Editable PDF unlink new fields Action

[marco_lin]

This is drivign me mad.

So I have this editable pdf with forms that I need to modify (wasn't created by me originally)

"Field A" has in properties an action that resets "Field B", "Field C", "Field D"

B, C, D does the same for A

So if you can only fill/select one of them, clicking or filling one of them resets the others.

Great.

If I duplicate one of them or, more unexpectedly if I create a BRAND NEW FIELD (e.g. "Filed ALPHA")

in all the above fields (A to D), into their properties/action/trigger/etc I find this new field!

they are somehow connected and I have to manually uncheck this new "Alpha" to avoid being erased when one of the above A to D are selected.

how do I avoid new fields to be nested in the logic adopted for the A, B, C, D fields?

thanks in advance for your help

PS: I use Acrobat in italian so maybe some references (Actions, trigger, etc) may be inaccurate 

[try67]

That is strange, and should not happen. The easiest solution is to reset the fields using a script. Then this won't happen for sure. To do so you can use the following code:

this.resetForm(["Field B", "Field C", "Field D"]);

[marco_lin]

thanks for your reply, but this reset will cause to loose also previous programmed behaviour?

meaning that there will be no connection to the new field Alpha but I will have also to define again the logic for the A-B-C-D fileds?

[try67]

You will have to replace your existing commands to clear the fields with this new one, based on JS code, yes.

[try67]

By the way, what kind of fields are these?

[marco_lin]

different kind of fields: checkboxes and/or numeric text fields.

either way it is crazy that I cannot add more ALPHA or BETA kind of choices to the document without affecting the logic for the already existing A, B ,C ,D fields.

Why do they have to incorporate new variables? Why inserting new fields affects the existing ones?

[try67]

If they are check-boxes there's a much easier way of doing it: Just give the same field name, but unique export values. Then they will act as a mutually-exclusive group, where only one field can be selected at a time.

I don't have an answer to your queries, but I assume it's caused by the fact you're copying an existing field. If you create a new one from scratch it should not happen.

[marco_lin]

thanks a lot for taking the time to help.

unfortunately even brand new fields are affcted from this straange behaviour

e.g. brand new check-box alpha is created, then the already existing a, b, c, d check-boxes (who are "programmed" to be mutually exclusive) include the new "variable" alpha and if clicked they "turn off" also the new check box alpha 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

[try67]

Do your actual field names happen to contain a period?

[marco_lin]

no, but they do contain underscore

[try67]

What's your exact version of Acrobat?

[marco_lin]

i'm running 2024.001.20643 on mac os ventura