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J
Jenn MC2
Participating Frequently
October 19, 2022
Answered

Fillable Forms - Hiding and revealing sections

  • October 19, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1059 views

I'm new to Adobe Acrobat. I am designing a fillable form that users will complete on their iPhone or iPads.  I'm wondering if it's possible (vs being pie in the sky) to create a form that can expand to reveal contents, and contract to hide contents. Similar to the way you drill down through folder contents in Windows Explorer.

 

eg

[+]    Main item 1

A click on [+] reveals ...

 

[-]    Main item 1
        form field a

        form field b

        form field c

A click then on [-] hides to result in ...

[+]    Main item 1

 

        

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Thom Parker

The problem with mobile is that there are a lot of PDF viewers and nearly all of them are crap. Especially if there are any interactive features or scripts.  The Adobe Mobile Reader does support a lot of basic interactive and form scripting features. And the Readdle PDF Expert for IOS is probably the best for JS support, but is still far short of the full Acrobat JS SDK.  If you can ensure the users are on one of the good ones and the form conforms to basic scripting, then forms for mobile are great. Otherwise you'll get a lot of complaints.  

 

 

1 reply

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 19, 2022

Not a PDF feature, and espcially not on mobile.

AEM (LiveCylce) forms were designed for that sort of thing, i.e. dynamic forms. But they are not true PDF and are very expensive. You're better off using HTML forms for mobile. 

 

 

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
J
Jenn MC2Author
Participating Frequently
October 19, 2022

Thank you Thom.

In your opinion, even with basic PDF forms, do you feel they are problematic in a mobile application?

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 19, 2022

The problem with mobile is that there are a lot of PDF viewers and nearly all of them are crap. Especially if there are any interactive features or scripts.  The Adobe Mobile Reader does support a lot of basic interactive and form scripting features. And the Readdle PDF Expert for IOS is probably the best for JS support, but is still far short of the full Acrobat JS SDK.  If you can ensure the users are on one of the good ones and the form conforms to basic scripting, then forms for mobile are great. Otherwise you'll get a lot of complaints.  

 

 

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
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