Flattening checkboxes with multiple values

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   Hello.  I have an interesting issue I am hoping you can help me with.  We seem to be having an issue with checkboxes where there are more than one export value which makes the checkboxes act like a radio button.  We use checkboxes instead of radio buttons to get checks instead of the circles used by the radio buttons.

If we attempt to flatten these checkboxes, things go very wrong.  The field flattens correctly, but when you open up the PDF you will see the check box fields still there, but you are unable to do much with them if Adobe doesn't outright blow up on you.  

Here is an example of what I am talking about.  The first link is to a PDF with three checkboxes.

http://demo.efficientforms.com/test.pdf

This next link contains the form after it has been flattened.

http://demo.efficientforms.com/testflatten.pdf

As you can see, the check box is correctly flattened, and QuickPDF correctly reports zero fields on the form, but Adobe Acrobat still sees the fields there and if you can bring up the properties without Acrobat crashing, you will see the fields have no properties.  

I've tried flattening the field and I've tried flattening the sub fields.  They both produce the same results.

Am I missing something?  Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Hans

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Rallsolo Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 24 Sep 08 Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rallsolo Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Flattening checkboxes with multiple values Posted: 22 May 11 at 12:15AM
	Hello. I have an interesting issue I am hoping you can help me with. We seem to be having an issue with checkboxes where there are more than one export value which makes the checkboxes act like a radio button. We use checkboxes instead of radio buttons to get checks instead of the circles used by the radio buttons. If we attempt to flatten these checkboxes, things go very wrong. The field flattens correctly, but when you open up the PDF you will see the check box fields still there, but you are unable to do much with them if Adobe doesn't outright blow up on you. Here is an example of what I am talking about. The first link is to a PDF with three checkboxes. http://demo.efficientforms.com/test.pdf This next link contains the form after it has been flattened. http://demo.efficientforms.com/testflatten.pdf As you can see, the check box is correctly flattened, and QuickPDF correctly reports zero fields on the form, but Adobe Acrobat still sees the fields there and if you can bring up the properties without Acrobat crashing, you will see the fields have no properties. I've tried flattening the field and I've tried flattening the sub fields. They both produce the same results. Am I missing something? Any help you can give would be appreciated. Hans

Ingo Members Profile Find Members Posts Moderator Group Joined: 29 Oct 05 Status: Offline Points: 3530	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ingo Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22 May 11 at 11:18AM
	Hi! Using Adobe Reader 8.1 all looks as it should be. The test.pdf can be used normally. The testflatten.pdf has the three - now unchangeable - checkboxes. For me all it's all like it should be. You'll stumble into other problems working on new (9.x) acrobat pdf-forms with QuickPDF or any other third party tool (like Foxit for example) but in your case here for me it's all okay. Any other comments from the readers? Hans: If this is still not okay for you, you should use the official support pages. Cheers, Ingo

Shotgun Tom Members Profile Find Members Posts Senior Member Joined: 14 Aug 09 Location: Phoenix, AZ Status: Offline Points: 53	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shotgun Tom Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22 May 11 at 4:32PM
	In addition to working correctly in Adobe Reader 8.1, it also works and displays correctly in Adobe Acrobat 9.4. I also tested in Nitro PDF Reader and both files display correctly. Tom

Rallsolo Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 24 Sep 08 Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rallsolo Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22 May 11 at 11:13PM
	I will use the support pages and submit a ticket. I wasn't clear enough in my original post. Yes, everything LOOKS ok, but there are now issues with the PDFFlattened PDF. If you open it up in Acrobat and use the Select Object tool under advanced editing, you will see the three checkbox fields still there, but not there. This causes numerous issues with other PDFs, especially if there are other fields on the forms or if you are merging the forms. Thank you for looking at this issue. I will submit a better example in the support pages.

iGapper Members Profile Find Members Posts Beginner Joined: 09 May 10 Location: Switzerland Status: Offline Points: 8	Post Options Post Reply Quote iGapper Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 11 at 9:52PM
	Hi Rallsolo, this message is a kind of "fork" from the main request, but do you have generated this pdf http://demo.efficientforms.com/test.pdf with QuickPDF ? Or Directly in Acrobat ? If it's with QuickPDF, do you have any sample code ? I'm trying to do the same but unable to add something else than "true" or "false" export value for the check boxes.