Updating barcodes from Form Fields

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   I was wondering if anyone is familiar with a way to update a forms barcode based on information that is entered in a field on a PDF. 

None of the barcoding commands seem to have a field name associated with them, so I am assuming that there is no way to update those interactively as someone completes a form. The only thing I have been able to think of is to use a barcode font and create field on the PDF that can not be edited and uses the barcode font for display and use the change event on the necessary field and add the necessary start and stop characters and a check digit. I was just wondering if anyone knew of a more "elegant" solution.

Thank You

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DarrellS Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 14 May 12 Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote DarrellS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Updating barcodes from Form Fields Posted: 14 May 12 at 5:45PM
	I was wondering if anyone is familiar with a way to update a forms barcode based on information that is entered in a field on a PDF. None of the barcoding commands seem to have a field name associated with them, so I am assuming that there is no way to update those interactively as someone completes a form. The only thing I have been able to think of is to use a barcode font and create field on the PDF that can not be edited and uses the barcode font for display and use the change event on the necessary field and add the necessary start and stop characters and a check digit. I was just wondering if anyone knew of a more "elegant" solution. Thank You

DarrellS Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 14 May 12 Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote DarrellS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 May 12 at 6:16PM
	Looking at things a little closer, I don't know if the solution I proposed will work or not. Is there no function to get the name of a form field after you create it? I think that would be necessary to update it's value from an action on another form field.

DarrellS Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 14 May 12 Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote DarrellS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 May 12 at 6:18PM
	Nevermind the second post. I am assuming it uses the name used in the "NewFormField" call.

Ingo Members Profile Find Members Posts Moderator Group Joined: 29 Oct 05 Status: Offline Points: 3524	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ingo Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 May 12 at 10:21PM
	Hi Darrell! I don't really understand what your looking for. QuickPDF offers these formfield-functionalities: http://www.quickpdflibrary.com/help/quickpdf/FormFields.php It's possible to check if there are formfields on a page with FormFieldCount. Then you can create a loop running through the formfields, getting the names, changing the contents if you want, ... But as far as i know there's no functionality to keep a barcode in a formfield. You can draw this barcode on a specific place on the page based on a specific formfield content. If this formfield content will change you can overwrite the specific place on the page with white color (for example) and redraw a new barcode on the same place. Cheers and welcome here, Ingo

DarrellS Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 14 May 12 Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote DarrellS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 May 12 at 11:19PM
	What I want to have is a field named EMPNO that would be a text field for someone to enter an employee number and then another field BCEMPNO that displays that employee number as a barcode with an asterisk and EMP added to the fron and a check digit and an asterisk added to the end. The field font for the barcode text field would be a barcode font and it would be read only. The value would only be updated by the script whenever the value of the EMPNO field changes. I have tested giving both the barcode field and the text field the same name and this will give me a barcode of just what is typed into EMPNO, but then I do not have the start and stop characters. I am trying to get some javascript to work but I am evidently missing something. If I create a PDF with javascript added to the validate event and then open the PDF in Adobe LiveCycle, it shows the script but it is sandwiched between /* */ so it is ignored.

Ingo Members Profile Find Members Posts Moderator Group Joined: 29 Oct 05 Status: Offline Points: 3524	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ingo Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 May 12 at 6:42AM
	Hi Darrell! As you can see here: http://www.quickpdflibrary.com/help/quickpdf/DrawBarcode.php You have to insert start- and stop-character by your own 'cause correct start- and stop-characters depends on the chosen barcodetype. The other most important thing is: Never mix working on a pdf-form with adobe products and QuickPDF! It WILL raise problems. Adobe doesn't like it if you're working on a adobe-pdf-form with ANY third party tools. Cheers, Ingo

DarrellS Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 14 May 12 Status: Offline Points: 7	Post Options Post Reply Quote DarrellS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 May 12 at 1:45PM
	I finally got the javascript working last night so I can take the two ID numbers on the form and add asterisks and a check digit as well as a couple of characters to identify which is which, so everything is working fine now.