Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Can the PDF form store a value and compute the person's age from it, then output their age into a text box? I have the DOB date fields setup as dropdowns for calendar selection, which is preferable, but I can change that if necessary. I know calculations can be done in some PDF creators, but OO Writer? Perhaps via macro wizardry?

The AOO Basic+API macros can not run in a PDF file. The PDF readers not support the foreign macro codes nor the foreign API. Otherwise the macro code will not be stored into a PDF file.

I presume these limitations are due to patent/licensing concerns (Adobe) and thus will likely never be doable in Writer.

PDF is a print out to a file. PDF stores characters, lines, pictures and their positions on virtual paper sheets, no matter if the print out comes from an office suite, a CAD/CAM application, a web page, email or database application. PDF stores what is painted on paper sheets if you would print it.

PDF forms can be created with dropdown boxes and calendar displays for date entry, and thus ages can be calculated, but I only know of one software that does this, and that's the full Adobe Acrobat DC suite, which you would have to purchase to access those capabilities.

I've never seen any such a thing. To make this happen, you need Adobe tools to create and the fully fledged Adobe reader to show. I did not install any Adobe product during the past 15 years.

AFAIK:
The programming language supported in pdf files is javascript.
Several pdf readers will support javascript. I have used it in Foxit and Adobe readers.
Some pdf editors claim to support javascript. I have only used it from Adobe Acrobat.
OpenOffice and its "offspring" will not embed any macro programming into pdf files exported.

Libre/OpenOffice supports JavaScript as a macro language. Thes does not help because the API (the thing you talk to) would be the API of some PDF viewer rather than the office API.