Creating forms and processes

Best practices

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when creating Guides (Deprecated) for use with LiveCycle Mobile:

• On iPhone and iPad, users can add a maximum of ten repeatable panels. On BlackBerry and Android devices, users can add more than 25 panels.

• The drop-down list for date fields on BlackBerry smartphones lists only ten years. If the year the user needs is not on the list, they should pick the closest year and it will load another ten years. Repeat until the desired year is displayed.

• Some FML models cause runtime exceptions in a mobile environment even though they work in the default runtime:

  • Do not use empty array or integer literals of type double[] or float [] in your FML model.

  • Do not use the chr() function.

• The Mobile Preview feature in Workbench is a simulation, and fidelity is not 100%. Preview uses the same HTML and CSS as the actual device, but the browser used at for preview may have a different level of support for these standards.

Adding pictures to forms

When creating a guide in Guide Builder, you can add a text field and set the control type to display as an Image Field.

When users fill the form, they can use the device’s camera to take a picture that gets embedded in the form. This functionality is slightly different from the behavior of a guide in a web browser, where the user can select an existing picture from their hard drive.

When a user takes a picture using an Android device, GPS positioning data is embedded as EXIF metadata within the image. If GPS Satellite is enabled on the device, LiveCycle Mobile attempts to use that as a provider to obtain positioning information. This allows for very accurate positioning when there is a line of sight to GPS satellites (for example, when you are outdoors or in a vehicle). If you take a picture with GPS Satellite enabled but you are indoors or underground, the GPS information is unlikely to be captured unless you disable GPS Satellite (Settings > Location & Security) which causes the application to use WiFi or Geographic Messaging Service (GMS) to locate the user.

Migrating an existing guide

To migrate an existing Guide to one that can be used with LiveCycle Mobile:

1. Open the existing guide in the Guide Design perspective in Workbench.

2. Select the Guide Runs On Mobile Devices option and note any resulting errors and warnings.

3. Ensure that the Guide follows the limitations described in the “Guide compatibility with mobile devices” section in the Workbench Help.