renderHTMLForm operation

Retrieves the specified form, merges form data, and transforms it to an HTML form for a client application, such as a web browser. You can only render XDP files (*.xdp) using this operation. You can select the type of HTML form that is created to support different formats. You can also format the appearance of the rendered HTML form by adding a custom CSS file. In addition to using CSS files to format the appearance, consider using layout design techniques to overcome offset shift issues in the rendered HTML form. (See Using LiveCycle Designer ES2 > Creating Forms for LiveCycle Forms ES2 > Creating HTML forms > Layout considerations for HTML forms in Adobe LiveCycle ES3 - Designer 10 Help.) Use this operation to use a form design or form data that are part of an application and you want use the form design and form data as document values.

The benefits of using this operation instead of the renderHTMLForm (deprecated) operation are as follows:

  • Maximizes application portability because all assets are contained in a single application.

  • Simplifies the process design because the form design or form data can be assessed as a document variable.

    For example, your application must display HTML forms and permit users to submit the form from any HTML enabled device. HTML forms are also useful because not all devices have Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed on them. Use the renderHTMLForm operation to render an HTML form from a form design provided as a document value. Display the rendered HTML form to a user so that they can submit the form as part of an automated process.

    Note: Use the renderHTMLForm operation (deprecated) operation only when you cannot create a document variable to store the form design or form data. You cannot create document variables for form designs or form data that are dynamically referenced on a network, local file system, or HTTP location.

    For information about the General and Route Evaluation property groups, see Common operation properties.

Input properties

The properties that specify the form design and form data for rendering an HTML form.

Form

A document value that specifies the form design in an application to render to an HTML form.

If you provide a literal value, clicking the ellipsis button  opens the Select Asset dialog box. (See About Select Asset.)

Form Data

A document value that represents the data to merge with the form during rendering. Form data that is provided as XML must be deserialized by using the deserialize function. (See deserialize in the LiveCycle Workbench 9.5 Help .)

If you provide a literal value, clicking the ellipsis button  opens the Select Asset dialog box. (See About Select Asset.)

Template Options properties

The properties that specify form design options, such as its location of the form design, locale, and encoding.

Content Root URI

A string value that specifies the URI or an absolute reference, which specifies the folder in the repository to retrieve relative assets used by the form design. For example, if the form design references an image relatively, such as ../myImage.gif, myImage.gif must be located at repository://. The default value is repository://, which points to the root level of the repository.

You can use the following sources for a URI or absolute reference:

  • Repository: The repository contains assets that you upload to the LiveCycle Server. The value repository:/// references the root of the repository. The first two forward slashes are part of the protocol (repository://) and the third forward slash represents the root of the repository.

  • Directory in the file system of the LiveCycle Server: You can specify a location on the LiveCycle Server, such as C:\[folder name]. Using a location on the server is not recommended if you want to ensure portability of your application.

  • Network directory: You can specify a location on the network, such as \\[folder name].

  • Web location that is accessible by using HTTP: After you upload a file to location on a web server, you can specify the location using a URL, such as http://[server name]:[port number]/[folder name].

Locale

A string value that specifies the language used to send validation messages to client applications, such as web browsers, when an HTML form is rendered.

If you specify a literal value, select a language from the list or select one of these values:

Use Server Default: (Default) Use the Locale setting that is configured on the LiveCycle Server. The Locale setting is configured using Administration Console. (See Forms Administration Help.)

Use Custom Value: After selecting this option, type the Locale ID of the locale code that is not in the list. For a list of supported locale codes, see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/locale.doc.html.

Character Set

A string value that specifies the character set used to encode the rendered form.

If you specify a literal value, select the character set to use or one of these values:

Use Server Default: (Default) Select to use the Character Set setting that is configured on the LiveCycle Server. The Character Set setting is configured using Administration Console. (See Forms Administration Help.)

Use Custom Value: Select and type the canonical name (Java.nio API) of the encoding set that is not in the list. For a list of character sets, see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html.

HTML Options

Properties to configure parameters for rendering the HTML form.

Transform To

A TransformTo value specifies the type of HTML form to generate.

If you provide a literal value, no default is provided. Select one of these values:

AUTO: The Forms service determines the optimal transformation to perform.

XHTML: Generates HTML that is XHTML standard-compliant.

NoScriptXHTML: Generates HTML that is compatible with the CSS2 specification and compliant with XHTML 1.0. The HTML output does not contain client-side JavaScript but can still include server-side JavaScript.

HTML4: Generates HTML that is compatible with older browsers that do not support absolute positioning of HTML elements.

MSDHTML: Generates HTML that is compatible with dynamic HTML for Internet Explorer 5.0 or later.

AHTML: Generates HTML that is compatible with accessibility-enhanced browsers (Internet Explorer 5 or later).

StaticHTML: Generates HTML that does not allow users to enter data in the fields of HTML forms. Static HTML is useful in processes that are for displaying information.

AccessibleXHTML: Generates HTML that is XHTML 1.0 standard-complaint. Elements in the HTML form are positioned by using the relative units em. Using relative units helps to ensure that an HTML form appears correctly when tools are used to make content accessible to users with visual impairment.

NoScriptAccessibleXHTML: Generates HTML that is compliant with the XHTML 1.0 standard and CSS2 specification. The XHTML also does not contain client-side JavaScript, although server-side JavaScript can be included. Elements in the HTML form are positioned by using the em tag, which is a relative unit. Using relative units helps to ensure that an HTML form appears correctly when tools are used to make content accessible to users with visual impairment.

HTML Output Type

An Output Type value that specifies whether to wrap the rendered page with HTML or BODY tags. Render the HTML with BODY tags if you want the rendered HTML page to be part of another HTML page. Select one of these values:

Use Server Default: (Default) Use the default Output type setting that is configured on the LiveCycle Server. The Output type setting is configured using Forms in Administration Console. (See Forms Administration Help.)

Full HTML tags: The rendered page is wrapped with HTML tags, which makes it a complete HTML page.

Body Tags: The rendered page is wrapped with BODY tags.

Start Page Number

An int value that specifies the first page number to start to render in a multi-page HTML form. Page numbering is zero-based, which means that the first page is zero. If no value is provided, zero is used.

Populate XML Data

A boolean value that specifies whether the XML data is produced from the form based on the form’s current processing state. A value of True means to produce XML data. A value of False means to not produce XML data.

If you provide a literal value, the Populate XML Data check box is deselected by default. Select the check box to generate XML data based on the form’s current processing state. Deselect the check box to produce XML data that is not based on the processing state of the form.

User Agent

A string value that provides information about the client application, such as a web browser. If USER_AGENT is specified as a value in Environment Variables property in this operation, the value specified in this property overrides it. The default value is Mozilla/3.*.

If you provide a literal value, select one of these values:

Use Server Default: (Default) Use Mozilla/3.*. The User Agent setting is not configurable on the server.

Internet Explorer 6.0: The target application is Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.

Mozilla Firefox 2.0: The target application is Mozilla Firefox 2.0.

Mozilla Firefox 3.0: The target application is Mozilla Firefox 3.0.

Use Custom Value: After selecting this option, type the client application on the target device. For example, type Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1) for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0.

Advanced HTML Options properties

Properties for configuring parameters that control the HTML appearance.

Digital Signature CSS URI

A string value that specifies the URI of the CSS file, such as C:\\customds.css, for a custom style sheet to use for digital signature user interfaces in HTML forms. The LiveCycle Server must have access to the location of the URI.

Note: To create a custom CSS file, use the FormsIVS sample to generate a custom CSS based on the form design and output type you provide.

Custom CSS URI

A string value that specifies the URI, such as C:\customcss.css, for a custom cascading style sheet to use instead of the internal one emitted as part of HTML form. Review the custom CSS file whenever changes are made to the form design:

  • A new type of form object is added to the form design, such as button, text, text field, or check box.

  • A form object is removed from the form design.

  • Moving a form object, such as label or field, from a child subform to its parent or another subform.

    The LiveCycle Server must have access to the location of the URI.

    Note: To create a custom CSS file, use the FormsIVS sample to generate a custom CSS based on the form design and output type you provide.

HTML Toolbar

An HTMLToolbar value that specifies the type of toolbar that is rendered for HTML forms.

If you provide a literal value, select one of these values:

Disabled: (Default) The HTML toolbar is disabled.

Vertical: The HTML toolbar appears in a vertical position.

Horizontal: The HTML toolbar appears in a horizontal position.

HTML Toolbar URI

A string value that specifies an URI location of the HTML toolbar resources to include in the rendered HTML form.

Generate Tab Index

A boolean value that specifies whether to create a tab index for each field in the rendered HTML form. When an HTML form with tab indexes is embedded into another HTML page that does not have tab indexes, tabbing inconsistencies can occur. Do not generate tab indexes for each form field when you want to embed the HTML form into another HTML form that does not have tab indexes.

If you provide a literal value, the Generate Tab Index check box is deselected by default. Select the Generate Tab Index check box to create tab indexes for each form field in the HTML form. Deselect the check box when you do not want to create tab indexes for each form field.

Style Generation Level

A StyleGenerationLevelvalue that specifies the styling to output for the rendered HTML form. Internal styles refer to spacing and positional CSS styles. Inline styles refer to appearance styles, such as color, font, and background color.

If you provide a literal value, select one of these values:

Inline And Internal Styles: (Default) Use both inline and internal CSS styles. Internal styles are used for spacing and positional CSS styles. Inline styles are used for appearance styles, such as color, font, and background color.

Only Inline Styles: Use only inline CSS styles from the custom CSS file. This option removes all internal styles inside the head tag on HTML pages.

No Styles: Do not use any CSS on inline or internal styling. Only styles that are passed by using an external CSS file are used.

Render Options properties

Properties for the rendering options for an HTML form.

Cache Form On Server

A boolean value that specifies whether the form design is cached on the server. Caching forms on the server improves performance for forms that are rendered on the server. Processing instructions that are embedded into the form design and the Form Rendering Cache Enabled option determines how caching is performed. For information about configuring the Rendering Cache Enabled option in Administration Console, see Configuring Forms.

If you provide a literal value, the Better Performance For Templates That Don’t Change Often check box is selected by default. Select the check box to render a cache to the form design on the LiveCycle Server. Deselect the check box if caching the form is not required.

Stand Alone Rendition

A boolean value that specifies whether the form can be rendered without state information. State information is used for rendering interactive forms that require user interaction with the server for submissions. When you render a PDF form with state information, it is rendered with JavaScript, which allows the form to be used offline.

If you provide a literal value, the Render Without State Information check box is selected by default:

  • Select the check box to render a PDF form with state information and embedded JavaScript. The JavaScript code runs on the client with no interaction with the server. In addition, the form can be used offline.

  • Deselect the check box to render a PDF form without state information and embedded JavaScript. The form is rendered by the Forms service after server-side calculations are performed. The results of the calculation are displayed in the rendered form. Because of the required interaction with the Forms service, the form cannot be used offline.

Application Web Root

A string value that specifies the URL that represents the root location that is used to access application-specific web content. This value is combined with the value of the Target URL option to construct an absolute submit URL.

Target URL

A string value that specifies the URL to access a web service or Java servlet that receives data from the client application when a user submits the form. Setting a value in this option sets the target URL in the form design to the value specified by this property. If this option is not an absolute URL, it is combined with the value from the Application Web Root option to construct an absolute URL

Note: The Target URL property must be left empty for form designs created in Designer 8.2 to use the URL that is configured for the Submit button. Form designs created in Designer 9 and later with a Target Version set to Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9.1 or later always use the URL configured in the Submit button.

For Workspace, type the value of http://[server name]:[port]/workspace-server/submit, where [server name] is the name of the server where LiveCycle is deployed, and [port] is the port that the application server uses to provide HTTP access for client software. The default ports for the supported application servers are as follows:

  • JBoss: 8080

  • WebLogic: 7001

  • WebSphere: 9080

Base URL

A string value that specifies the URL, which is the HTTP-equivalent of the Content Root URI. This value is required only when you render HTML forms that include href references to external dependencies, such as images or scripts. When a dependency path is absolute, this value is ignored.

Additional Options properties

Properties for specifying additional options when rendering an HTML form.

Form Model

A FormModel value that specifies the location where scripts that are embedded in the form are executed.

If you provide a literal value, select one of these values:

Use Form Template Default:
(Default) The Forms service checks the form design to determine whether to render on the client or server.

Client Side:
The form is rendered on the client. Do not use scripts that run on the server. When this value is selected, scripts that run on the server generate a warning on the LiveCycle Server.

Server Side:
The form is rendered on the server.

Both Server and Client side:
The form is rendered on both the server and the client.

XCI URI

A string value that specifies the URI location of the XCI file to use for rendering. If the root is not specified, the file is assumed to reside in the location where the LiveCycle EAR files are deployed. For example, in a JBoss turnkey installation, you can see default XCI files in the [Install folder]/jboss/server/lc_turnkey/svcdata/XMLFormService folder. [Install folder] is the location where the LiveCycle is installed. For information about creating a custom XCI file, see Designer Help.

Attachments

A map of document values that specifies the attachments that are rendered with the form.

Output properties

Properties for storing the HTML form.

Rendered Form

The location in the process data model to store the results of the rendered form. The data type is document.

Additional Output properties

Properties for storing the results of rendering an HTML form.

Output XML

The location in the process data model to store the well-formed XML that represents the content generated by the operation. The data type is document.

Page Count

The location in the process data model to store the number of pages. The data type is long.

Locale

The location in the process data model to store the locale code of the rendered HTML form. The data type is string.

HTML Output Type

The location in the process data model to store the generated HTML data that includes only the BODY element and its contents. The data type is string.

Forms Result

The location in the process data model to store all the output results as a combined complex value. The data type is FormsResult.

Exceptions

This operation throws a RenderFormException exception when an error occurs rendering an HTML form.

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