Dynamic form, creating flow and duplicating header

[beer_guru]

I am completely new to LiveCycle and unfortunately, no one at work knows anything about it. I am trying to create a form that repeats a segment of the document as a header. Also, I need a portion of the form to expand, much like in the tutorial for the purchase order. I've attepted to follow the tutorial and apply it to my form, but end up with much different results. I'm not quite sure where I'm going wrong, but I've included the file. So if anyone can tell me where I'm going wrong, or if I'm using the wrong tools, please help. It should be fairly easy to tell which part I need as the header, and what part I need to "flow", once you look at it. But I will keep an eye on the posts in case there are any questions for me. Thanks.

[Former Community Member]

I've had a look at your form. I assume that the header is the Header underneath Parts List for Graphic Revision. If so you have set these up as captions on the fields below. Create these as separate text objects, and wrap them in a Positioned subform which is in turn wrapped in a flowed subform. The repeating lines need to be separate fields and you have one field as being the entire height of the table. Make them smaller (to fit one to two lines of text). Wrap all of these in a positioned subform and put that in a separate flowed subform. Then you will be in a position to make things repeat and control headers etc.

Paul

[beer_guru]

Thank you. I'm so new to LiveCycle, and Adobe in general, that I knew I was missing some basic things. I will try out your advice and probably post more questions along the way. You've definitely given me a start... thanks.

[beer_guru]

Ok, hopefully you will check this again. I'm not very familiar with how forums work, so I don't know if it will notify you that I have replied with another question, like it notified me when you answer.

I probably would have been better off had I been more specific in the first place. I will start with my issues with the header.

What I would like to repeat as a header is the entire section above "Enter Distribution Statement Here." So it includes 6 text fields: Parts List, Contract No., Document Title, PL, Cage Code, Rev/Sheet... and the associated lines I inserted for visual purposes. I've wrapped all of these fields into one positioned subform, then again in a flowed subform. Here lies the problem. Following the Help Menu instructions, it says to select the Pagination tab and "set header row to repeat on subsequent pages." I believe that it is refering to a table here, which my header is most definitely not. So what I'm thinking is that I will need to develop a "master page"? Am I going down the right track here?

Thanks for any help you can give me. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out programs on my own, but this one is just not that intuitive for me. I think if I can get a handle on this form, I will be much more adept for using LC in the future.

Eddie

[Former Community Member]

So why not group those fields together (with the associated lines) and put then at the top of the Master page. This will act like a header and each page that is created will contain these objects. On the Master page resize the Content Area to put it below the header that you created. The Content Area is marked by a red dotted line. This marks the area where content can be put on the form on normal Page subforms.

Paul

[beer_guru]

Ok, so the header came out fine, didn't even realize I could set up a Master Page. But it works and looks like I want it to.

So now I've attached a copy of the updated document. If you take a look at it, here is what I need to do:

The bottom three sections need to be flowed, if I'm saying that correctly. Meaning, I need them to expand as someone enters data into the form. Though not in the copy I uploaded, I have been trying to wrap these in subforms, but I'm not sure what to do at this point. The first section, which is the part that looks like a table, I wrapped it in a postioned subform, then a flowed subform. I then tried to enter information in the preview pane and it just gives me the scroll bars instead of expanding. I tried saving as a dynamic form, and that doesn't seem to change anything. Do I need to change it to an actual table instead of text fields? Also, I do need the column headings to repeat if it expands to the next page.

[beer_guru]

Ok, so I've gotten the table-like section in my form to expand how I want it to, and everything below it moves down. So I'm fairly certain I will be able to wrap the other sections appropriately for my needs. However, when the data section expands past the bottom of the page, I can't get it to start again on a new page, it just disappears past the edge. I've messed around with the pagination settings a bit, but without any results. Any suggestions?

I included the updated file, also.

[Former Community Member]

I set up the structure to have a flowed container (Page1) then inside of that there are Positioned subforms for each of your sections. On teh fields that you want to expand you have to go into the layout tab and allow it "expand to fit" in the Y direction. When you enter text, the scroll bars will appear when the field overflows until you exit the field. Then the form will redraw and you will get waht you want.

Paul

[Former Community Member]

Works fine for me ....what version of Acrobat/Reader are you using. I am using 9

Paul

[beer_guru]

I am using 9 Pro and LiveCycle ES 8.2.

Ok, I think just one last question: Is it possible to repeat the captions for the table-like structure when it continues onto the next page?

[Former Community Member]

If the row that contains the fields is repeating (i.e. multiple rows) then it can be done . If you are expanding the current row to grow beyond a page (1 row) then it cannot be done. If it is option 1 you need to separate the captions from the fields by create two objects for each. Put all of the Text objects that make up the captions in a subform (positioned). Call it table_header. Then put all of the fields in a positioned subform. Call it table_row. Now in the pagination tab of the tabe_row subform you can control what happens when it paginates (tell it to put down the table_header).

Paul

[beer_guru]

I'm now testing the page, it came out great, I even added a few fields once I understood what was going on. However, in testing the page, when I enter enough data in the field to force it to paginate, it carries ALL information to the next page, rather than just what would be the overflow, leaving me with a very blank looking first page. I've checked out the pagination tab to see what my options were, but nothing seems inherently obvious to me. I also tried wrapping the subform in an additional subform (and made the top subform flowed), without any change in behavior. Any suggestions? I've included the updated file so you can see where I might be having problems.

Thanks,

Eddie

[beer_guru]

Actually, now it's doing something different, and I don't think I changed anything. I had it so it would paginate and carry forward the header (I'm talking about the table-like section that begins with the column "find/item no."). Now it will paginate and carry forward the header when I enter information into the first column, but once I force the second column to paginate, any information carried forward in either column disappears and looks like it just runs off the first page. Man, I thought this was going to be a lot easier!?! Suggestions?

Thanks,

Eddie

[beer_guru]

Just figured out what the problem is, need a solution. When the first column ("find/item no.") of that "table" paginates, it acts exactly as it is supposed to. Once the second column ("qty reqd") paginates, the entire table moves forward to the next page, only leaving behind the header, but also displaying the header on the next page. Can this be fixed?