Key capabilities

Integrate forms data with back-end systems

Support for XML lets you leverage existing enterprise applications to deploy forms rapidly and exchange data with core business systems. You can embed forms with content from key applications and add calculation and validation mechanisms that automatically verify information as a user completes a form. Returning captured data to key applications via web services interfaces, speeds up processing times and reduces form processing costs and the risk of human error.

Using Forms you can render and process interactive forms and large data sets. You can create applications that perform interactive form-rendering operations such as these:

• Render interactive PDF documents. For forms created in Designer that have a flowable layout, Forms adds extra fields and boilerplate. These components are added as a result of merging the form design with data or as a result of scripting.

• Validate data entry by performing calculations, accessing databases, or enforcing business rules on field-level data, and then return the resulting data to the browser.

• Load XML data into an XML Data Package (XDP) file or into a PDF file that contains XDP information. Forms retrieves form data from central repositories and merges it with the specified form when rendering the form.

• Extract XML data from an XDP file. Forms can process form data that a user submitted. Form data can be submitted to an organization’s core systems, therefore increasing the quality of data gathered, improving customer service, and leveraging investment in core systems.

Rendering forms based on fragments

Forms can render forms that are based on fragments that you create using Designer. A fragment is a reusable part of a form and is saved as a separate XDP file that can be inserted into multiple form designs. For example, a fragment can include an address block or legal text.

Using fragments simplifies and speeds up the creation and maintenance of large numbers of forms. When creating a new 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.

The advantages of using fragments are as follows:

Content reuse:

You can reuse content in multiple form designs. When you need to use some of the same content in multiple forms, using a fragment is faster and simpler than copying or re-creating the content. Using fragments also ensures that the frequently used parts of a form design have consistent content and appearance in all the referencing forms.

Global updates:

You can make global changes to multiple forms only once, in one file. You can change the fragment content, script objects, data bindings, layout, or styles, and all XDP forms that reference the fragment reflect the changes.

Shared form creation:

You can share the creation of forms among several resources. Form developers with expertise in scripting or other Designer advanced features can develop and share fragments that take advantage of scripting and dynamic properties. Form designers can use those fragments to lay out form designs. This approach ensures that all parts of a form have a consistent appearance and functionality across multiple forms designed by multiple people.

Reduce costs associated with designing, managing, and publishing forms

Reduce development costs and improve operational efficiency by using one template to render forms to paper, PDF, and HTML5. Forms management capabilities in LiveCycle Forms Pro ES4 centralize the management, reuse, and publishing of forms assets, including forms, fragments, images, and other content. Business employees can easily locate assets through browsing and metadata searching, update them, and publish or retire forms to a web portal. Inline preview and inter-asset dependency analysis lets business and IT workers understand how changes to forms and assets impact collection.

Multichannel publishing

Form developers can use an XFA template to render both in PDF and HTML5 formats. It is specially beneficial in scenarios where you have a large set of XFA forms that require minimal changes to adapt to Mobile Forms design practices. You can render these existing XFA forms to HTML5 to target various devices, where XFA PDF is not yet supported.

Developing Guides (Deprecated)

Guides (deprecated) can streamline and simplify the way that users fill a form. Form developers can quickly develop Guides (deprecated) in Workbench by using a data model and Guide Builder. After a Guide (deprecated) is created, it is rendered in the Forms Service API or the Render Guide (deprecated) service in Workbench (or a custom service). Developers can also use Flash Builder to create custom Guide (deprecated) components based on the Guide (deprecated) components that are included in Workbench.