Thank you guys..

another quick question...

if i export a file from indesign & make it pdf form for people to fill out will people be able to open the pdf in indesign with all the layers in it?

I don't want that i want the pdf to be like a flat image so NO one can touch the source files..

is it done automatically or do i have to do that myself?

thanks

I've developed a tool that counts how many characters have been typed in to a field. It can be easily adjusted to show the number of remaining characters. You can find it here: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- "Live" Characters and Words Counter

I would only do the form layout in InDesign and then add all the form fields and scripts if needed in Acrobat.

Countdown Maximum Length Input

May 8, 2012 by D. P. Story   http://www.acrotex.net/blog/?p=784#comments

It is possible to set the limit for the number of characters that can placed in a fields. It is even possible to have a running count of the number of characters entered and the number of character remaining.

Adobe has sandboxed all JavaScript that is run within a PDF. Acrobat JavaScript shares a number of core objects along with their properties and methods and then add some objects, properties and methods that are unique to Acrobat JavaScript and cannot be used at the OS level or on a web site because they are not part of the core JavaScript used by the OS or web pages. Acrobat JavaScript can access the loginName as the property of the identity object. The use of the code to get to this object can only be done at application initialization, a batch process, and through the Acrobat JavaScript console. To access this code at other times requires a special type of the function object unique to Acrobat and requires the code is placed in a very specific folder or the PDF needs to be crertified nd the end user needs to either install a special file or accept the certified PDF.

It is possible to write  an add-in code module that can access the OS and execute JavaScript within the PDF. And this requires user permission to install the program file.