Interactive Forms

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An interactive form—sometimes referred to as an AcroForm—is a collection of fields for gathering information interactively from the user. A PDF document may contain any number of fields, appearing on any combination of pages, all of which make up a single, global interactive form spanning the entire document.

Field Types

Interactive forms support the following field types:

Button fields represents, interactive controls on the screen, a user can manipulate with the mouse. They include push buttons, check boxes, and radio buttons.
Text fields are boxes or spaces in which the user can enter text from the keyboard.
Choice fields contain several text items; only one value may be selected at a time.They include scrollable list boxes and combo boxes.

Button Form Field

This example shows how to create a Button and add it to the page.

[Java]
    Button button = new Button( "Button Name", 50, 50, 100, 50 );
    button.setAction(new JavaScriptAction( "app.alert('Hello');" ));
    button.setBackgroundColor(RgbColor.getAliceBlue());
    button.setBehavior(Behavior.createPush( "downLabel", "rolloverLabel" ));
    button.setBorderColor(RgbColor.getBlueViolet());
    button.setBorderStyle(BorderStyle.BEVELED);
    button.setLabel("Push");
    button.setTextColor(RgbColor.getDarkGreen());
    button.setToolTip("Click");

Check Box Form Field

This example shows how to create an Check Box and add it to the page.

[Java]
    CheckBox checkBox = new CheckBox( "Check Box Name", 5, 7, 50, 50 );
    checkBox.setDefaultChecked(true);
    checkBox.setToolTip("Check it");

Combo Box Form Field

This example shows how to create a Combo Box and add it to the page.

[Java]
    ComboBox comboBox = new ComboBox( "Combo Box Name", 50, 75, 150, 25 );
    comboBox.addItem( "One" );
    comboBox.addItem( "Two" );
    comboBox.addItem( "Three" );
    comboBox.setBackgroundColor(RgbColor.getAliceBlue());
    comboBox.setBorderColor(RgbColor.getDarkMagenta());
    comboBox.setDefaultChoice("One");
    comboBox.setEditable(true);
    comboBox.setToolTip("Select");

List Box Form Field

This example shows how to create a List Box and add it to the page.

[Java]
    ListBox listBox = new ListBox( "List Box Name", 5, 2, 100, 150 );
    listBox.addItem( "One" );
    listBox.addItem( "Two" );
    listBox.addItem( "Three" );
    listBox.setBackgroundColor(RgbColor.getAliceBlue());
    listBox.setBorderColor(RgbColor.getDarkMagenta());
    listBox.setBorderStyle(BorderStyle.DASHED);
    listBox.setDefaultChoice("One");
    listBox.setMultiselect(true);
    listBox.setToolTip("Select");

Radio Button Form Field

This example shows how to create a Radio Button and add it to the page.

[Java]
    RadioButton radio1 = new RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 25, 100, 75 );
    radio1.setDefaultChecked(true);
    radio2.setExportValue("abc");
    radio1.setToolTip("first");
    RadioButton radio2 = new RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 140, 100, 75 );
    radio2.setExportValue("def");
    radio2.setToolTip("second");
    RadioButton radio3 = new RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 250, 100, 75 );
    radio3.setExportValue("ghi");
    radio3.setToolTip("third");

Text Form Field

This example shows how to create a Text Field and add it to the page.

[Java]
    TextField textField = new TextField( "Text Field Name", 50, 75, 150, 100 );
    textField.setTextAlign(Align.CENTER);
    textField.setBackgroundColor(RgbColor.getAliceBlue());
    textField.setBorderColor(RgbColor.getDeepPink());
    textField.setFont(Font.getTimesItalic());
    textField.setFontSize(16.0f);
    textField.setTextColor(RgbColor.getBrown());
    textField.setDefaultValue("ceTe Software");
    textField.setMultiLine(true);
    textField.setToolTip("Text");