Re: [PDF-Forms] Required fields

[David Lindblad]

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__________________________________________________________________
Thanks Tim,

Still trying to get my head around all this... damn right brain.

Dave



On 3-Apr-04, at 10:21 AM, Day, Tim G. wrote:

David,

Here's some code I have used for checking for required fields.

In the first set of code, the user can't print the form using the 
"Print" button that I put on the form until all required fields are 
entered.

The second set of code requires that the required fields have a name 
that begins with the 8 characters "required".

var f1 = this.getField("SSNUM");
var f2 = this.getField("TIMEPM");
if (f1.value == "")
	{app.alert("Social Security Number is a required field!")
	if (typeof app.formsVersion != "undefined" && app.formsVersion >= 4.0)
		// Version specific operation:
		f1.setFocus();}
else
	{
	if (f2.value == "")
		{app.alert("Time is a required field!")
		if (typeof app.formsVersion != "undefined" && app.formsVersion >= 
4.0)
			// Version specific operation:
			f2.setFocus();}
	else
		app.execMenuItem("Print");
	}

// Enumerate through all of the fields in the document.
for (var i = 0; i < this.numFields; i++)
{
if (this.getNthFieldName(i).substring(0,8)  == "required")
	{
	var f1 = this.getField(this.getNthFieldName(i));
	if (f1.value == "")
		{
		app.alert(this.getNthFieldName(i) + " is a required field!")
		if (typeof app.formsVersion != "undefined" && app.formsVersion >= 
4.0)
			// Version specific operation:
			f1.setFocus();
		}
	}
}

-----Original Message-----
From:   [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of David Lindblad
Sent:   Sat 4/3/2004 6:46 AM
To:     [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc:     
Subject:        Re: [PDF-Forms] Required fields
PDF-Forms is a service provided by PDFzone.com | 
http://www.pdfzone.com/
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If the user will have to fill out any subsequent page, the most
obvious place to check the completeness of the first page would be the
pageClose event of that first page. Here, you would check the fields
which you want to have filled, and display them to the user. You
better ask the user if it is OK to keep the fields empty, in order to
let the user go to the other pages, and then come back to the first
one.
You mention "setFocus" as a method below, how would I go about checking
the fields?
So, if you encounter a non-filled out field, you could for one mark it
visually (for example by making a big fat red border around it (and
reset it, of course, when it is validated the next time...)), and you
could also set the focus to this field. You would do that with the
setFocus() field object method. Note that this method is available
only from Acrobat (Reader) 4.05 on, which means that you might have to
check for the viewer version first.
If I remember correctly, it is the order of creation of the fields
which gets followed when checking the "required" flag. This order may
or may not be logical and predictable. It might therefore be a better
idea to do your own "required" routine, by keeping the field names of
the fields you require in an array you define when opening the
document. Such an array could also be used for other purposes, such as
printing. AND, it would give you much more control over the order of
the validation and how you present the results.
Hope, this can help.
Max, could you suggest some resource(s) for learning javascript
specific to pdf's.  I recognize some of what you have suggested above,
(even know how to implement some of it :) but would really like to
learn more.
Thanks

Dave

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David Lindblad

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