I haven't looked at Acroforms as they are COS based. The answer will involve patience and practical experience with a hex editor. I am not sure if anyone else has taken the time to crack this?
BTW - Ben Litchfield is noted as the author for most of the PDF BOx classes. I have tried to reach out to him to respond on a couple of PDFBox issues but have never heard back. Has anyone else on the list communicated with him? I think that if he sees how many people are interested in advancing PDFBox we could all work together. Just a thought. Duane *********************************** Technoracle Advanced Systems Inc. Consulting and Contracting; Proven Results! i. Neo4J, PDF, Java, LiveCycle ES, Flex, AIR, CQ5 & Mobile b. http://technoracle.blogspot.com t. @duanechaos "Don't fear the Graph! Embrace Neo4J" On 2012-10-24 9:34 PM, "Maruan Sahyoun" <[email protected]> wrote: >OK - so now we know where it is in XFA - but what about a form wo XFA? > >Maruan Sahyoun > >Am 25.10.2012 um 01:38 schrieb Duane Nickull ><[email protected]>: > >> OK, I found it. Tab order seems to be declared in XFA using the >>following >> syntax: >> >> <traversal> >> <traverse ref="(SOME_OTHER_FIELD)[index] /> >> </traversal> >> >> Some other field (above) is the ID of the first field. Outside of the >> fields element depth is a traversal start point, also referencing a >>single >> unique field in the PDF/XFA document. >> >> After playing around with LiveCycle Designer a bit, it turns out that >> until you save the form that is open, the traversal info is not present >> and is only added if the default tab order is changed. >> >> I double checked this with the reference to XFA and found this: >> >> "Traversal order. An XFA template may be defined with a traversal order, >> which allows the user to tab >> from one field to the next." >> >> The specification is here: >> http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xml/xfa_spec_2_4.pdf >> >> To aster your other question Maruan, yes - there is a default tabbing >> order. This is described in terms of left to right and flowing >> vertically. THere is a complete description of the order described >>when >> multiple elements of the same sub-form contain children. >> >> Duane Nickull >> >> *********************************** >> Technoracle Advanced Systems Inc. >> Consulting and Contracting; Proven Results! >> i. Neo4J, PDF, Java, LiveCycle ES, Flex, AIR, CQ5 & Mobile >> b. http://technoracle.blogspot.com >> t. @duanechaos >> "Don't fear the Graph! Embrace Neo4J" >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On 2012-10-24 2:18 PM, "Maruan Sahyoun" <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> it's correct that there is currently not a method to retrieve the >>> infomation but in order to implement it we need to know where to look >>>for >>> the relevant parts. I can build a sample form so we can look if my >>> interpretation is correct. >>> >>> As tabbing order is something which worked prior to PDF 1.5 maybe there >>> is some default e.g left to right, top to bottom >>> >>> Maruan Sahyoun >>> >>> Am 24.10.2012 um 22:14 schrieb Andreas Lehmkuehler <[email protected]>: >>> >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> Am 24.10.2012 19:39, schrieb Duane Nickull: >>>>> Yes, that is the formal (normative PDF specification). I used to >>>>>work >>>>> at >>>>> Adobe and was part of the team that helped move PDF from Adobe to >>>>>ISO. >>>>> That is different than PDFBox. PDFBox is an implementation of >>>>> programmatic ways to manipulate PDF documents. I have not seen >>>>> anything >>>>> that can interpret the tabbing order in the PDFBox library although >>>>>you >>>>> can grab the JavaScript so it might be possible. >>>>> >>>>> The public API I would expect to see here would be something to the >>>>> effect >>>>> of having a "getTabIndex(PDField field):int" or similar. I have not >>>>> seen >>>>> that but someone please correct me if I am wrong. >>>> The question is, where can we find the information which is needed to >>>> implement such a method. Maruan already mentioned the "Tabs" value of >>>>a >>>> page. But that value seems to be related to annotations and not to >>>> forms. So any ideas where to look? >>>> >>>>> Duane Nickull >>>>> *********************************** >>>>> Technoracle Advanced Systems Inc. >>>>> Consulting and Contracting; Proven Results! >>>>> i. Neo4J, PDF, Java, LiveCycle ES, Flex, AIR, CQ5 & Mobile >>>>> b. http://technoracle.blogspot.com >>>>> t. @duanechaos >>>>> "Don't fear the Graph! Embrace Neo4J" >>>>> >>>>> SNIP >>>> >>>> BR >>>> Andreas Lehmkühler >> >>
