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In
the Preview PDF tab, you can view and test a form design or template
as a PDF form by using Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
The Preview PDF tab appears only when Acrobat or Adobe Reader
is installed. By default, if you have both Acrobat and Adobe Reader
installed, Designer starts Acrobat automatically to preview the
form. To use Adobe Reader to preview the form, you must start it
before you click the Preview PDF tab.
If you change
the File > Form Properties > Defaults > Target Version
setting to a specific version of Acrobat and Adobe Reader, you must
ensure that you have the version of Acrobat installed that matches
the target version that is saved; otherwise, you may get an error
or a warning message when you click the Preview PDF tab. For example,
if you select Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0.5 or later as the target
version for the form, ensure that you have Acrobat and Adobe Reader
7.0.5 or later installed.
The preview will use the same format as the saved form. You can
right-click the PDF Preview tab to see which default file type option
is currently selected. To indicate the format of an unsaved form,
you must change the Tools > Options > Document Handling setting.
If you are
designing an interactive or printable form, you can change the File
> Form Properties > Preview > Preview Type setting to set
up your Preview PDF correctly.
If you are
designing forms for use with Forms, the same form design can be
used to render PDF or HTML forms. Although you can preview the form
design on the Preview PDF tab, the HTML form may not appear the same
as it does when the form is rendered by using Forms. If you are
creating an HTML form, render the form by using Forms and preview
it in a web browser.
To preview and test forms in the Preview PDF tabUse
the Preview PDF tab to preview a form design as it would appear
in Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Before previewing a form design, ensure
that you have set the appropriate options in the Form Properties
dialog box for previewing the specific type of form.
You can right-click the Preview PDF tab to see which default
preview type option is currently selected.
To display the Acrobat or Adobe Reader toolbars in the Preview
PDF tab, press ALT+F8.
Note: To preview a form in the Preview PDF tab, ensure
that the Display In Browser option in Acrobat is selected. Ensure
that you have the version of Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed that
matches the target version saved; otherwise, you may get an error
or warning message when you click the Preview PDF tab. For example,
if you select Acrobat and Adobe Reader 6.0.2 as the target version
for the form, ensure that you have Acrobat and Adobe Reader 6.0.2
installed.
Choose one of the following ways to display the Preview
PDF tab:
If the form is interactive, test the objects on the form
to ensure they are functioning as expected.
(Optional) If the form is non-interactive and being merged
with data, you may also want to test the form with a sample data
file to ensure that fields are appropriately mapped to the data
source.
Note: You
must use Acrobat to test the Web Services and Database Connectivity
features. These features require a rights-enabled PDF form, but
you cannot set usage rights for a PDF form for previewing in Designer.
To set preview options for an interactive formTo preview an interactive
form, you need to set the appropriate options in the Form Properties
dialog box.
Select
File > Form Properties.
Click the Preview tab and, in the Preview Type list, select
Interactive Form.
(Optional) To test the form you are previewing by using a
data source that you created, enter the full path to your test data
file in the Data File box. You can also use the browse button to
navigate to the file.
(Optional) To test the form you are previewing by using an
automatically generated data source, click Generate Preview Data.
You can use the browse button to navigate to the location where
you want the file saved. If the form contains repeating subforms
or subform sets, indicate the number of times each subform or subform
set will repeat in the data file.
In the Preview Adobe XML Form As list, select either Static
PDF Form or Dynamic XML Form.
To set preview options for a non-interactive formTo preview a non-interactive
form, you need to set the appropriate options in the Form Properties
dialog box.
Select
File > Form Properties.
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing as if
it were printed on one side of the paper, click the Preview tab
and, in the Preview Type list, select Print Form (One-sided).
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing as if
it were printed on both sides of the paper, click the Preview tab
and, in the Preview Type list, select Print Form (Two-sided).
Note: When you select Print Form, all objects are non-interactive.
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing by using
a data source, enter the full path to your test data file in the
Data File box. You can also use the browse button to navigate to
the file.
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing by using
an automatically generated data source, click Generate Preview Data.
You can use the browse button to navigate to the location where
you want the file saved. If the form contains repeating subforms
or subform sets, indicate the number of times each subform or subform
set will repeat in the data file.
In the Preview Adobe XML Form As list, select either Static
PDF Form or Dynamic XML Form.
To preview a form using sample dataDesigner lets you preview
and test your form by using sample XML data. It is recommended that
you frequently test your form with sample data to ensure that the
form renders correctly.
If you do
not have sample data, Designer can create it, or you can create
it yourself. (See To automatically generate sample data to preview your form and To create sample data to preview your form.)
Testing your form by using a sample data source ensures that
the data and fields are mapped and that repeating subforms repeat
as you expected. You can create a balanced form layout that provides
the appropriate space for each object to display the merged data.
Select
File > Form Properties.
Click the Preview tab and, in the Data File box, type the
full path to your test data file. You can also use the browse button
to navigate to the file.
Click OK. The next time you preview the form in the Preview
PDF tab, the data values from the sample XML file will appear in
the respective objects.
For detailed information about each option in the Preview tab,
see Preview (Form Properties dialog box).
To automatically generate sample data to preview your formYou can generate sample
data to preview and test your form instead of creating a sample
data file. Also, if your form contains repeating subforms or subform
sets, you can specify the number of times the data will be repeated
when you preview the form.
Designer generates sample data that is valid for the corresponding
objects in the form, with a few exceptions:
Sample data is not generated according to any validation
scripts that might be specified for an object.
The minimum and maximum count for a subform will restrict
the number of repeating subforms that you specify for the generated
sample data file.
The default value you select for a 2D barcode is retained
in the generated sample data file.
After you generate the sample data file, you can edit the file,
if required.
Specify which data file to use when you preview the form. The
next time you preview the form in Designer, the sample data will
appear in the respective objects.
In Designer, select File > Form Properties > Preview
tab.
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing as an
interactive form, in the Preview Type list, select Interactive Form
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing for single-sided
printing, in the Preview Type list, select Print Form (One-sided).
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing for double-sided
printing, in the Preview Type list, select Print Form (Two-sided).
Click Generate Preview Data.
In the Generate Preview Data dialog box, type the full path,
including a file name, for the test data file. You can also use
the browse button to navigate to the location in the Data File box.
In the Repeating Elements list, select the number to the
left of a subform and type the number of times it will repeat in
the data file.
Click Generate.
To create sample data to preview your formIf you do not want to use a sample data
file that Designer automatically creates, you can create a sample
data file manually.
Save the form design as a PDF file.
Open the PDF file and enter values in the fields you want
to test.
In Acrobat, select Advanced > Forms > Export Form Data.
In the Export Form Data As dialog box, name and save the
file as type XML Data Package (*.xdp).
In Designer, select File > Form Properties > Preview
tab.
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing as an
interactive form, in the Preview Type list, select Interactive Form
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing for single-sided
printing, in the Preview Type list, select Print Form (One-sided).
(Optional) To test the form that you are previewing for double-sided
printing, in the Preview Type list, select Print Form (Two-sided).
Click the folder button next to the Data File box and browse
to the XML file.
Select the XML file and click OK.
Considerations for testing form designs with dataWhen
setting up forms to support merged data, analyze the data-merging requirements
of the form against the input data. The form design should be created
based on the structure of the input data.
Data binding attempts to match each new form node with a data
node. When you use explicit bindings, the targets that are defined
in the form design take precedence over implicit bindings. When
you use implicit (normal) bindings, the following rules apply:
The relative order of same-named data values or groups
is significant.
The relative order of uniquely named data values or groups
is not significant.
The hierarchy of structure described by data values or groups
is significant.
Review the
input data and consider preparing a sample data file, or have Designer
automatically generate a sample data file for testing purposes.
Sample data may be used to determine the behavior of a form and
should not be considered a replacement for thorough testing. To
obtain the best results, the form design should be tested with system-generated
data. You can generate the sample data as suggested in the following
list to determine whether the layout, formatting, content, and behavior
of a form responds as expected:
To verify whether data formatting (for example, font
type, font size, and paragraph alignment) is correct, generate data
for every field in the form. The data will also let you verify any
calculated field values.
To verify whether field objects are large enough to accommodate
all data values, generate data to reach the maximum number of characters
permitted per field.
To verify the operation of multiple-line and expand-to-fit
settings, generate multiple lines of data.
If your
form design contains repeating subforms, you can generate repeating
data groups to test the rendering of those subforms in the sample
data file that you create. If you are using an automatically generated
sample data file, you can specify the number of times you want a data
group to repeat.
If your form design contains overflow leaders or trailers,
generate the data necessary to test every overflow leader or trailer
and their occurrence settings. You should generate enough repeating
data groups to flow over three pages, which will also let you verify
page numbering. Use the sample data (add one repeating data group
at a time) to verify how a repeating subform looks when it flows
onto a new page.
To test the data pattern setting for bound data, ensure that
all data values are in the same format generated by the system,
especially if the syntax of the source data does not match Designer
defaults.
Generate enough data to employ the layout of every master
page in the rendered form.
Important: Ensure that the form data does
not contain hexadecimal values between 0x00 and 0x20, except for
carriage return and horizontal tab. These values are invalid XML
characters that Forms does not recognize.
Creating a sample data fileThe following guidelines will help
you to create a simple test file that contains representative input
data:
The input data file must be a valid XML file.
For example, a flat file would have elements of this format:
<root_node>
<first_node>value</first_node>
<second_node>value</second_node>
...
<last_node>value</last_node>
</root_node>
Compare the flow of the input data to the physical layout
of the form. If you are using implicit binding, the names of the
data nodes must match the corresponding containers and fields in
the form and be presented in the same order as the fill order in
the form.
If the input data file has more levels of nesting compared
to the items in the Hierarchy palette, data bindings for all of
the nested objects must be set explicitly through the Binding tab
in the Object palette.
In the input data file, look for data that is repeated but
not part of every record. This information could possibly be handled
on master pages as boilerplate objects or in subforms that repeat
the data for unique records only.
To test for accessibilityYou should test your forms by using
a variety of assistive technologies to ensure that the forms are
accessible to users.
Download demonstration versions of the screen reader software.
As the form author, your familiarity with the form may make it difficult
to determine whether the information read by the screen reader is
sufficient and understandable. If possible, have someone else test
your form in this way. To test screen reader results, turn your
monitor off and use only the screen reader to navigate and fill the
form.
Check the Internet for demonstration versions of screen magnification
software.
Ensure that you can fill the form by using only the keyboard,
and keep in mind the following questions:
Are there any operations that cannot be performed?
Are any operations awkward or difficult to perform?
Are keyboard mechanisms well-documented?
Do all controls and menu items have underlined access keys?
When filling the form, take note of these issues:
Any parts of the form that become invisible, unrecognizable,
or difficult to use
Areas that continue to appear black on a white background
Form objects that are improperly sized or truncated
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