[Solved] form fields .PDF isn't behaving as documented

[Molotov]

I'm creating a form in a .PDF but when I add a list box / combo box there are several problems. First, no wizard pops up regardless of the state of the Wizards On/Off button. Second, I cannot get the Form Controls & Form Properties windows to list the information they're supposed to (a few of the drop-downs in these windows have no options in their drop-down lists).Several of this form's posts instruct people to ignore the wizard & enter info manually, but when I try to do so I'm still having trouble getting the correct info to populate. I've tried watching tutorials but when I follow along there are places where OpenOffice isn't behaving as the tutorial shows. The help file agrees with the tutorials about what should be happening. Since I have at least one drop-down list that isn't populating & the Wizard isn't opening for me at all I have to presume that there is something else wrong. Could my database not be associated correctly or something?

[Arineckaig]

I'm creating a form fillable .PDF but I can't find the Wizards On/Off button

PROVIDED you are using a Writer document as the source for the PDF file, check that under the View>Toolbars menu the "Form Controls" item is selected. The Wizards On/Off button should appear as the last icon on that toolbar.

[Villeroy]

The combo box wizard (needlessly) helps to connect the combo box with a database field.
With some database having tables having fields the following statement fills a combo box with distinct field values:
SELECT DISTINCT "field name" FROM "table name" ORDER BY "field name"

For a PDF form sent over email to arbitrary people you don't want any database connection. You can fill your unbound combo box using the "List Entries" property on the "General" tab. Just type a vertical list typing Shift+Enter between the entries. When you are finished the list will be displayed like this: "a";"b";"c";"d"

Most people asking for a combo box do want a list box actually which also has the "List Entries" property on tab "General".

[Molotov]

The Wizards On/Off button should appear as the last icon on that toolbar.

Here are the buttons on the toolbar in question (I double-checked the little "visible buttons" options & read them off that list as well), just to make certain I'm hitting every option:

• Select (looks like the pointer)
• Design Mode On/Off (looks like a pencil, ruler, & a triangular straight-edge)
• Control (looks like several of the buttons grouped together, this button is always grayed out)
• Check Box
• Text Box
• Formatted Field
• Push Button
• Option Button
• List Box
• Combo Box
• Label Field
• More Controls (looks like two of the buttons with an ellipses underneath)
• Form Design (looks like a Windows window with a triangular straight-edge)

When I click on "More Controls" I get another six buttons, none of which are related to the Wizard On/Off button.

If you doubt me I will be happy to take a screenshot & send you said screenshot. The button people are talking about in every tutorial I have checked seems to be completely missing from the GUI.

[Molotov]

The combo box wizard (needlessly) helps to connect the combo box with a database field.

This may not be needless since I can't get the GUI to let me set the options I want.

With some database having tables having fields the following statement fills a combo box with distinct field values:
SELECT DISTINCT "field name" FROM "table name" ORDER BY "field name"

That command looks like the sort of thing that could really help me. I have absolutely no notion of where I would enter such a command. Can you provide me with a step-by-step explanation of where to put that text?

For a PDF form sent over email to arbitrary people you don't want any database connection. You can fill your unbound combo box using the "List Entries" property on the "General" tab. Just type a vertical list typing Shift+Enter between the entries. When you are finished the list will be displayed like this: "a";"b";"c";"d"

My long-term goal is to have the options for the form fields populated based on a database that won't be hosted locally for the users. The form will instead connect to a 2nd party server that I can update as time goes on, thus removing the need for my users to download a new .PDF version every time I want to add just one option to just one field.

Most people asking for a combo box do want a list box actually which also has the "List Entries" property on tab "General".

I'd like to use a combo box for a few of the fields so that (in those fields only) users can enter a value just for themselves locally. In others I will be using a list box instead.

I have a larger project going on which I started a thread about asking for advice, but nobody has replied to the other topic.

[Villeroy]

The combo box wizard (needlessly) helps to connect the combo box with a database field.

This may not be needless since I can't get the GUI to let me set the options I want.

Typing seven words is easier than riding the wizard.

With some database having tables having fields the following statement fills a combo box with distinct field values:
SELECT DISTINCT "field name" FROM "table name" ORDER BY "field name"

That command looks like the sort of thing that could really help me. I have absolutely no notion of where I would enter such a command. Can you provide me with a step-by-step explanation of where to put that text?

If your form is connected to a database: Tab "Data", source type "SQL", source: SELECT ... FROM ... ORDER BY

For a PDF form sent over email to arbitrary people you don't want any database connection. You can fill your unbound combo box using the "List Entries" property on the "General" tab. Just type a vertical list typing Shift+Enter between the entries. When you are finished the list will be displayed like this: "a";"b";"c";"d"

My long-term goal is to have the options for the form fields populated based on a database that won't be hosted locally for the users. The form will instead connect to a 2nd party server that I can update as time goes on, thus removing the need for my users to download a new .PDF version every time I want to add just one option to just one field.

Can this be done with PDF forms created with OpenOffice? I don't know.

[Molotov]

Can this be done with PDF forms created with OpenOffice? I don't know.

I've asked for help in the other thread.

[Molotov]

If your form is connected to a database: Tab "Data", source type "SQL", source: SELECT ... FROM ... ORDER BY

I'm having trouble finding the "source type" field & the "source" field.
In the Combo box's "Form..." window I get the following options on the Data tab:

• Data source (this lists the databases I've associated with OpenOffice)
• Content type (either "Table", "Query", or "SQL command")
• Content (this lists the tables of the database I choose for Data source)

Other options don't seem to possibly be what we're looking for.

In the Combo box's "Control..." window I get the following options on the Data tab:

• List entry source (there is an empty drop-down box with no options to choose from)
• XML data model (another drop-down box, with time with "Model 1" as the only option)

Other options are all grayed out.

SELECT DISTINCT "field name" FROM "table name" ORDER BY "field name"

Do I need to include the quotes?

[Arineckaig]

Molotov wrote:

If you doubt me I will be happy to take a screenshot & send you said screenshot. The button people are talking about in every tutorial I have checked seems to be completely missing from the GUI.

Strictly in the context of your original question and the absence of buttons/icons, there is no need to post a screen shot. There would appear to be a difference in how our two versions of Writer name toolbars. The icons/buttons you list appear in my "Form Design" toolbar while the 'wizard' icon is in my "Form Controls" toolbar. I do not know how the latter toolbar may be named in your version but it should be included in one of those available from the "View" menu: it would be a case of having a look at each one in turn.

[Molotov]

There would appear to be a difference in how our two versions of Writer name toolbars. The icons/buttons you list appear in my "Form Design" toolbar while the 'wizard' icon is in my "Form Controls" toolbar. I do not know how the latter toolbar may be named in your version but it should be included in one of those available from the "View" menu: it would be a case of having a look at each one in turn.

I've checked every toolbar. There is no Wizard On/Off button. I'm disappointed that the documentation for OpenOffice isn't actually accurate, & the possibility of the toolbars being different has never been a possibility in any of the online guides / tutorials I watched while trying to solve this problem.

Something like this happened to me once a few years ago. An update had included an undocumented change to a program & when I went to get help, everyone on the forum just presumed things were still the same way. Can any of you check your version of OpenOffice to verify that the button actually exists for you? I've seen a lot of vitriol directed at the wizards on this forum & I wouldn't be that shocked if you were not using them.

So the big issue is that I can't get the form boxes to populate correctly & after days of searches, tutorials, & reinstalling twice I've been unable to solve the problem. After all of this work I'm guessing this isn't me, but rather the program that's broken.

I'm going to edit the original topic to reflect that.

[RPG]

Hello

I think learn to modify the toolbar and insert the button who is not there. I think you modified your toolbar and now you have to undo it.

press F!
type in : Toolbar
Select : adding buttons

Modify the toolbar :Form controls

Romke

[Arineckaig]

This was my original post. After some work, we figured out that this isn't a problem with me not knowing how to fix going on, but rather a bug with the new version of OpenOffice.

FWIW, I cannot confirm this 'issue' with my downloaded copy of Windows AOO 4 - the relevant Writer toolbars appear to have the same names and contents as in AOO3.4.1

[Molotov]

press F!
type in : Toolbar
Select : adding buttons

Modify the toolbar :Form controls

This got me the missing button, but turning the button on & off does nothing. Neither setting makes the Wizard open when I draw a list box / combo box.

Editing the original post to represent current situation.

[RoryOF]

Best to leave the original post alone, as editing it can confuse those reading the later discussion.

[Villeroy]

input_form_20130731.odb

(11.93 KiB) Downloaded 298 times

A database with an embedded Writer document having an input form. The input form has a date control and a combo box which reflects the already entered text values but you can enter any other new value because it is not a list box. All this does not apply to PDF forms by any means.

[Molotov]

All this does not apply to PDF forms by any means.

Thank you for trying to help but this specific piece of information was not what I was looking for.

I'm trying to figure out how to get a .PDF to have a combo box (or list box) that will pull from a database to populate the drop-down list.

[Molotov]

There have been a lot of problems as I've been working with this specific database project. Today I tried starting a different project in the hopes of learning some of the details. This new database is behaving completely differently. The combo box wizard is opening as intended & while OpenOffice still has some things I dislike everything in the new database is operating as documented. Does anyone know why things would start acting weirdly for just one specific database? Evidently something went wrong with the database I was working on.

[Villeroy]

You are the only person in this world who ever saw this particular problem. We can not see this problem, so we can hardly tell anything about it.

[Molotov]

I'm working with a lot of inserted images. I'm starting to wonder if I may have something wrong with some of those files (maybe some malware or something) that is messing with the runtime environment.