I've been fighting an issue with creating a dynamic stamp. I can't seem to get popup menus (list boxes) in dialog boxes working. The popup menu is displayed properly in the dialog box, but there is no content in the dropdown, although it is defined. 
The javascript is in two locations.
The global (document) javascript:
var builder =
{
// These map to Text Fields in the Stamp
textBoxes :
[
{ field:"Name", description:"Name:", default:function() { return ""; } },
{ field:"Company Name", description:"Company Name:", default:function() { return ""; } },
],
// This maps to a Popup Group in the PDF named 'Project'
popupGroup: "Plan Section",
listItems :
[
{popupItems :
{
//list of items of Popup menu, positive number indicates default selection
"Road": -1,
"Bridge": -1,
"Traffic": -1,
"ITS": -1
}
}
],
// This maps to a Radio Group in the PDF named 'Status'
radioGroup : "Type of Plans",
radioButtons :
[
// value maps to the 'Choice' of each radio button in the group, description will show on the dialog
{ value:"", description:"Original Plans" },
{ value:"Revised Plans", description:"Revised Plans" },
{ value:"As-Built Plans", description:"As-Built Plans" }
],
radioErrorMsg : "Please select a status"
}
And here's the javascript contained in a hidden calculations field on the stamp:
if (event.source.forReal)
{
var stampDialog = CreateDialog(builder);
app.execDialog(stampDialog);
this.getField(builder.radioGroup).value = stampDialog.radioSelection;
this.getField(builder.popupGroup).value = stampDialog.popupSelection;
for (var i = 0; i < builder.textBoxes.length; ++i)
{
var t = builder.textBoxes;
this.getField(t.field).value = stampDialog.textBoxResults;
}
}
function CreateDialog(dialogBuilder)
{
var sd = new Object();
sd.builder = dialogBuilder;
sd.radioSelection = "";
sd.popupSelection = "";
sd.textBoxResults = new Array();
var popupElements = new Array();
popupElements[0] =
{
type: "popup",
item_id: "popupItems",
field: sd.builder.popupGroup,
width: 250
};
var popupCluster =
{
type: "cluster",
name: builder.popupGroup,
elements: popupElements
};
var stateElements = new Array();
for (var i = 0; i < dialogBuilder.radioButtons.length; ++i)
{
var c = dialogBuilder.radioButtons;
stateElements =
{
type: "radio",
name: c.description,
item_id: "rad" + i,
group_id: "grp1"
};
}
var stateCluster =
{
type: "cluster",
name: "Status",
alignment: "align_center",
align_children: "align_distribute",
elements: stateElements
};
var optionsElements = new Array();
for (var i = 0; i < dialogBuilder.textBoxes.length; ++i)
{
var view = new Object();
view.type = "view";
view.align_children = "align_row";
view.elements = new Array();
var t = dialogBuilder.textBoxes;
var s = new Object();
s.type = "static_text";
s.item_id = "sta" + i;
s.name = t.description;
s.width = 90;
var e = new Object();
e.type = "edit_text";
e.item_id = "edt" + i;
e.width = 150;
view.elements[0] = s;
view.elements[1] = e;
optionsElements = view;
}
var optionsCluster =
{
type: "cluster",
name: "Options",
elements: optionsElements
};
sd.initialize = function(dialog)
{
var init = new Object();
for (var i = 0; i < this.builder.textBoxes.length; ++i)
{
var t = this.builder.textBoxes;
var id = "edt" + i;
init[id] = t.default();
}
dialog.load(init);
dialog.load(this.builder.listItems[0]);
};
sd.commit = function(dialog)
{
var res = dialog.store();
for (var i = 0; i < this.builder.radioButtons.length; ++i)
{
var c = this.builder.radioButtons;
var id = "rad" + i;
if (res[id] == true)
{
this.radioSelection = c.value;
break;
}
}
for (var i = 0; i < this.builder.textBoxes.length; ++i)
{
var t = this.builder.textBoxes;
var id = "edt" + i;
this.textBoxResults = res[id];
}
for (var i in res["popupItems"])
if (res["popupItems"] >0)
{
this.popupSelection = i;
}
};
sd.validate = function(dialog)
{
var res = dialog.store();
for (var i = 0; i < this.builder.radioButtons.length; ++i)
{
var c = this.builder.radioButtons;
var id = "rad" + i;
if (res[id] == true)
return true;
}
app.alert(this.builder.radioErrorMsg);
return false;
};
sd.description =
{
name: "Stamp Dialog",
elements:
[
{
type: "view",
align_children: "align_fill",
elements:
[
popupCluster,
stateCluster,
optionsCluster
]
},
{
type: "ok"
}
]
};
return sd;
}
1 Correct answer
All item_id values must be unique 4 character strings. It appears you're using "popupItems", and there's the potential for others not to be 4 characters either (e.g., "edt" + i, where i >= 10).
15
Replies
Let me add a couple more things to what Thom has said (and, my plugin development experience goes back even further than Thom’s 
)
Even though there is anecdotal evidence that you can develop a plug-in with a version of VS that is different from what Adobe specifies, IMHO it is a bad idea to do that, unless you know exactly what you are doing. Getting your first plug-in to complile and to load correctly is hard enough with the supported VS environment, without that, you will very likely not find any help here, because the chances that somebody uses the same configuration as you are pretty slim.
As far as how to best approach this, I would (and actually do) use a virtual machine for your plug-in development. This way, you are not installing another version of VS on your system, and you can also be sure that nothing that is already on your system will interfere with the plug-in development.
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