Today I ran a live eSeminar introducing LiveCycle Designer ES2. In this session I covered how to build forms from scratch, included some tips and tricks along the way and included some of the latest features available in the latest Designer ES2 release.
The session was recorded and includes over 45 minutes of me demonstrating how to build a complete form from scratch. The recording is here;
http://pacific.adobe.acrobat.com/p29554294/
Here is the form I built:Leave Form (ok.. this is the form I built, but the other one is a bit tidier)
Some other useful links are here;
- http://www.acrobattown.com/au/
- http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/acrobatpro/tryout.html
- http://forms.stefcameron.com/
- http://blogs.adobe.com/stevex/
- http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/
- http://www.adobeeseminars.com.au/
How to fix Spell Checking for Designer ES2 users in Australia;
Finally the latest upgrade to Designer ES2 is available for a small fee via the Adobe Store;
Hi Mark, can you tell me if LiveCycle ES2 will be included in the Design Premium CS5 upgrade?
Cheers,
Brendan
Hi Brendan, the short answer is no. The longer explanation is that LiveCycle ES2 is a server side product of which one component, LiveCycle Designer ES2, is a desktop tool for creating PDF forms. LC Designer is available as part of a LiveCycle solution or bundled with Acrobat Professional. Acrobat 9 Professional currently ships with LiveCycle Designer ES, and Acrobat 9 Professional is bundled as part of Creative Suite 5. The good news is that the upgrade to LiveCycle Designer ES2 is available via the Adobe Online Store here https://store3.adobe.com/cfusion/store/index.cfm?&store=OLS-AU&nr=0#loc=en_au&view=ols_prod&category=/Applications/LiveCycle&store=OLS-AU
Thanks Mark; will make the small investment for the upgrade!
Mark, I just watched your presentation on building forms in LiveCycle Designer ES2; I couldn’t comment, but I found it an excellent presentation. Many thanks.
Hi Mark, sorry to keep contacting you via your comments feed!
I’ve downloaded and enjoyed success with LC Designer ES2, really nice program. Just wondering if you can tell me why it won’t allow the user to import .eps or native .ai files (ie. logos, graphics, etc.), or even PDFs?
And also, when I go to preview the forms in Adobe Bridge (CS4), instead of seeing a proxy icon of the form, the preview icons state “Please wait … if this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF viewer may not be able to display this type of document. You can upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader …. etc., etc.,” … naturally I have the latest version installed …
Cheers,
Brendan
Hi Brendan
This is due to the dynamic nature of the PDF Form. Since it can shrink & grow when rendered in Reader it is difficult to generate a preview. The messaging you are seeing is what is displayed to any PDF viewer (in this case Bridge) so the user knows what to do. To prove this, try saving your form as a static form (option in the save as dialogue) and it should give you a preview, but of course you miss out on the dynamic capabilities. Make sense?
Mark
Thanks Mark; yes, makes sense …
Can you also explain why Designer won’t allow the user to import .eps or native .ai files (ie. logos, graphics, etc.), or even PDFs?
Cheers,
Brendan
oops – missed that. Not sure what you mean here. You can place eps files and other graphic formats by dropping an image field onto your form. You can also import a PDF to use as the basic of a new form. Are you trying to do something else?
Is it possible to place a PDF with interactive form fields as an image into another PDF and keep the form fields functioning? Reason I’m asking is that I work for a printer who does a good deal of soft proofing using PDFs. Production has asked that we incorporate a small form with two basic Yes / No type questions into certain PDF proofs we send out. I’m very new to Acrobat form creation, but from what I’ve stumbled accross I don’t know if this is even a possibility. Any help, even just a yes or no as to whether it is possible would be appreciated.
Hi Sean
Yes, definately possible, although in this case Acrobat might be a quick & easy option to allow you to quickly add the fields to an existing PDF.
Mark
After using LC Designer ES2, I find it buggier and more crash prone than LC Designer ES. The tab order feature has replaced working functionality with aesthetics IMO. The nice arrows show you how the tab order works, but often the tab order is impossible to change in ES2 or doesn’t follow the defined order. It often changes the order on one page while working on another. As well, the action builder seems to still be buggy. When removing instances of a repeatable subform, the instance manager’s [min] property is not respected and throws a JavaScript bug. Has ES2 been released or is it still in testing?
@Kevin, I’m sorry to hear you are having trouble with the ES2 Designer. I’ve asked engineering and QA to look into the issues you describe. I’ll post again when I know more.
Jeff
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In the reply to Brendan Scollary, you gave a link for an upgrade to LiveCycle Developer 2, but the link doesn’t appear to be working. I’m wonderring whether the upgrade is still available.
James
Hi James – the link is most likely broken due to the announcement of the new version of Designer. See the details here;
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/articles/top-10-adep-designer-features.html
I’d check the Adobe Online Store again in the next few days.