Macromedia LiveCycle - ES 8.0 Getting Started
bbc
Getting Started with Form Guides
July 2007
Adobe® LiveCycle® ES
Version 8.0
© 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Adobe
® LiveCycle® ES 8.0 Getting Started with Form Guides for Microsoft® Windows®
Edition 1.1, July 2007
If this guide is distributed with software that includes an end user agreement, this guide, as well as the software described in it, is furnished
under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as permitted by any such license, no part
of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Please note that the content in this guide is protected
under copyright law even if it is not distributed with software that includes an end user license agreement.
The content of this guide is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a
commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or
inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.
Please remember that existing artwork or images that you may want to include in your project may be protected under copyright law. The
unauthorized incorporation of such material into your new work could be a violation of the rights of the copyright owner. Please be sure to
obtain any permission required from the copyright owner.
Any references to company names, company logos and user names in sample material or sample forms included in this documentation
and/or software are for demonstration purposes only and are not intended to refer to any actual organization or persons.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Flash, Flex, Flex Builder, LiveCycle, and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe
Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This product contains either BISAFE and/or TIPEM software by RSA Data Security, Inc.
This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/).
This product includes code licensed from RSA Data Security.
This product includes software developed by the JDOM Project (http://www.jdom.org/).
Macromedia Flash 8 video is powered by On2 TrueMotion video technology. © 1992-2005 On2 Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.on2.com.
This product includes software developed by the OpenSymphony Group (http://www.opensymphony.com/).
Portions of this code are licensed from Nellymoser(www.nellymoser.com).
MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and THOMSON Multimedia (http://www.iis.fhg.de/amm/).
This product includes software developed by L2FProd.com (http://www.L2FProd.com/).
The JBoss library is licensed under the GNU Library General Public LIcense, a copy of which is included with this software.
The BeanShell library is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License, a copy of which is included with this software.
This product includes software developed by The Werken Company (http://jaxen.werken.com/).
This product includes software developed by the IronSmith Project (http://www.ironsmith.org/).
The OpenOffice.org library is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License, a copy of which is included with this software.
Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110, USA.
Notice to U.S. Government End Users. The Software and Documentation are “Commercial Items,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101,
consisting of “Commercial Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R.
§12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable,
the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end users
(a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein.
Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA
95110-2704, USA. For U.S. Government End Users, Adobe agrees to comply with all applicable equal opportunity laws including, if
appropriate, the provisions of Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of
1974 (38 USC 4212), and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60,
60-250, and 60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference.
Contents
About This Document.................................................................................................................. 4
Who should read this document? ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Additional information................................................................................................................................................................. 4
1 About Form Guides...................................................................................................................... 6
2 Creating, Rendering, and Deploying Form Guides................................................................... 9
Creating form guides ..................................................................................................................................................................10
Rendering form guides ..............................................................................................................................................................10
Deploying form guides ..............................................................................................................................................................10
3 Walking Through Creating a New Form Guide........................................................................ 11
Getting started ..............................................................................................................................................................................11
Step 1: Starting Guide Builder..................................................................................................................................................12
Step 2: Creating the form guide structure ..........................................................................................................................14
Linking field captions ...........................................................................................................................................................15
Step 3: Previewing your form guide......................................................................................................................................16
Step 4: Customizing your form guide...................................................................................................................................17
Form guide and panel layouts ..........................................................................................................................................17
Form guide properties .........................................................................................................................................................17
Panel properties and display rules...................................................................................................................................18
Visual appearance..................................................................................................................................................................18
Step 5: Saving your form guide...............................................................................................................................................19
Next steps........................................................................................................................................................................................19
4 Using a Form Guide in Workspace ES....................................................................................... 20
Prerequisites...................................................................................................................................................................................20
Getting started ..............................................................................................................................................................................20
Adding your form design and assets to the repository ...........................................................................................20
Creating a new process to deploy a form guide ...............................................................................................................21
Drawing a process diagram .........................................................................................................................................21
Creating an xfaForm variable ............................................................................................................................................22
Updating your process to use the xfaForm variable.................................................................................................23
Activating your process.......................................................................................................................................................24
Deploying a process to Workspace ES using Archive Administration ......................................................................24
Testing in Workspace ES ............................................................................................................................................................25
Next steps........................................................................................................................................................................................25
5 Customizing Form Guides Using Flex Builder ......................................................................... 26
Index ...........................................................................................................................................27
3
About This Document
Welcome to Getting Started with Form Guides. This document introduces you to form guides, an
alternative view of a form that guides users through the form-filling process step by step. It provides
high-level information about these topics:
● What form guides are
● Overview of how to create, render, and deploy form guides
● A walk-through of creating a simple form guide based on a form design
● A walk-through of deploying a form guide to Adobe® LiveCycle® Workspace ES
● Overview of the process for customizing form guides
Who should read this document?
This document is intended for anyone who is interested in learning about form guides. Although no
previous knowledge is assumed, you should have an understanding of Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES,
Adobe LiveCycle Workbench ES, Workspace ES, and Adobe LiveCycle ES (Enterprise Suite).
Additional information
Adobe has a wide variety of resources about form guides, targeted at a variety of audiences.
4
Adobe LiveCycle ES About This Document
Getting Started with Form Guides Additional information 5
To view these resources, go to the location specified in the See column in the following table.
For information about See
Detailed information about creating and editing
form guides using Guide Builder.
Customizing form guide layouts and components
using Adobe Flex™ Builder™
The ActionScript™ classes and properties
included with LiveCycle ES.
Rendering and deploying form guides using
processes created in Workbench ES.
Rendering a form guide using the Adobe
LiveCycle Forms ES API.
LiveCycle Designer ES Help, available within
Designer ES]
Customizing Form Guides, available at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_fgCustomizing
LiveCycle ES ActionScript Language, available at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_fgActionScript
LiveCycle Workbench ES Help, available within
Workbench ES
Developing Applications Using LiveCycle ES APIs,
available at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_programming
Detailed information about the classes and
methods included with LiveCycle ES.
LiveCycle ES Java API Reference, available at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_JavaAPI
LiveCycle ES terminology LiveCycle ES Glossary, available at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_lc_glossary
Other services and products that integrate with
www.adobe.com
LiveCycle ES
Patch updates, technical notes, and additional
information on this product version
www.adobe.com/support/products/enterprise/ind
ex.html
1
About Form Guides
Form guides are an alternative view of a form that guides users through the form-filling process step by
step. Form guides are based on the Adobe Flash® technology. To create form guides, form authors build on
an existing form design to provide a more visually appealing and streamlined method of capturing form
data. The enhanced interface can help reduce data entry errors through improved usability by simplifying
the amount of information presented to a form filler at a given time.
Along with the form guide you can also provide an Adobe PDF rendition of the form. The PDF often
provides the contract or document of record of the transaction, which is useful for saving locally, printing,
and archiving. In addition, if a digital signature is required, users sign the PDF and not the form guide.
Each form guide is a collection of layouts, sections, panels, and controls that together provide an
alternative interface of a form for users to view and fill. For example, the following images show a form and
a form guide that are used to collect information for an accident claim. The original form uses a more
traditional layout that is consistent with a printed form, whereas the form guide uses a layout similar to
those used for content on a website.
6
Adobe LiveCycle ES About Form Guides
Getting Started with Form Guides 7
Original form
Form guide based on the
original form
Form guides provide form authors with various ways to customize and present forms to users. For
example, form authors can use form guides to group required data into logical groups called sections.
Form authors select a form guide layout that defines the presentation of sections and dictates how users
navigate between sections. Each section is composed of one or more panels that contain a set of fields
from the original form and any form guide navigational controls, such as Previous or Next buttons. The
form guide then steps users through data entry by section. In each section, form authors can display help
text or video to provide assistance to users with filling the fields in that section. Form authors can also set
rules to control the display of optional sections based on user-entered data. When the form guide is
completed, users can submit their form, either electronically or by printing a paper copy, according to the
submission method defined by the form guide.
In addition to the presentation enhancements that form authors can implement, form authors can import
existing cascading style sheet (CSS) files to assist in creating a form guide appearance that is consistent
with existing materials.
Adobe LiveCycle ES About Form Guides
Getting Started with Form Guides 8
Each form guide is derived from a form, and data collected in a form guide automatically passes through
to the form itself. Therefore, most scripts, validations, and other business logic on your form will continue
to function on a form guide. For detailed information about form guide scripting support, see
LiveCycle Designer ES Help.
2
Creating, Rendering, and Deploying Form Guides
Form guides are integrated throughout LiveCycle ES. The process of creating, rendering, and deploying
form guides involves various LiveCycle ES solution components as well as various skill sets. The image
below illustrates the general process of creating, rendering, and deploying form guides as part of a
LiveCycle ES solution. This process involves these tasks in the order shown:
1. Form authors create a form guide based on an existing form design by using Guide Builder in
Designer ES.
2. After a form guide is created, a developer creates a new process in Workbench ES that includes a call to
Adobe LiveCycle Forms ES to render the form design as a form guide (SWF file).
3. Using Workspace ES, the rendered form guide is made available to end users to view, fill, and submit.
Adobe LiveCycle
Workspace ES
Form Design
Guide Builder
Form Guide
Create a new process
Render form guides
Adobe LiveCycle
Forms ES
Users view and
ll forms
in browser
Note: You can also deploy form guides by creating a custom Java™ or web services application that calls
the API for Forms ES to render a form guide. See Deploying form guides
.
9
Loading...