Adobe PDF functionality inconsistent across computers

[RandyLavin]

During my unemployed COVID-19 time at home, I decided to help a local Senior Center with their 'Meals On Wheels' admission process.  The center helps seniors sign up for a program that would deliver fresh meals to their homes on a regularl basis.  Their current process involves the completion of a number of forms (some hand written, some computerized) most of which share lots of common data and all of which get distributed to a number of different people.  All of the people involved need to know the client's name and addess, but the cook needs to know about allergies while the delivery driver needs to know about unleashed pets, etc.  It's a slow and tedious process with a fair amount of data entry repitition, and the chance for typos across the variety of forms is fairly significant.

I thought I might help them by creating a *single* PDF form that asks *all* of the cumulative questions, and then completes/distributes the other forms with the press of a button.  I have this working process on my home computer, and also on one of the three computers at the Senior Center (the oldest one, which they will be replacing soon).  It will not work on their other two computers however, and I've encountered no error messages that would help explain why.

My System: HP Intel Celeron G4900 CPU @ 3.10GHz w/8GB RAM,  Windows 10, Adobe Professional DC (PDF WORKS FINE)

Their oldest laptop: HP 4GB RAM, Windows 10, Adobe Reader DC (PDF WORKS FINE)

Their main laptop: DELL Latitude E6410, i5 2,40GHzm 4NB RAM Windows 7 Adobe Professional (unsure of which version) (WILL NOT WORK)

Their desktop: HP i5 Windows 10 Adobe Reader DC (PDF WILL NOT WORK)

I have very limited access to their computers (they are only open three days per week, and when they are open, they are always using these computers) so I've not been able to get the full specs from each machine.  But I *have* ensured that Adobe is 'up-to-date' on each device.

Each of these computers has;
- the master PDF and three supplemental (this.disclosed = true;) PDFs on an administrative user's desktop

- the trusted *.js script files under the 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\...\javascripts' folder

- a 'C:\Temp' folder in which to archive the completed forms (via a trusted script)

On each computer I follow the same testing process:

- open the master PDF file

- fill out the 150 text/checkbox/radio button fields

- press 'Button1' which, upon MouseUp, runs a javascript that:

-- opens the supplemental PDF files

-- uses a 'for' loop to assign values for similarly named fields between the files:

    supplemental.getField("FIRST_NAME)".value = master.getField("FIRST_NAME)".value ;

-- attaches the completed supplemental form to an email addressed to a desired recipient with a desired subject line and a desired message body

-- archives the completed supplemental form in 'C:/Temp'

-- closes the supplemental forms, leaving just the master PDF file open

I have checked everything I know to check, and can only get this PDF to work on two out of four computers.  When I press 'Button1' on those two computers, nothing happens... no screen changes, no messages, no errors, no emails, no saved files, etc.  I've opened the JS Console window and I see no messages or errors there either.  I have even tried saving these PDF files as 'Reader Enabled', and assuming I did that correctly, they still won't work on those same two computers.  If Acrobat is 'updated' on both of those machines, then I simply don't know where to go next.

So I'm turning to this forum, hoping for suggestions.  I probably won't have access to these computers for a few days, but maybe someone will suggest something that will point me in the right direction.  Or maybe someone knows of another way of simplifying their process (using Word or Excel instead of Adobe, perhaps).  We just need to be careful of cost since this is a non-profit with a very limited budget.

Thanks in advance for any tips...

[Thom Parker · Accepted solution]

You need to do some debug on those system that don't work. Use "console.println()" statments to print out data from the scripts as they are running, so you can see were things are being missed.

[RandyLavin]

Thank you Thom, I've just read up on 'console.println()' and I think I see what you are suggesting.  I will add debug statements into my scripts so I can trace their progress.  I appreciate the tip, and the fast response!

[RandyLavin]

Thom,

Thanks once again for your suggestion.  I finally had time to add some debugging.  After perhaps two hours of debugging I finally realized what the problem was:  my newer version of Acrobat Pro allowed me to save a filename that included a comma, whereas the client's older version of Acrobat Pro did not.  

While overall things are working a bit better with my form solution, there are still many quirks I have yet to debug, and Adobe does not make that easy.  Perhaps if I had months or years of experience using this tool I might be much more adept, but as it stands, this project is taking me *way* too long.  I have one more question now, which I will open in a new thread.

Again, thank you Thom for your helpful responses.  I just wish I knew (or could figure out) more on my own so as not to bother you all.

[Thom Parker]

Randy, I provide online custom  training.  I do this all the time, where I walk people through the specific solution they need.  A jumpstart into scripting. You get the solution and the training you need to extend and maintain it.