User manual ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS 1.0.2

ARTS PDF Variform Plus Version 1.0.2 ARTS PDF Variform Plus TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Product Highlights ............................................................................................. 4 2.0 ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS SETUP................................................................. 5 2.1 System Requirements ....................................................................................... 5 2.2 Installation ......................................................................................................... 5 2.2.1 Demo Mode ............................................................................................................... 5 3.0 USING ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS ................................................................. 6 4.0 ACROBAT FORM FIELDS ................................................................................... 7 4.1 Appearance ....................................................................................................... 8 4.2 Options .............................................................................................................. 8 4.3 Actions............................................................................................................... 8 4.4 Format ............................................................................................................... 8 4.5 Validate ............................................................................................................. 9 4.6 Calculate ........................................................................................................... 9 5.0 USING ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS ............................................................... 10 5.1 Preferences ..................................................................................................... 10 5.1.1 5.1.2 General Preferences................................................................................................ 10 Default Folder Preferences ...................................................................................... 12 5.2 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4 5.2.5 5.2.6 5.2.7 5.2.8 5.2.9 The "ARTS PDF Variform Plus" Main Window ................................................ 13 Data Source Options................................................................................................ 13 Other Options........................................................................................................... 14 Print Records ........................................................................................................... 15 Page Range ............................................................................................................. 16 Print to... .................................................................................................................. 16 Save Settings / Load Settings.................................................................................. 17 Defaults.................................................................................................................... 17 Cancel...................................................................................................................... 17 Print/Save ................................................................................................................ 17 5.3 5.3.1 The "Export Field Names" Window ................................................................. 18 Export Options ......................................................................................................... 18 5.4 Using Variable Images .................................................................................... 18 Page 2 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 6.0 ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS PILOT ................................................................ 19 6.1 Pilot Setup ....................................................................................................... 19 6.1.1 6.1.2 6.1.3 6.1.4 6.1.5 6.1.6 Add........................................................................................................................... 20 Edit ........................................................................................................................... 20 Remove.................................................................................................................... 20 Disable/Enable......................................................................................................... 20 Options..................................................................................................................... 20 Add/Edit Pilot Folder Settings .................................................................................. 21 7.0 CONNECTING TO AND USING DATABASE FILES ......................................... 23 7.1 Connect to a data source ................................................................................ 23 7.1.1 7.1.2 Select a File Data Source ........................................................................................ 23 Select Database....................................................................................................... 24 7.2 7.2.1 Connect to an authenticated database............................................................ 25 Create a Machine Data Source ............................................................................... 25 7.3 7.3.1 SQL Queries.................................................................................................... 27 Querying an authenticated Database ...................................................................... 27 8.0 TROUBLESHOOTING........................................................................................ 28 Page 3 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0 INTRODUCTION Welcome to personalized printing with Adobe ® Acrobat ® forms and ARTS PDF Variform PlusTM by ARTS PDFTM. ARTS PDF Variform Plus extends Acrobat forms and overcomes restrictions that limit their usability. Acrobat forms were designed with web server-based applications in mind. So for anyone to consider an Acrobat forms application, this immediately brings to mind a significant "forms project" and trying to enlist the help of IT or MIS department. Such prospects are either beyond the reach of most individuals, difficult to implement given organizational constraints, beyond available budgets, or achievable in the next decade. ARTS PDF believes that there are literally millions of private databases. These exist in the form of word processing documents, spreadsheet files, PC databases, and even custom query results from large databases. Adobe's Acrobat forms plug-in allows virtually any PDF document created from virtually any desktop application to be turned into a variable data form. But please remember that the term "form" is used in the general sense. It can include multi-line blocks of text. The definition is only restricted by our imaginations. Combining the freedom of independent Acrobat forms design and ARTS PDF Variform Plus's local access means that general usage of Acrobat forms can be extended to individuals, small or home offices, small businesses, self-employed professionals, branch offices, corporate departments, membership organizations, etc. 1.1 Product Highlights ARTS PDF Variform Plus provides a set of tools for managing and printing data from external files to PDF forms documents. With ARTS PDF Variform Plus, you can specify the range of records from a data file to be printed and extract form field names from an existing Acrobat form document to an external file. ARTS PDF Variform Plus can use data files from any ODBC compliant database, Adobe FDF/XFDF files, or tab, comma, semicolon or space-delimited text files. Any Acrobat form document using form fields and appropriate security settings can be used as a merge document. Merged data can be printed to a printer or new, merged PDF documents can be created by selecting print to "PDF". Page 4 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 2.0 ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS SETUP 2.1 · · System Requirements PC with Pentium processor Memory and disk space the same as required by Adobe ® Acrobat ® Windows ® NT 4.0 (S.P.4 or higher), Windows ® 2000 or Windows ® XP Adobe ® Acrobat ® 5.05 or higher · · 2.2 Installation Note: If you have multiple versions of Acrobat installed ARTS PDF Variform Plus will automatically be installed to the most recent version of Acrobat. 1. During installation you will be prompted for a serial number. Enter the serial number from the label on your CD jacket. 2. The installer will then provide you with a "User Code". Please enter this code on the registration card in the space provided and mail the card to ARTS PDF. Without your registration information we have no way to identify you as a registered owner or to contact you for notices of updates. 3. Store your CD in a safe place in case you need it later. In addition to this User's Guide, the ARTS PDF Variform Plus folder contains the ARTS PDF Variform Plus plug-in, and other support files needed by ARTS PDF Variform Plus. The installation CD also has some sample PDF documents that demonstrate different data merge applications. The sample files are not installed to your hard disk. CAUTION: Any folders or files which are created during installation are required by ARTS PDF Variform Plus. If you rename, move, or delete these folders the product will not work correctly or may not work at all. To validate the software's registration and/or to view the installation status, launch Acrobat and select the "About 3rd Party Plug-Ins" box at the bottom of the Acrobat Help pulldown menu for "ARTS PDF Variform Plus...". The word "***Unregistered***" appears in the ARTS PDF Variform Plus "About" box when the version is not fully licensed. To validate your license, click on the "Register..." button, and then enter the serial number provided by ARTS PDF. 2.2.1 Demo Mode When ARTS PDF Variform Plus is in demo mode it will print DEMO on all output. Otherwise, the demo version of ARTS PDF Variform Plus is identical to the licensed version. Page 5 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 3.0 USING ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS To use ARTS PDF Variform Plus, first locate the ARTS PDF Variform Plus tool buttons or menu items under the Acrobat menu. Use either the toolbar or the menu items from Acrobat's menu to setup the watched folder, or ARTS PDF Variform Plus print settings. Once you have set the properties, you can use it to merge data to the selected PDF form. Figure 1: The ARTS PDF Variform Plus menu Variform Plus Setup Export Field Names Figure 2: The ARTS PDF Variform Plus toolbar Page 6 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 4.0 ACROBAT FORM FIELDS There are currently seven different types of form fields which can be created in Acrobat 4. These are described briefly below. Due to the nature of certain form field types, ARTS PDF Variform Plus will only merge data into Combo boxes or Text boxes. If other field types are used with ARTS PDF Variform Plus the resulting output for those fields will be blank. If there is a need to include items which would normally be indicated in a Check Box, the user should design the form using a Text box and put the appropriate character for "checked" in the data file. As an example, design the form to use the Zapf Dingbats font and put the numeral 3 or 4 in the data file for this field. This will cause a or to appear in the merged file. Consult the Acrobat documentation (Help -> Acrobat Guide) for more information on creating Acrobat forms. · · · · Buttons allow you to activate a series of actions. Check boxes allow your user to make multiple selections from a group of items. Combo boxes allow you to specify a list of items that appear in a pop-up menu. List boxes allow the user to create a list of items in a form field that displays all the time. Text boxes allow you to create a field into which you can enter text using the keyboard. Radio buttons allow your user to select one item from the displayed options. Digital signature fields allow you to create a form field that your user can then fill in with a signature and a printable representation. This field can be set to lock other fields after it is signed. Text boxes allow you to create a field into which you can enter text using the keyboard. · · · Page 7 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 4.1 Appearance When creating form fields, Acrobat allows the user to define a number of items affecting the field's appearance. These include such things as border color, width, and style, background color, text color, font and font size. ARTS PDF Variform Plus supports all of these choices and the output from ARTS PDF Variform Plus will include them. The user may also choose whether the form field is read only and/or required. Neither of these has any effect on ARTS PDF Variform Plus's ability to merge and print the data. Finally, the user has several choices about the form field's visibility. The only choice here which has any effect on ARTS PDF Variform Plus is "Visible but doesn't print". Although the data will be merged, for obvious reasons, it will not appear in the output from ARTS PDF Variform Plus. 4.2 Options Acrobat allows the user to enter a default value for a form field, set the text alignment, choose whether the field supports multi-line input, limit the number of characters which can be entered in a field, treat the field as a password. Although ARTS PDF Variform Plus supports all of these options, the user should exercise care when implementing a limit on the number of characters or the password option. If the data to be merged exceeds the character limit for the field, ARTS PDF Variform Plus will still print it, but the data will be truncated. Selecting the password option causes data for that field to be displayed as "****" and ARTS PDF Variform Plus will print it as such. 4.3 Actions The user may define actions which occur when certain events take place. This is primarily related to manual entries in forms and has no effect on ARTS PDF Variform Plus's ability to merge and/or print. 4.4 Format Acrobat allows the user to select from predefined formats or create custom formats for the data to be entered into a field. Although ARTS PDF Variform Plus supports the use of these formats, care should be exercised when defining them. If the format for a field is different than the format of the data in a file to be merged, ARTS PDF Variform Plus will report an error whenever it encounters a data entry which does not match the form field's defined format. This can be overridden by selecting "Ignore Field Formats" in ARTS PDF Variform Plus's Preferences. Page 8 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 4.5 Validate As with the Format option (above), ARTS PDF Variform Plus supports the use of validations, but care should be exercised when defining them. If the data in a file to be merged does not meet the validation criteria, ARTS PDF Variform Plus will report an error whenever it encounters a data entry which does not meet the form field's defined validation requirement. This cannot be overridden by ARTS PDF Variform Plus. 4.6 Calculate When form fields have a numeric format, Acrobat allows the user to specify calculations to be performed on two or more such fields. ARTS PDF Variform Plus supports the use of calculations and the merged output will include the results of any calculations defined in the form. Note: In order for calculations to merge correctly you may not use a custom font for the field which contains the calculations. This is because ARTS PDF Variform Plus must put additional data for the custom font in the field when performing a merge. Page 9 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5.0 USING ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS To use the software, select "ARTS PDF Variform Plus..." from the Acrobat "Tools" pulldown menu. Alternatively, you can launch ARTS PDF Variform using the button on the Acrobat toolbar. ARTS PDF Variform Plus will then display its main window. See the following sections for more details on setup, printing and using Pilot folders. Note: If the security settings for a document are set to disallow printing or making changes Variform will not allow you to print it. You must remove document security before attempting to merge a data file. 5.1 Preferences The preferences for Variform can be set using the standard Acrobat method of Edit -> Preferences -> ARTS PDF Variform Plus. The ARTS PDF Variform Plus Preferences window has a drop-down list with two sections ­ General and Default Folders. Both are described below. 5.1.1 General Preferences · Use Default Settings File Within the main Variform window the user has the option to save their settings. This is useful for repeated merging using the same setup. This preference allows the user to specify a settings file to be loaded each time Variform is launched. · Database Login Defaults When using database files that require a user login for access this preference allows the user to set their User ID and Password so that they are not prompted every time they access a database for merging. Page 10 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus · Remember Session Login If this is turned on, Variform will only ask for the user ID and password once during a session (A session being from the time Acrobat is launched until Acrobat quits). If it is off, the user will be prompted for the user ID and password each time they try to connect to a password protected database. · Show Errors While Printing If any errors occur during merging to a printer, including format or validation errors, having this option selected will cause a window to open and show the errors as they occur. · Show Form Error Dialog A PDF form may include javascripts, calculations, validations, and so on for one or more form fields. If this option is on and error occurs during merging a window describing any errors will open at the conclusion of the merge. · Flatten Pages When this option is selected form fields will be removed (flattened) in merged PDF files. Deselecting this option will preserve the form fields. Note: This option flattens the entire PDF page which means that all annotations, including non-form fields, will be flattened. · Open Merged PDF After Saving When "PDF" and "Single File" are selected as the output mode in Variform this preference will cause the resulting PDF to be automatically opened in Acrobat after Variform is finished merging. Page 11 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5.1.2 Default Folder Preferences · Use Default Query File Folder: Variform uses these folders when you click "Load/Save" to select a query. · Use Default Delimited File Folder: This determines the default path where Variform will look for delimited data files when "Set" is clicked. · Use Default Output Folder: This determines the default folder where ARTS PDF Variform Plus will send PDF files when "PDF" is selected in the main window. Page 12 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5.2 The "ARTS PDF Variform Plus" Main Window This window is the first step in preparing to merge data. With the PDF form open in Acrobat the user selects the data source options and other features such as highlighting. 5.2.1 Data Source Options · Use Database When selected the Setup button becomes active and allows the user to connect to a registered ODBC data source. Other options will appear during setup. See Database Basics later in this document. · Use FDF/XFDF Files When this option is chosen the Select FDF Folder button becomes active. Clicking the button allows the user to select a folder containing Adobe FDF or XFDF files to be used for merging. FDF/XFDF Folder: This box will display the path to the selected folder. Page 13 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus · Use Delimited File This allows the user to select a tab, comma, semicolon or space delimited text file for merging. File Name: This box will display the path to the selected file. Delimiter: This drop-down list is used to select the type of delimiter used in the data file. Valid delimiters are Tab, Comma, Semicolon, or Space. Qualifier: Delimited data files may contain qualifiers to separate blocks of data that contain the delimiter. Supported options are None, Double Quote ("), or Single Quote (`). The qualifier is used only if the data has an instance of the delimiter in it to differentiate it from a regular delimiter so it is recognized as a single value. Note: Delimited data files must have the field names in the first line of the file. 5.2.2 Other Options · Highlighting There are three options for highlighting fields in the output. Note: No Highlighting is the default. ARTS PDF Variform Plus will not apply any highlighting when merging data. Highlight Blank Fields: Choosing this option will cause any field which does not contain data from the data file to be highlighted in the output. Highlight Fields Containing: This allows the user to specify a text string that will cause highlighting in the output if the data file contains that text. Highlight Color: This gives the user the ability to specify a color to be used for highlighting in the output. Page 14 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus · Auto-Map Fields When selected this option means that Variform will compare the field names in the selected data source with the field names in the PDF form. When exact matches are found ARTS PDF Variform Plus will "connect" the fields so that they will merge. · Map Fields If Auto-Map Fields is deselected you may manually map fields. Clicking Match Fields will cause Variform to attempt to match field names in the PDF with those in the delimited file. You can clear any pre-filled mapping by using the Clear Mapping button. Fields can be manually mapped by double-clicking a row in the Delimited File Field column or by using the Select button. 5.2.3 Print Records This section of the window allows you to select which records from the data file are to be included in the merged output. The user may select All or specify records in the Range: box. When a data file has been selected the total number of records in the data file will be displayed next to Number of Records:. When Range is selected you may enter specific record numbers or record ranges. A range must have a hyphen between the beginning and ending numbers (i.e. 3-7 to print records 3 through 7). Commas and spaces serve as separators between page numbers (i.e. 3-7, 8-11 to print records 3 through 7 and 8 through 11). If no number is entered after the hyphen (i.e. 7- ) Variform will print records 7 through the end of all records. Page 15 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5.2.4 Page Range When the PDF contains multiple pages this option can be used to select which pages are included in the merged output. The All and Range: options are the same as Print Records shown above. Additional options are available in the drop-down list for further specifying which pages are to be output. The choices are: Even & Odd, Even Only, or Odd Only. `Even Only' and `Odd Only' can be used in combination with All to output all even pages or all odd pages. Note that page numbers are the physical pages of the PDF, which may not correspond to page numbers, if any, which are in the PDF document or displayed in Acrobat. 5.2.5 Print to... The choices are to send the merged information to a PostScript printer or to a new PDF. · Printer The choices listed for printer will be all of the printers currently installed on the system where Variform is being used. Properties... This button launches the printer properties window where the user can select media size, orientation and other printer attributes that will affect the output. · PDF Single File When this option is selected all records will be merged into a new, multi-page PDF file. Multiple Files Selecting this checkbox indicates that the output will be multiple separate PDF files one for each record in the data file. The user may choose whether to have the merged output files be based on a "master" name they enter or named automatically based on a selected field. See Base File Name and Form Field below. Folder: This is the folder where the new PDFs will be placed. Base File Name: If this option is desired the user must enter a file name. As records are merged, each output file will have the same name with a number appended to it (i.e. Myfile.pdf, Myfile.1.pdf, Myfile.2.pdf, and so on). Page 16 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus Form Field: This option allows the user to select from a list of the form fields in the PDF to be used for naming the merged PDF files. As an example, if "FirstName" is a field name in the PDF and it is chosen here, then the output files would be named something like "Joe.pdf", "Jane.pdf" and so on. 5.2.6 Save Settings / Load Settings Using these buttons you can save your ARTS PDF Variform Plus settings for each job that you routinely run. These predefined formats save you time, diminish the likelihood of error, and save you the trouble of re-experimenting to get jobs to come out the way you want. 5.2.7 Defaults Clicking Defaults returns all parameters back to the "default" values. See "Preferences>Use Default Settings File" to change the defaults settings for ARTS PDF Variform Plus. If a default settings file has already been selected in Preferences, holding down the Alt key while clicking this button will prompt you to use the current settings as the new defaults. 5.2.8 Cancel Clicking this will close the ARTS PDF Variform Plus window without any changes or selections being stored. 5.2.9 Print/Save When a printer is selected for output the button will show Print. Clicking Print will send the merged file to the printer. When PDF is selected for output the button will show Save. Clicking Save will open a "Save As" window to allow the user to select a location and file name for the merged PDF. Page 17 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5.3 The "Export Field Names" Window The "Export Field Names" window can be accessed by selecting "Export ARTS PDF Variform Plus Field Names" from the Acrobat "Tools" pulldown menu, or by clicking on the button on the Acrobat toolbar. The "Export Field Names" function is particularly useful when the user does not know the field names used in the Acrobat document, or when there are a large number of field names and comparing them with the field names in the data file would otherwise be difficult. This function allows the user to export the Acrobat form field names to a text file so that they can be used to ensure that the field names in the data file match. 5.3.1 Export Options · Delimiter: This list allows the user to select the type of delimiter to be used to separate field names in the exported file. Choices are Tab, Comma, Semicolon, or Space. · Qualifier: This allows the user to specify how field names which contain the selected delimiter are to be identified in the exported file. Choice are "None", "Double-quote (")", or "Singlequote (`)". If a field name contains the selected delimiter and no qualifier is chosen, Variform will automatically use Double-quotes to ensure that the field is treated as a single field instead of two separate fields. Only field names that contain the delimiter will be qualified. 5.4 Using Variable Images Variform can merge using any image file format supported by Acrobat. Images can only be merged to a properly created button form field. See the Acrobat Help document for information on creating button fields with images. When creating a data file the complete path to the image file(s) must be included in the data file (i.e. C:\MyImages\ImageOne.tif). Page 18 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 6.0 ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS PILOT ARTS PDF Variform Plus Pilot (Pilot) is a "hot folders" approach to automation. You may either select an existing folder on your hard disk to act as a watched folder or create a new folder. Once a folder is selected, choose an Acrobat form to associate with the folder, then select your options and you are ready. After everything is set up, simply drop data files that you want processed in the appropriate watched folder. Note: A separate watched folder is required for each Acrobat form that is to be automated. 6.1 Pilot Setup icon in the Windows task tray (lower right corner of the Pilot will appear as the screen). Right clicking on the icon will allow the user to access the Pilot setup menu, disable Pilot, stop (shut down) the application, or see its "About Box". Double-clicking the icon will also launch the Setup window. When activated, the Setup window will display any existing watched folders. From this window the user may add a new watched folder or they may edit, remove or disable an existing folder. The images and instructions on the following pages show the windows for adding or editing a Pilot folder and setting its options. Page 19 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 6.1.1 Add The user may select an existing folder on their hard disk or create a new folder. 6.1.2 Edit Allows changes to all of the parameters for an existing Pilot folder. 6.1.3 Remove This button removes the selected folder from the Pilot setup. It does not delete the folder or any subfolders or files within the folder from the hard disk. 6.1.4 Disable/Enable This button is used to deactivate the automatic processing of files for the selected Pilot folder. When this button is clicked the green 4 next to a Pilot folder name will change to a red 6 and the button label will change from Disable to Enable. When the Pilot folder is enabled any valid data file placed in the watched folder will be processed automatically. If the folder is disabled any data files placed in the watched folder will not be processed until watched folders are re-activated by checking this box. 6.1.5 Options · · · Scan Frequency This determines how often Pilot will scan folders for data files to be processed. Flatten Pages See "Flatten Pages" earlier in this document. Show Print Dialog This causes ARTS PDF Variform Plus's Print dialog to display while it's printing/saving. Page 20 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1.0.2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF