PDF-Forms is a service provided by PDFzone.com | http://www.pdfzone.com/
__________________________________________________________________

Well Forms Designer can do the trick if you are willing to either a) redo
your field calculations from scratch or b) invest some time cleaning up the
imported forms.  Unfortunately, there's no entirely automated fix.  There's
a section devoted exclusively to converting PDF forms in the Forms Designer
documentation.  You may find it's not as much work as you originally
thought.  There's also a section in the online help on Designing PDF forms
in Forms Designer.  It's important to stick to those guidelines (and avoid
scripting directly to the Acrobat object model) if you want to transfer the
forms easily into the upcoming Designer.

If I were to tackle this problem I think I'd probably convert both the
original FormFlow designs and the PDF forms to XFT.  I would then use the
artwork from the converted FF forms and copy/paste the converted
calculations from the converted PDF forms.  Some of the PDF scripting may
not convert well, so you should try a form or two first to see how much
manual work will be involved.  This approach will take some effort, but the
advantages of maintaining both the artwork and the fields in the same tool
may save you overall, in the long run.  A lot depends on how often the forms
change.  If they don't change that often, then the maintenance advantages
may not outweigh the initial cost of conversion.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Rob
__________________________
Rob McDougall, Technical Architect
Indigo Pacific Limited
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(in order to email me, remove the underscores)

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Lauterbach.Mark
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 11:08 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [PDF-Forms] Nobody using Forms Designer 5?
Hi, Rob

Wow, have I learned a lot this morning!

I was asked to test this software as a possible replacement to FormFlow
2 - software we are using only to create the artwork for our forms.  The
artwork then goes for printing and/or for electronic distribution.  The
electronic versions we offer users are (usually fillable) PDFs created
with Adobe Distiller and Acrobat.

We do not at present need any database connectivity in our forms though
we do use document and field level scripts to add usability
enhancements.

So what I'm looking for is layout software that can draw boxes, add
graphics, and place static text.  My initial impression was that Adobe
Forms Designer 5 was that software with the added advantage of having
the designer export directly to fillable PDF.  Now I've learned
otherwise.

The reason I imported a PDF form is to see how much (if any) of the
original document would be altered.  I was hoping we could open up an
already existing fillable PDF, make changes to the artwork and fields,
and then end up with a modified but basically same PDF form.  Not so.

I did not realize I could import FRPs into AFD (though I will be trying
that out soon) but that wouldn't really change much as our fill ability
features are added after the fact with Acrobat.

Thanks for your reply.

Mark




To change your subscription:
http://www.pdfzone.com/discussions/lists-pdfforms.html

Reply via email to