Design A Custom Drop-Down Menu With A Fillable Text Field In Livecycle

[Saint_Michael 3]

In this tutorial, we will create a drop down menu that when a specific item is selected will result in an text field to be open and be fillable. So, let us open up LiveCycle and begin the fun.

 

With a new document open or you want to add this to an existing form we will first add our drop down menu by going to the Object Library and select Drop-down List. For tutorial sakes, we will have only four items and they are listed as such (Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, Other). To add items to your Drop-down list, highlight your Drop-down menu and click on the Object tab and then click on the + icon and your menu items. To make sure our items are appearing correctly, hit the Preview PDF tab and click on the drop down and your items will appear.

 

 

Let us head back to Design View and add in our Subform and editable text field. To add the Subform, go to Insert > Standard > Subform or select it from the Object Library, then place it next to the drop-down menu and resize it to fit your text field. Now, head back into the Object Library and grab a Text Field then place it with in the Subform.

 

 

To prepare ourselves to build our two Actions, select the Subform and set its Presence to Invisible. Now to build our Action, head over to Tools > Action Builder then click New Action and then do the following:

In the Condition field, select your Drop-down List

Select "Text Selected" and choose your “Other” option.

In the Result Field, select Show or Hide Object

Click object then select your Subform, and set it to Visible

 

However, we are not done yet, what if someone chooses another option, we just can’t keep the Subform there and so we must create a new Action. After clicking the new Action we then do the following, In the Condition Field, you want to list all the options and set them to "Text Selected" for Item 1, Item 2, and Item 3 and then change the Relationship of the Condition from and to or and so regardless what option they pick the Subform will disappear. Then in the Result Field select Show or Hide Object then click the object link and set it to Invisible this time. Hit ok and now to test our Drop-down Menu.

 

 

If you followed along in this tutorial and the screenshots provided you should have something like the PDF that is attached to this tutorial you will have a more dynamic form. However, I will point out that when I was writing up this tutorial, there is a much quicker solution. When you select your Drop-Down Menu and open the Object Pane, you will notice the Allow Custom Text Entry option. With this select, all the user has to do is type within the drop down and it will be accepted.

 

 

While this is perfectly acceptable, you will have to mention somewhere in your document that you can type into the drop-down. Of course, with form design the way it is, it wouldn't make much sense to make the drop-down editable like that. Also, you can use this very same tutorial if you are using a List Box and not a Drop-Down.

 

So, there you go, you now know how to make a more custom Drop-Down Menu in your LiveCycle PDF form.

demo.pdf