About fragments

A fragment is a reusable part of a form. For example, a fragment can include an address block or legal text.

A fragment is managed in the Fragment Library and is stored as a separate XDP file that can be inserted into multiple form designs. In the stand-alone version of Designer, fragments are stored in the file system and in the Fragment Library. In Designer with Workbench, fragments are stored in the Fragment Library and in the LiveCycle repository.

Using fragments simplifies and speeds up the creation and maintenance of large numbers of forms. When creating a form, you insert a reference to the required fragment and the fragment appears in the form. The fragment reference contains a subform that points to the physical XDP file.

All fragments share common characteristics:

  • You create all fragments the same way.

  • You can create a fragment in the current file or in a separate file, and you can create multiple fragments in the same file.

    When you create a fragment in a separate file, a file is generated to store the fragment in the file system or in the LiveCycle repository.

  • Other form authors can use the fragments in their form designs.

  • You edit the fragment source files in Designer.

Fragments and subforms

To create a fragment, you can either select an existing subform or select one or more objects. Subforms also include tables, table rows, header rows, and footer rows. If you select objects that are not in a subform, the objects are wrapped in a subform when the fragment is created.

You can also use a choice subform set that contains multiple fragment references. A choice subform set is a variation of the subform set object that allows you to customize the display of specific subforms from within the set by using conditional statements. You use conditional statements to determine which subform from within the set appears in the delivered form.

For example, each subform in a set can include information for a particular state, and the subform that is displayed can be determined based on the state where the form is filed.

Script fragments

A script fragment contains reusable JavaScript functions or values that are stored separately from a particular object, such as a date parser or a web service invocation. These fragments include a single script object that appears as a child of variables in the Hierarchy palette. Fragments cannot be created from scripts that are properties of other objects, such as event scripts like validate, calculate, or initialize.

For more information, see Using Script Fragments.

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