Shlomo Perets microtype.com

Authoring PDF Forms in FrameMaker With FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Form Assistant

1 Enhancing PDFs in Acrobat■ Labor-intensive, repetitive process■ Features added in Acrobat “disappear”

next time you distill / Save as PDF and must be recreated and tested again

2 With TS: define once, use many!■ All features described in this webinar

can be defined in your source FM files using custom hypertext markers

■ Upon distilling with FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Form Asst, corresponding features are automatically present in the PDFs produced

■ Update FrameMaker source as required

3 Additional info and examples■ “36 Ways to Improve Your PDFs

with TimeSavers/Assistants” microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html

■ TimeSavers/Assistants Showcase (where all PDFs demonstrated in this webinar are available)microtype.com/showcase.html

■ TimeSavers info, order form microtype.com/TimeSavers.html

4 Overview: uses of form fields■ Forms (optionally integrated in docs)

● Checklists / surveys● Evaluation / feedback

■ Display of additional information● Tooltips/rollovers (e.g. home page, diagrams)● Watermarks: print + no display or vice versa

■ On-screen user interaction● Buttons● Page marks/notes● Search

5 Benefits of PDF forms■ Electronic fields (input/output)■ Supports “print and complete” or

“on-screen fill-in” (and save/submit; online or offline)

■ Intelligence (e.g. validation, calculations)■ Accessibility (tool tips, vocalize, zoom)■ With Reader XI, forms can be saved

without having to be enabled first

6 Form field types A

■ Text field● Single or multiple lines● Scroll Long Text option can be used

for non-printed forms ● Can be set to calculate

■ Check box■ Radio button (option)

7 Form field types B

■ Buttons● For example: Submit, Reset Form, Print● Can be visible on-screen but hidden when

printing

■ List box■ Combo box■ Digital signature

8 Example: text field

alert ~TFM (Field Name) /FieldAppearance (ToolTip) (value) /Q

alert ~TFM (Txt.A) /cAms-bHc-vr (type answer) () /Lalert ~TFM (*) TSF2 (type answer) () /L Field Appearance legend:

/ c b w s – c f s – s r

bordercolor

backgroundcolor

width style color font size state+readonly

rotate+required

Border Text Common Properties

9 Field area■ Form fields are created using

FrameMaker’s “active area” size■ To efficiently control this size,

place field markers in: ● Empty table cells● Empty text frames (in an anchored frame)

■ To see the active area in FrameMaker: Ctrl+Alt+Click, without releasing the mouse button (release outside the area)

10 New in Form Asst version 3 ■ Marker Builder dialog boxes

(implemented via Extendscript, FM10+)■ New field shortcuts■ Automatic field highlighting for the

current field■ Custom control of tabbing order

11 Marker management techniques■ Edit > Find > Marker Text

● Open marker dialog box first to view markers● Take advantage of Use Wildcards or

Regular Expressions (FM12)

■ View > Pods > Markers (FM9+)● Sort by type, text● Search for specific markers

■ Index/List of Markers● Hypertext markers, useful for navigation