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T
thaong
Participant
January 3, 2020
Answered

Interactive pdf file based on filtered information, is it possible?

  • January 3, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 4200 views

Hi everyone,

 

I work for an Apprenticeship provider in the UK and I am trying to move away from printing too many documents to digital ones.

 

We have something called a start pack with repetitive information like start date, learner name, employer…However, each start pack have a few different pages such as standards, learner journey depending on what apprenticeship the learner undertakes. To make it even more complicated, the learner journey is different if the company is a big corporation or an SME and if the learner is from 16-18 years old or older learners.

 

I have managed to create different fillable forms where I only have to fill in the name once and other fields of the same info automatically filled in and the dates as well based on a calculation (for i.e Business Admin end date is 15 months from start date). I name them along the line of Business Admin-young learners-Levy or Business Admin-existing employee-nonlevy. So imagine that I have like 15 files for one apprenticeship and we are doing like 5 apprenticeships altogether and in 2020 we are planning to provide more standards.

 

Now I want to go a step further to make it more user-friendly (I know which form to use, but the coaches won’t. So now I still have to fill in the information and print it out for them).  Ideally, only if I can just put all the information I have in one big pdf file and the first page is the information and as I filter the information, corresponding pages are visible only, which sounds very impossible for me. That’s why I think of the 2nd option:

 

Preferably, I want to have one page with checkboxes or combobox where they pick the programme (business admin, management, procurement…) and the type of company (levy company, non-levy company) and the age of the learner (existing employee or young learners) and a button. When people click the button, it will open the corresponding form that I already made.

 

Can you tell me what kind of code I need to put behind the button for this to work? Thank you everyone in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer try67

Both things are possible, but the former is more complicated, especially if the file is not used exclusively in Acrobat.

The latter basically just requires an if-else hierarchy to determine which file to open, so it's easier.

You need to use something like this (this is pseudo-code):

if (FieldA=="1" && FieldB=="3" && FieldC=="5") OPEN FILE X.pdf;

else if (FieldA=="1" && FieldB=="2" && FieldC=="5") OPEN FILE Y.pdf;

else if (FieldA=="3" && FieldB=="3" && FieldC=="3") OPEN FILE Z.pdf;

etc.

1 reply

try67
Community Expert
try67Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 3, 2020

Both things are possible, but the former is more complicated, especially if the file is not used exclusively in Acrobat.

The latter basically just requires an if-else hierarchy to determine which file to open, so it's easier.

You need to use something like this (this is pseudo-code):

if (FieldA=="1" && FieldB=="3" && FieldC=="5") OPEN FILE X.pdf;

else if (FieldA=="1" && FieldB=="2" && FieldC=="5") OPEN FILE Y.pdf;

else if (FieldA=="3" && FieldB=="3" && FieldC=="3") OPEN FILE Z.pdf;

etc.

    T
    thaongAuthor
    Participant
    January 3, 2020

    Hi try67,

     

    Everyone in the office has Acrobat but only a few people have the Pro version. I made it so it can be saved and signed by learner and coach and then send to employer to sign. Now I print the pack out, the coaches do the signups and I have to scan everything back in, which takes lots of time. That's why I want to introduce everyone to the interactive one to reduce the amount of papers we use and also to save myself time.

     

    Do you mind giving me a rough idea about the first option to see if it's worth pursuing? I am not very very good at coding (what you explained to me I can do, to give you a rough idea) but I also see this as a sort of challenge and I just can't get it off of my mind.

     

    Thanks

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 3, 2020

    Do you mean they have Acrobat Standard, or are you talking about Acrobat Reader (the free version)? Because it will only work with the former. The latter will require a much more complex solution.

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