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Drop-down field

How many items can be added to a single drop-down box in Acrobat XI Pro Forms Design?


Carlos Navarro


7 Answers

Voted Best Answer

Your users may not be happy if they have to navigate 8000+ elements in a drop down control :)

Here is how I populate list items: I do this in a document level script that initializes empty controls, or in the JavaScript console. Regardless which way you select, you need to write some JavaScript that initializes the field. Here is code that assigns a list of con tries to a drop down contral (I've shortened the list quite a bit):

var lCountries = [
" ",
"United States",
"-------------",
"Afghanistan",
"Albania",
"...",
"Yemen",
"Zambia",
"Zimbabwe",
];

var f = this.getField("YourDropDownField");

if (f.numItems == 0)
{
    f.setItems(lCountries);
}

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


By Karl Heinz Kremer   

More than a user can manage... I've added a lot of information, but never came to a limit when the form was still usable. How many are items are you planning on adding?

Karl Heinz Kremer
PDF Acrobatics Without a Net
PDF Software Development, Training and More...
http://www.khkonsulting.com


Karl Heinz Kremer   

I was involved in a project some years ago, where we filled a listbox with about 1300 items. The issue we ran into was that the list probably got too long (physically) with the normal font size. Reducing the font size solved the problem.

And, no, we did not manually enter the items into the list… It happened dynamically, depending on some selections by the user.

Hope this can help.

Max Wyss.


Max Wyss   

Thank you for your feedback. I have created a drop-down field in Excel which contains 8200 items. I have read some coments concerning how to move this field into a pdf, but I'm not understanding something. If I cut and paste, I end up with a fies that suggests it is a "stamp". Maybe someone can do a little hand holding through this process.


Carlos Navarro   

If you're interested, I've developed a tool that allows you to import a list from an Excel file into the options of a drop-down field in a PDF with ease.

See here for more info: Acrobat -- Import Items from a Text File to a Combo-Box or List Field

Another script you might find useful when working with a long list of items is this one, which allows you to create a "filter" text field, so the user can easily filter the list and find their desired item quickly and more easily: Acrobat -- Create Live Filtered List

.

Visit my custom-made PDF scripts website: http://try67.blogspot.com
Contact me personally: try6767@gmail.com


Gilad D (try67)   

Once again, I thank everyone for there feedback. I will try to use this javascript routine immediately. Yes, 8,000 is a lot of item. I am redesigning a form for my son that was created with MS Word, however, when they need input from this 8000+ list, they open xcel, and cut and paste the item they want. Bottom line, they are still working with 8000+ iems to seek through.

I see an option in the acrobat dop-down propertes/options which asks if you'd like to allow the user to enter custom info. I have not played with this yet, but wondered if this would allow a user to enter the first few letters of information in the field, ahd have the lursor jump to that range of data, thereby eliminating manual selection through 8000+ itmes.


Carlos Navarro   

Wow, I appreciate the help, and especially impressed with yur anticipation of my next question. Thanks.


Carlos Navarro   

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