Moving from Scripting in Acrobat to Designer

Designer includes extensive scripting capabilities, including support for the most common JavaScript objects from Acrobat. When you convert an Acrobat form to Designer, most JavaScript scripts continue to work without requiring changes. However, you will need to manually convert some JavaScript scripts from Acrobat to maintain the behavior of your Acrobat form.

When converting scripts on your Acrobat form, note that Designer scripting differs from scripting in Acrobat in several ways:

Designer workspace
In the Designer workspace, you can change object properties and behaviors on your form without requiring you to create scripts.

Scripting languages
Designer includes support for JavaScript as well as for FormCalc, which is a simple calculation language. FormCalc includes built-in functions that perform many useful operations that would otherwise require extensive scripting.

Referencing objects, properties, and methods
Designer forms are highly structured; therefore, to reference specific objects, properties, or methods, you must include the appropriate reference syntax in your script. You can use the statement completion options in the Script Editor to assist you in creating reference syntaxes.

It is possible to continue to use JavaScript objects, properties, and methods from Acrobat in Designer. However, you should consider JavaScript from Acrobat only for tasks that you cannot perform using the XML Form Object Model in Designer. For example, you can use JavaScript from Acrobat to add attachments, bookmarks, and annotations; search or spell check the form; create reports; or access and manipulate metadata. You cannot use JavaScript from Acrobat to perform actions such as setting field values, adding new fields to a form, or deleting pages from a form.

Note: You cannot use Acrobat to add JavaScript scripts to a Designer form, including Acrobat forms that you have converted using Designer. When you view a Designer form in Acrobat, all JavaScript tools are unavailable.

For more information about converting Acrobat scripting to Designer, see the article Converting Acrobat JavaScript for Use in Designer Forms in the Developer Center.

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