Interactive Form Elements

A form can have one or more form elements. You create a form by adding form elements to one or more pages of a PDF document. The form elements together constitute a form.

FormElement

The FormElement class is parent to the following derived classes: Button, CheckBox, ChoiceField, ComboBox, ListBox, RadioButton, Signature, and TextField.

Properties

Field Types

Interactive forms support the following field types.

Form field content can be validated for formatting or for auto filling values with JavaScript using AnnotationReaderEvents. Please refer to the JavaScript topic for more information.

Button

A Button inherits the FormElement parent class's properties in addition to its own properties (Button).

This example shows how to create a Button and add it to the page.

Button button = new Button( "Button Name", 50, 50, 100, 50 );
button.Action = new JavaScriptAction( "app.alert('Hello');" );
button.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue;
button.Behavior = Behavior.CreatePush( "downLabel", "rolloverLabel" );
button.BorderColor = RgbColor.BlueViolet;
button.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Beveled;
button.Label = "Push";
button.TextColor = RgbColor.DarkGreen;
button.ToolTip = "Click";       

Dim MyButton As Button = New Button("Button Name", 50, 50, 100, 50)
MyButton.Action = New JavaScriptAction( "app.alert('Hello');" )
MyButton.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue
MyButton.Behavior = Behavior.CreatePush( "downLabel", "rolloverLabel" )
MyButton.BorderColor = RgbColor.BlueViolet
MyButton.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Beveled
MyButton.Label = "Push"
MyButton.TextColor = RgbColor.DarkGreen
MyButton.ToolTip = "Click"

Button button = new Button("Button Name", 0, 700, 100, 30);
...
button.Image = ImageData.GetImage("button-a.png"));
button.LabelImageLayout = LabelImageLayoutOptions.LabelLeftImageRight;
button.Behavior = Behavior.CreatePush("Down", "Over", ImageData.GetImage("button-c.png")), ImageData.GetImage("button-b.png")));

Dim button As New Button("Button Name", 0, 700, 100, 30)
...
button.Image = ImageData.GetImage("button-a.png"))
button.LabelImageLayout = LabelImageLayoutOptions.LabelLeftImageRight
button.Behavior = Behavior.CreatePush("Down", "Over", ImageData.GetImage("button-c.png"), ImageData.GetImage("button-b.png")))

CheckBox

The CheckBox element is a child class of the FormField class. The following example illustrates adding a CheckBox to the page.

CheckBox checkBox = new CheckBox( "Check Box Name", 5, 7, 50, 50 );
checkBox.DefaultChecked = true;
checkBox.ToolTip = "Check it";        

Dim MyCheckBox As CheckBox = New CheckBox( "Check Box Name", 5, 7, 50, 50 )
MyCheckBox.DefaultChecked = true
MyCheckBox.ToolTip = "Check it" 

ComboBox

The ComboBox element is child class of ChoiceField, which is a child of FormElement. This example shows how to create a ComboBox and add it to a page.

ComboBox comboBox = new ComboBox( "Combo Box Name", 50, 75, 150, 25 );
comboBox.Items.Add( "One", true );
comboBox.Items.Add( "Two" );
comboBox.Items.Add( "Three" );
comboBox.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue;
comboBox.BorderColor = RgbColor.DarkMagenta;
comboBox.Editable = true;
comboBox.ToolTip = "Select";        

Dim MyComboBox As ComboBox = New ComboBox( "Combo Box Name", 50, 75, 150, 25 )
MyComboBox.Items.Add( "One",true )
MyComboBox.Items.Add( "Two" )
MyComboBox.Items.Add( "Three" )
MyComboBox.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue
MyComboBox.BorderColor = RgbColor.DarkMagenta
MyComboBox.Editable = True
MyComboBox.ToolTip = "Select"  

ListBoxField

The ListBox is a child class of the ChoiceField, which is in turn a child of FormField. This example shows how to create a ListBox and add it to a page.

ListBox listBox = new ListBox( "List Box Name", 5, 2, 100, 150 );
listBox.Items.Add( "One",true );
listBox.Items.Add( "Two",true );
listBox.Items.Add( "Three" );
listBox.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue;
listBox.BorderColor = RgbColor.DarkMagenta;
listBox.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Dashed;
listBox.Multiselect = true;
listBox.ToolTip = "Select";        

Dim MyListBox As ListBox = New ListBox( "List Box Name", 5, 2, 100, 150 )
MyListBox.Items.Add( "One",true )
MyListBox.Items.Add( "Two",true )
MyListBox.Items.Add( "Three" )
MyListBox.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue
MyListBox.BorderColor = RgbColor.DarkMagenta
MyListBox.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Dashed
MyListBox.Multiselect = True
MyListBox.ToolTip = "Select"   

RadioButton

The RadioButton class inherits from the FormElement class. This example shows how to create a RadioButton and add it to the page.

RadioButton radio1 = new RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 25, 100, 75 );
radio1.DefaultChecked = true;
radio1.ExportValue = "abc";
radio1.ToolTip = "first";
RadioButton radio2 = new RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 140, 100, 75 );
radio2.ExportValue = "def";
radio2.ToolTip = "second";
RadioButton radio3 = new RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 250, 100, 75 );
radio3.ExportValue = "ghi";
radio3.ToolTip = "third";        

Dim MyRadio1 As RadioButton = New RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 25, 100, 75 )
MyRadio1.DefaultChecked = true
MyRadio1.ExportValue = "abc"
MyRadio1.ToolTip = "first"
Dim MyRadio2 As RadioButton = New RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 140, 100, 75 )
MyRadio2.ExportValue = "def"
MyRadio2.ToolTip = "second"
Dim MyRadio3 As RadioButton = New RadioButton( "Radio Button Name", 50, 250, 100, 75 )
MyRadio3.ExportValue = "ghi"
MyRadio3.ToolTip = "third"  

Text Form Field

A TextField is a child class of FormElement. This example shows how to create a TextField and add it to a page.

TextField textField = new TextField( "Text Field Name", 50, 75, 150, 100 );
textField.TextAlign = Align.Center;
textField.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue;
textField.BorderColor = RgbColor.DeepPink;
textField.Font = Font.TimesItalic;
textField.FontSize = 16.0f;
textField.TextColor = RgbColor.Brown;
textField.DefaultValue = "ceTe Software";
textField.MultiLine = true;
textField.ToolTip = "Text";        

Dim MyTextField As TextField = New TextField( "Text Field Name", 50, 75, 150, 100 )
MyTextField.TextAlign = Align.Center
MyTextField.BackgroundColor = RgbColor.AliceBlue
MyTextField.BorderColor = RgbColor.DeepPink
MyTextField.Font = Font.TimesItalic
MyTextField.FontSize = 16.0f
MyTextField.TextColor = RgbColor.Brown
MyTextField.DefaultValue = "ceTe Software"
MyTextField.MultiLine = true
MyTextField.ToolTip = "Text" 

Signature Form Field

The Signature is a child class to the FormElement class. This example shows how to create a Signature and add it to the page.

Signature signature = new Signature("MySigField", 10, 10, 300, 100);
OpenTypeFont font  = new OpenTypeFont("fontname");
signature.Font = font;
signature.FullPanel.SetImage(@"C:\MyImage.gif");
signature.LeftPanel.TextColor = RgbColor.Red;        

Dim MySignature As Signature = New Signature("MySigField", 10, 10, 300, 100)
Dim MyFont As OpenTypeFont = New OpenTypeFont("fontname")
MySignature.Font = MyFont
MySignature.FullPanel.SetImage("C:\MyImage.gif")

MySignature.LeftPanel.TextColor = RgbColor.Red

Signing a Form

The Signature form field element allows you to sign your PDF by requiring the end user to sign using a valid certificate. Using this field, you can require an end user to attest to the validity of the contents after saving the completed form. The client application, for instance, Adobe Acrobat, upon the user clicking the signature field, will kick off a series of dialogs guiding the user to sign. Figure 8 illustrates signing a form. It finds my installed user certificate and allows me to use it, draw a signature, or upload a signature. Then, after saving, the signature and the certificate become part of the completed form.