Javascript plug-in used in Pro DC crashes Acrobat.

[chris_crabb_simply]

I have a particular government template form to fill out. It uses Javascript.

Unless the Javascript plug-in is disabled in Pro DC, the application will crash.

If the plug-in is disabled, the application will not crash, but presents multiple errors when it can't find the plug-in, leading me to believe that it's overloading the application and causing it to crash.

Acrobat 11, on the other hand, works no problem.

Wondering if anybody has any thoughts on resolving or patching this to make it work. I thought perhaps I could somehow swap in the older javascript plug-in by transferring the escript.api from the Acrobat 11 plug-in folder to the Acrobat 2015 folder, but it just resulted in the form crashing upon opening.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance,

-Chris

[George_Johnson]

Can you provide a link to the form you're using?

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

Chances are that this form is using JavaScript internally, and something is being done that causes Acrobat DC to crash. If it worked in Acrobat XI, then this is very likely a bug in Acrobat DC - unless the JavaScript code used is not valid to start with, and Acrobat XI somehow "ignored" the problem, whereas Acrobat DC actually has a problem with it. Regardless, Acrobat should never crash based on invalid JavaScript, so you are dealing with a bug regardless of what is causing this.

Is this a document that is available to the general public? If so, what's the name (or the link), so that we can take a look to see if there is anything that can be done (I doubt it).

The first thing I would try is to repair my Acrobat installation. If you are on Windows, this is done via the function you can find in the "Help" menu.

[chris_crabb_simply]

Unfortunately, I can't share this particular document.

I've done repair installs, as well as using Acrobat's tools to perform a clean uninstall, and reinstall of DC.

I've got in contact with the company that manages the software that distributes the form (though they don't create it) for additional insight, but have yet to hear back from them.

I'm kind of hoping somebody knows of some way I could hack this to work, considering we've just purchased DC, and the $449 price of 11 would be a tough gulp.

[George_Johnson]

As a test, you might want to try using Reader DC on a different machine and see if you get the same behavior.

Can you share the name of the government form? I'm wondering whether it's an XFA form created with LiveCycle Designer or a regular Acroform like you can create with Acrobat. You might be able to tell from the PDF Producer shown when you select: File > Properties > Description > PDF Producer

[chris_crabb_simply]

Managed to find a public link to the form template:

https://ltsa.ca/sites/default/files/Property%20Transfer%20Tax%20Form%20V26.pdf

Thanks to all of you!

[maxwyss · Accepted solution]

I did a very quick analysis of the form, and these are my conclusions so far:

• The form is Acroform

• The form uses a bunch of spawned pages

• The form is quite buggy (It crashed several times in Reader DC, but it was also able to bring up the Console with some error messages). It is possible that Acrobat DC is less tolerant than XI, when it comes to capitalization of functions of the Core Global Object.

• The form has been saved "optimized for fast web view". Consequence is that it should not be viewed in a browser plug-in, but downloaded completely and opened locally. Doing a Save as… will also cause crashes, unless the form is closed immediately after the Save as…

• There are (IMHO, way too) many small document-level JavaScripts.

… and that's just the beginning…

If the issuer of the form reads this, he is very welcome to contact me in private for a quote for debugging and optimizing the form…

[chris_crabb_simply]

Thanks very much maxwyss!

I was thinking it was poorly written.

Funny thing is, this is created by the Canadian Ministry of Finance.

I gave them a call just before your response and they are aware it's a garbage form, but their developer is on holidays.

[maxwyss]

You're welcome, Chris.crabb.simply. Well, you can get crap from any place, even the Ministry of Finance (trust me, I have my experiences with ministries of finances and/or national tax offices; they have a good solution, and then they decide to go for inferior crap…)

Hmm… maybe they should let their developer where he is… FWIW, yours truly accepts CAD…