Indesign Radio Buttons append when copy/paste

[chiknflea1]

Radio buttons append when copy/pasted, right? For instance, when a text field is copy/pasted, the new field will have a number appended onto the name. Field 1, when copy/pasted, becomes Field 2. That way multiple fields can have the same name and tab correctly according to the numbers in the name.

We have been creating a bunch of forms over the past few months and I swear I have used copy/paste on the radio buttons. There are multiple radio "Yes No" buttons in many of our forms that need to have numbers appended to the names for them to tab and work correctly. I started on a new form that has 26 lines, with four radio buttons on each line. There will be multiple pages with this exact setup. I always get the first line set up and named, then copy/paste all the lines after that so that they tab in order. This time I noticed the radio buttons weren't working, and on further investigation realized they will not append when copy/pasted. I KNOW they were doing this before but now I'm questioning myself. Anyway, I need to get this figured out so we can finish up the rest of these forms, and hopefully I don't have to edit each radio button manually. 

[BobLevine]

Radio buttons append when copy/pasted, right?

No, it's not right. Radio buttons are intended for making a single choice. When you turn one on, the other turns off. You can try checkboxes if you don't want to go through the renaming thing.

[chiknflea1]

Well, no, I need them to be a single choice. I don't see what that has to do with whether they append a number when copy/pasted? Every other field does. The radio buttons don't work at all if they have the same name as another radio button, so it stands to reason they would rename upon copy/paste.

[BobLevine]

I disagree.

Radio buttons are for yes/no types of things. With radio buttons, you can only have one choice. Pick one and the others turn off.

Sounds like you should be using checkboxes.

[chiknflea1]

These are for Yes/No, so no I don't need checkboxes. That's not even the question. 

[BobLevine]

Let's back up for second because I'm not 100% sure of what you want.

If you're talking about actually duplicating each button I think the behavior is fine. But if you want multiple groups of radio buttons then you're going to need to either create the first one for each group and duplicate it or just do it the way you're doing it now and editing every after the fact.

You may find the editing easier in Acrobat.

[chiknflea1]

See my reply to RobOctopus. " )

[RobOctopus]

Copy/paste will maintain the radio button names which will keep them linked together

in this photo, the top yes/no buttons are name "radio button 1". since they share the same name they will interact with each other and turn the other off when a new one is clicked.

the button yes/no were copied from them, they were also named radio button 1 after copying. upon export, all 4 will interact as a group.

you will have to change the name manually. the good thing is you can highlight all the buttons together and change the names of all of a set at once. so you should only have to do this 25 times

[chiknflea1]

Yes, I understand how the radio buttons work. If I have Yes/No radio buttons on one line- named "Yes No 1" - , then copy them to another line and they keep the same "Yes No 1" name then the second set of "Yes No 1" buttons will not work. The second set of Yes/No buttons need to be named "Yes No 2" so they will a) work, b) tab correctly.

MY PROBLEM: When I copy/paste "Yes No 1" it stays as "Yes No 1" instead of changing to "Yes No 2". 

All of the other interactive fields will change to a sequential number when copy/pasted. For instance, "Remarks 1" will automatically change to "Remarks 2", and so on.

Here is what I'm working with (the end result). There will be 12 or so more pages just like this. 

My work flow is to get the first line in order - Person Checking field 1, Visual/Physical buttons 1, Yes/No buttons 1 and Remarks field 1. Then I copy/paste that line to the second line, and when I do each of the fields changes to Person Checking field 2 and Remarks field 2 automatically. But the radio button fields are staying as 1, therefore they don't work from the second line on down.

We have been doing a slew of these forms for one entity for the past few months. Early on I did a form that was Yes/No down multiple lines like this one and I would have sworn the radio buttons appended sequential numbers each time I copy/pasted, but maybe I am remembering it incorrectly and did them manually. I don't know why the other fields will do it and the radio buttons won't. It is super frustrating.

[chiknflea1]

Also, how do you group them to change the name of a set all at once? Thank you for your help!

[BobLevine]

If you do it in Acrobat, you can select the entire group, right click and choose properties. From there just change the name.

You can do it in InDesign, too. Select the buttons and change the name in the Buttons and forms panel. You don't have to group them.

[chiknflea1]

Okay, thanks!

[chiknflea1]

Right, but the point was not to have to change the name for each button in Indesign because it's super inefficient. 

[BobLevine]

I don't do much in the way of PDF forms anymore because I think they serve very little purpose these days but I suspect what you want could be scripted.

I'd suggest a feature request but I doubt anything will change in this regard since there is a very good reason for the current behavior.

[RobOctopus]

without a script of some form, you have to do this manually. but if you press a (or v if the buttons are not in a group) and select the items you want to edit, you can edit the names of all the buttons at once, so it should go faster.

to original point, maybe they worked differently in the past, but they currently do not automatically number upwards like checkboxes or other forms do. 

[RobOctopus]

It's not particular great, but very simple. i haved coded in indesign in a while so was a nice exercise. im sure there are better ways to do this. the items have to be grouped up. should do all pages and all base level groups of that, shouldnt go further.

/**
 * simple radio button renamer, based on groups
 * all radio buttons within a group will be renamed via prompt and a number counter.
 * @author RobOctopus
 * @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-radio-buttons-append-when-copy-paste/td-p/14395488
 */


var NewButtonName = prompt("Rename each button grouping to X #","Button")
var myDoc = app.activeDocument
for(var p=0;p<myDoc.pages.length;p++){
    var thisPage = myDoc.pages[p]
    for(var g=0;g<thisPage.groups.length;g++){
        var thisGroup = thisPage.groups[g]
        for(var r=0;r<thisGroup.radioButtons.length;r++){
            var thisRadioButton = thisGroup.radioButtons[r]
            thisRadioButton.name = NewButtonName + " " + (g+1)
        } /* end radio loop */
    }/* end groups loop */
} /* end pages loop */

[chiknflea1]

That is SO NICE! Thank you, RobOctopus!