Authoring fully-functional, interactive PDF Forms in Adobe FrameMaker with FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Form Assistant (www.microtype.com)

1. Authoring PDF Forms
in FrameMaker
With FrameMaker-to-Acrobat
TimeSavers + Form Assistant
Shlomo Perets microtype.com

2. 1
Enhancing PDFs in Acrobat
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Labor-intensive, repetitive process
Features added in Acrobat “disappear”
next time you distill / Save as PDF
and must be recreated and tested again

3. 2
With TS: define once, use many!
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All features described in this webinar
can be defined in your source FM
files using custom hypertext markers
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Upon distilling with FM-to-Acrobat
TimeSavers + Form Asst, corresponding
features are automatically present in
the PDFs produced
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Update FrameMaker source as required

4. 3
Additional info and examples
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“36 Ways to Improve Your PDFs
with TimeSavers/Assistants”
microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html
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TimeSavers/Assistants Showcase
(where all PDFs demonstrated in
this webinar are available)
microtype.com/showcase.html
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TimeSavers info, order form
microtype.com/TimeSavers.html

5. 4
Overview: uses of form fields
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Forms (optionally integrated in docs)
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Display of additional information
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Checklists / surveys
Evaluation / feedback
Tooltips/rollovers (e.g. home page, diagrams)
Watermarks: print + no display or vice versa
On-screen user interaction
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Buttons
Page marks/notes
Search

6. 5
Benefits of PDF forms
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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

7. 6
Form field types
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Text field
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Single or multiple lines
Scroll Long Text option can be used
for non-printed forms
Can be set to calculate
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Check box
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Radio button (option)
A

8. 7
Form field types
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Buttons
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For example: Submit, Reset Form, Print
Can be visible on-screen but hidden when
printing
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List box
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Combo box
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Digital signature
B

9. 8
Example: text field
alert ~TFM (Field Name) /FieldAppearance
(ToolTip) (value) /Q
alert ~TFM (Txt.A) /cAms-bHc-vr (type answer) () /L
alert ~TFM (*) TSF2 (type answer) () /L
Field Appearance legend:
/
c
b
w
s
–
c
f
s
–
s
r
border background width style
color
color
color font size
state+ rotate+
readonly required
Border
Text
Common
Properties

10. 9
Field area
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Form fields are created using
FrameMaker’s “active area” size
To efficiently control this size,
place field markers in:
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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)

11. 10
New in Form Asst version 3
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Marker Builder dialog boxes
(implemented via Extendscript, FM10+)
New field shortcuts
Automatic field highlighting for the
current field
Custom control of tabbing order

12. 11
Marker management techniques
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Edit > Find > Marker Text
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View > Pods > Markers (FM9+)
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Open marker dialog box first to view markers
Take advantage of Use Wildcards or
Regular Expressions (FM12)
Sort by type, text
Search for specific markers
Index/List of Markers
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Hypertext markers, useful for navigation