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boilermaker73
boilermaker73
Inspiring
February 8, 2024
Question

Combining several 1-page interactive PDF forms into a multi-page interactive PDF form

  • February 8, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 1171 views

I am curious to know if there exist any tutorials regarding how to go about combining several 1-page interactive PDF forms into a multi-page interactive PDF form whereby each 1-page interactive PDF form is able to retain and continue to function as b4. While I clearly understand that in order for this to work, all form fields including document level scripts associated with each 1-page interactive PDF form b4 the merge should have different names, I do believe some scripts should be modified if at all possible to accommodate/serve  more than one of the 1-page interactive PDF forms to be combined. Needless to say,  modifying document level scripts with the ability to serve more than one formerly independent 1-page interactive PDF form helps avoid redundancy in addition to consolidating/reducing the number of document level scripts required to allow the interactive multi-page PDF form to function as if each 1-page interactive PDF form remained separate and retained its autonomy having never been combined into a multi-page PDF form. I would also be curious to know if a script exists or can be created to perform the consolidation of several interactive PDF forms while retaining their ability to function as a 1-page PDF form b4 they were merged. Thank you ahead of time.

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    1 reply

    Thom Parker
    Community Expert
    Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 9, 2024

    The answer is No, there is no automatic way to update scripts using JavaScript for the simple reason that scripts cannot read scripts. This is something you have to do this by hand. Although it is concievable that it could be done with a plug-in.

      

     

    Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
    boilermaker73
    boilermaker73Author
    Inspiring
    February 9, 2024

    OK. I believe I may have found another option consisting of significant less work to accomplish the same task I had in mind in my initial post. For anyone interested, I decided to add bookmarks, i.e., Module 1, Module2, Modeule3, ... etc. to each of the interactive PDF forms I initially intended to combine into one multi-page PDF (Refer to screenshots). The Modules denote the names such as 'Manage Passwords', 'Manage Credit Cards', etc. I then added a script using the app.openDoc() method to open the interactive PDF correponding to the bookmark name.  In this manner, I can essentially run any one of several interactive PDF forms retaining each PDF's funtionality without having to make any modifications whatsoever to form fields, document level scripts, etc. other than adding bookmarks with the appropriate script using app.openDoc(). In short, this option appears to work like a charm provided the PDF forms all reside in one and the same folder. I also forgot to add that the size of my own PDF forms for this particular project provide an extremely small footprint. For example, the password module alone contains 127 user ID/passwords and is around 380 bytes total not to mention speed and performance is unbelievable. I also want to give credit to Thom Parker for his invaluable input along the way. What does anyone in the Adobe Acrobat community have to say about this approach as opposed to attempting to combine several interactive PDF forms into one multi-page PDF form? Thank you ahead of time.

    boilermaker73
    boilermaker73Author
    Inspiring
    February 10, 2024

    Sorry everyone. Unfortunately, it appears I may have jumped the gun overlooking security in applying password protection to my application. What I initially failed to consider is that if I were to employ bookmarks using the app.openDoc() method to access/open each interactive PDF individually vs combining several PDFs into a multi-page form, I would then need to apply a password to each PDF as opposed to one PDF form. Needless to say, password protecting four or five separate PDFs vs one PDF does not appear to be a viable solution in which event I may have to merge the PDFs into a multi-page PDF form, a task I was really trying to avoid at all costs. On the other hand, a script or JS method supported by Adobe Reader and able to apply/remove password protection to/from several or more PDF forms at once could be a possible solution. What say you? Any comments, suggestions regarding this subject matter are most appreciated. Thank you ahead of time. .     

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