Adobe Acrobat 7.0

PDF Forms: Using the UW-Eau Claire Form Processing Script

To allow any of the form processing features to return user-filled field values to you, you must both assign the form processing script to your form and insert the five required hidden form fields. This will allow you to use the basic email message functions.

Assigning the Form Processing Script
Defining the Required Hidden Form Fields
Inserting the Required Hidden Form Fields
Modifying the Required Hidden Form Fields

Assigning the Form Processing Script

To assign the form processing script, a SUBMIT button must be created. For more information on modifying the appearance of your SUBMIT button, refer to Modifying Form Fields.

In your PDF form file, from the Tools menu, select Advanced Editing » Show Forms Toolbar
The Forms toolbar appears.
Click the BUTTON TOOL
Position the cursor where you want the form field to begin
Click and drag the mouse until the button is of the desired size
Release the mouse button
The Button Properties dialog box appears.
Select the General tab
In the Name text box, type a name for the button
EXAMPLE: SUBMIT
In the Common Properties section, from the Form Field pull-down list, select Visible
Select the Options tab
In the Icon and Label section, in the Label text box, type the text that will appear on the button
HINT: This is the text the user will see (e.g., Submit, Send).
Select the Actions tab
In the Add an Action section, from the Select Trigger pull-down list, select Mouse Up
From the Select Action pull-down list, select Submit a form
Click ADD...
The Submit Form Selections dialog box appears.
To tell your form where the form processing script is located on the UW-Eau Claire web server, in the Enter a URL for this link text box, type http://www.uwec.edu/scripts/formmail/formmail.pl
In the Export Format section, select HTML
In the Field Selection section, select the desired option
Click OK
Click CLOSE
Continue with Defining the Required Hidden Form Fields and then Inserting the Required Hidden Form Fields.

Defining the Required Hidden Form Fields

Hidden form fields are similar to the other form fields in that they have name-value pairs with field names that are case sensitive. However, unlike the other form fields, hidden form fields are not visible to the user. Hidden form fields allow form developers to pass information from a form to a form handler script, or from one form to another.

In order for the form processing script to work, five hidden form fields must be inserted in a form.

Form Field	Value
recipient	This hidden form field value is the email address of the person who will receive the form results. To send the email to multiple recipients, type all the email addresses, separating each email address by a comma and a space. EXAMPLE: username1@uwec.edu, username2@uwec.edu
subject	This hidden form field specifies the subject line of the email message containing the form results. The desired subject must be entered as the value of this hidden form field. EXAMPLE: UW-Eau Claire Information Form
title	After a user submits a form, a new web page will be displayed showing the form field information that the user submitted. This hidden form field specifies the title of this web page, both on the page and in the top of the browser window. The desired title must be entered as the value of this hidden form field. EXAMPLE: Student Information Form Results
return_link_url	After a user submits a form, the web page showing the form results will contain a return link at the bottom, allowing the user to navigate back to another web page. The URL for this link must be entered as the value of this hidden form field. EXAMPLE: http://www.uwec.edu
return_link_title	After a user submits a form, the web page showing the form results will contain a return link at the bottom, allowing the user to link back to another web page. The value of this hidden form field specifies the text which will be linked and visible to the user. The text for this link must be entered as the value of this hidden form field. EXAMPLE: UW--Eau Claire Home

Inserting the Required Hidden Form Fields

You must insert these hidden form fields in order for your form processing script to work properly.

In your PDF form file, from the Tools menu, select Advanced Editing » Show Forms Toolbar
The Forms toolbar appears.
Click TEXT FIELD TOOL
Position the cursor where you want the text field to begin
Click and drag the mouse until the text field reaches desired size
Release the mouse button
The Text Field Properties dialog box appears.
Select the General tab
From the Name text box, type the name of the appropriate hidden form field
In the Common Properties section, from the Form Field pull-down list, select Hidden
Select the Options tab
In the Default Value text box, type the appropriate value of the hidden form field

Click CLOSE
Repeat steps 3-11 until all five hidden form fields have been added

Modifying the Required Hidden Form Fields

There may be times when you want to change information contained in the required hidden form fields. This section explains how to modify the necessary hidden form fields.

In your PDF form file, from the Tools menu, select Advanced Editing » Show Forms Toolbar
The Forms toolbar appears.
Click TEXT FIELD TOOL
Double click the field you want to change
The Text Field Properties dialog box appears.
Make the appropriate changes
HINT: For more information about options, see Working with Text Fields.
Click CLOSE