Options tab for form field properties

In Acrobat X Pro 10.1.3, when entering text in a right-aligned form field, Acrobat Pro will not allow entry of a 'space' character between words, it beeps unless the wordsareallruntogether. After entering run-together text, it is possible to go back and insert space characters between words. I assume this was an attempt to avoid defeating right-alignment by entering space characters at end of right-aligned entry. The result is to make it un-obvious and awkward to enter multiple-word text in right-aligned form fields. Does anyone know of a fix or work-around for this? 

Change the property to left-aligned, enter the text, and change the property to right-aligned.

Bernd, thanks for  the workaround. Another workaround is to enter the text without spaces, then edit the text to add the missing spaces. Unfortunately, neither of these workarounds is practical for PDF forms intended for casual users.

The right-aligned text entry validation appears poorly designed. Rather than preventing the entry of a space character, it should simply delete any trailing spaces once the field losses focus (e.g., by tabbing to the next field).

Is this on a PC? I didn't seem to have any problems on a Mac. As Bernd mentioned, you can change the alignment, and you can do so using javascript code.

Put this in the field's 'OnFocus' event:

event.target.alignment = 'left'

Put this in the field's 'OnBlur' event:

event.target.alignment = 'right'

See if this does what you need.

I assume this is a bug, not a 'feature' to prevent people from entering spaces at the end (especially since this works for me on Mac). The field should not do anything automatically to change what the user enters, that should be left up to the user, or the developer, to determine what is or is not allowed in the field.

If one sets the maximum number of characters for a field, adding leading spaces for padding for righ alignment consumes the available characters for entry.

Mark, thanks! Yes, I'm cursed to work on a PC. Your workaround is a 

bit of trouble for the form designer to implement, but transparent to 

the form user, so better than the alternatives discussed above.

Regards,

David

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David Brown

dbrown@nasnch.org

Quoting MarkWalsh <forums@adobe.com>:

MarkWalsh http://forums.adobe.com/people/MarkWalsh created the discussion

 

"Re:  Options tab for form field properties"

 

To view the discussion, visit: 

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4581534#4581534

G, Thanks! I'm aware of the effect of leading spaces on the maximum 

character count, but that's not the issue. The PC version of Acrobat 

Pro 10.1.3 appears not to permit the entry of space characters as the 

last (i.e., right-most) character in a right-aligned field, which 

makes it awkward to enter multi-word text when the words are separated 

by space characters.

As discussed above, it is possible to change the field alignment to 

left, enter the multi-word text, and revert to right alignment. 

Unfortunately, that is not useful for casual form-fillers, who may not 

be familiar with the intricacies of Acrobat Pro field properties, or 

who may be using Reader to complete the form.

The alternative solution, typing the words without spaces, then 

inserting spaces where required, is also awkward and non-obvious to 

the casual form user. As the problem is reported not to occur with the 

Mac version, it seems to be a defect.

Does anyone know how to report bugs to Adobe? That functionality seems 

to have disappeared some time ago.

--

David Brown

dbrown@nasnch.org

Quoting GKaiseril <forums@adobe.com>:

GKaiseril http://forums.adobe.com/people/GKaiseril created the discussion

 

"Re:  Options tab for form field properties"

 

To view the discussion, visit: 

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4581583#4581583

I have this same problem, and I'm on a Mac. My Acrobat version is 10.1.4, Mac OS X 10.6.8. I created the form from an InDesin CS6 document. The JavaScript workaround is suitable for minor issues, though the jump still is confusing on-click for non-experts. It will be a pain when I receive client revisions and the fields aren't the same... I may have to redo the form.

Adobe, please fix!

I found on a Mac that I only experience this problem when "Scroll Long Text" is turned off. If I turn it back on, it works just fine. Of course this creates the undesired effect of having text run off the field, but this can be corrected by limiting the number of characters.

You are a legend. I spent hours trying to fix this and then looking for a solution.

What a senseless problem and the solution is not intuitive at all, so well done.