropdown list helpful in the Adobe cookbook section, http://cookbooks.adobe.com/post_Drop_Down_List_Control_with_auto_compl ete__Searcha-18402.html, if your data contains a hierarchy then there are a number of examples around of dependent drop down lists to try, such as this one http://thelivecycle.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/multi-level-dropdown-list. html. I'm glad you found my comments helpful, Regards. Bruce

Hi Joel,

Quite a wish list you have.  Feature 1 would probably require some central database or webservice, so the different forms can access the same data, though you could try the approach described at http://blogs.adobe.com/formfeed/2010/07/shared-data-in-packages-part-1 .html.

I guess you are on top of feature 2 now.  You can't do any drawing in a PDF form, though this sample might help for simple stuff, which allows the user to draw an X on a map  https://acrobat.com/#d=2qgv56rOCT65AnXtLZXJmw.  Maybe you can look into a Flash object http://blogs.adobe.com/formfeed/2010/12/flash-in-xfa-sample-column-cha rt.html but I don't know much about that.

Signing documents is a standard part of an PDF form, so you should be ok with feature 4.

Feature 5, I think some of the older versions of Reader had trouble with text fields spanning multiple pages but there's no problem with the latest ones.

A menu system can be implemented, here is a good example http://www.assuredynamics.com/index.php/portfolio/accessing-pdf-menu-i tems/.  You can also add buttons to the Reader toolbar as described here http://blogs.adobe.com/acdc/2010/06/acrobat_javascript_extensions.html.

Feature 6, If your NCIC application has a webservice then you can access the information.

Audio notes can be added to a 'normal' PDF using the commenting function, but this doesn't work with LiveCycle Designer forms, maybe it works with AcroForms, but I think you will have to add them as an attachment.

Good luck

Bruce