Getting Acquainted with Form Field Tools

As mentioned earlier, Acrobat provides seven form field tools for adding interactive elements to an online form. The tools are grouped together on the Forms toolbar that you open by choosing Advanced Editing➪Forms➪Show Forms Toolbar. Each form field tool has its own associated Properties dialog box containing various options that appear on tabs. The following list gives you a run-down on the seven form field tools that define the type of information you want to collect and add interactivity to your form:

_ Button tool: Used to create a button that performs an action in a form, such as a Reset button that erases previously entered information so you can start over, or a Submit button that sends the form information to a network server. In addition, buttons can play sounds and movies, open files, or download Web pages from the Internet. Acrobat 6 also lets you automatically create JavaScript button rollovers. These types of buttons change appearance when the cursor is hovered or rolled over the button.

_ Check Box tool: Used to make multiple selections from a list of items. Check boxes were used extensively in old-fashioned paper forms and usually followed the instruction, “Check all that apply.”

_ Combo Box tool: So called because it functions as a combination text field/list box, enabling the user to either pick an item from a list or enter custom text in a field, with the added advantage of saving space on a form by presenting the items in a drop-down list.

_ List Box tool: For a long list of items to present in your form, a list box is a good solution because it has scroll bars that allow the user to scroll through the list to select an item.

_ Radio Button tool: Used when only one item from a list can be selected. For example, you can use a radio button to have users indicate whether they’re male or female or to specify which credit card they want to use to pay for an online transaction.

_ Text Field tool: Used for entering text and numbers, such as a person’s e-mail address or birth date. You can set up text fields to format and limit the type of information entered in them as well as to perform calculations. You can also attach JavaScript actions and data validation to text fields.

_ Digital Signature Field tool: Used to enable the user to digitally sign a document. Like hand-written signatures, digital signatures represent the user’s identity and his or her approval or acceptance of a document. They have the added advantage of storing information about the signer and the exact state of the PDF form when it was signed.