Resources for learning from design with LiveCycle Designer ES2?

[tas2121]

Hi - I have created forms with the Livecycle designer tool in Acrobat Pro9.  This was done more than a year or so ago and I have forgotten much of what i did to make the forms.... specifically the scripting.  I gained much of my knowledge from Ted's book PDF forms and Livecycle Designer for Acrobat 9.

I see the new version in X is more advanced with action builder making some of the scripting happen for you.  For my "simple" forms it would probably be enough. 

Is there a resource that can help me learn about the new tools in ES?  I would like to learn some of the basic scripting as well.  There does not seem to be any books on the subject.  Anything would be helpful as I try to train myself.  FWIF - At this time I need for the server side tools in ES2.

Thanks in advance.

Tom

[Niall_O_Donovan · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

I would recommend JP Terry’s book “Creating dynamic forms in Adobe LiveCycle Designer”. It is an excellent starting point. It is out a few years now, so doesn't cover some of the new features, such as Action Builder. In relation to the new version of Designer 10, check out my top 10 features http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/articles/top-10-adep-designer-features.html and a post here: http://assure.ly/rqCuEn.

There are a lot of resources available online, which can help:
 
http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_scriptingBasics
http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_scriptingReference
http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_formCalc
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/articles/Adobe_XML_Form_Object_M odel_Reference.pdf
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/lc_migrating_acrobat_xmlform. pdf

And a very handy resource (and while it is for version 6 it is still very good because of the way it is laid out):http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/tips/CalcScripts.pdf

The Help file in LC Designer can also help you with syntax and LC Designer itself comes with some great templates and examples.
 
Lastly, check out the Developer's Network on http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/

Also a book that doesn't deal with scripting at all but is very good on form layout is "Forms that Work" by Caroline Jarrett and Gerry Gaffney. The Adobe "PDF Forms Bible" is okay, but mainly focuses on AcroForms.
 
Windjack Solutions (http://www.windjack.com/) have a subscription based service for solutions and scripts at http://www.pdfscripting.com. It has a lot of AcroForm script that can be amended to suit LC Designer and a growing library of LC Designer solutions.

We also have posts and code solutions at http://www.assuredynamics.com/.

Action Builder can be useful to start with, but scripting from scratch can be more efficient and easier in the long run.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[tas2121]

Niall - thank you so much for you prompt and thorough response.

I appreciate it very much - now the fun begins.

Thanks

Tom