Form Letter

Question

I would like to create a from that is set up like a letter and when the end-user inputs information in the fields that are in the middle of sentences and paragraphs the rest of the sentences and/or paragraph moves in order to keep the form looking like a letter.
Thank you in advance for any assistance.
Parre

Answer 1

I used to have blank text fields inside our form letters and it just didn't look right because unless the user-entered text fit the field perfectly, there would be a lot of white space around the words entered (or there would be too much text). Using floating fields makes it look so much nicer.
First you enter your block of text(s) that you want to print out as the letter content.
Then, wherever you want to have user-entered fields, add a floating field (Insert > Floating Field).
In the hierarchy, change the names of each floating field to something meaningful.
Enter a text field (or Numeric field or Date field...whichever is appropriate) to correspond with each floating field. I put my fields at the top of the letter and give them a yellow background so that the user knows to enter info into those fields. The caption for each field will need to make it clear to the user what to enter since they will not know immediately what it corresponds to in the letter.
Rename each text field that you have added so that it is exactly the same as the corresponding Floating Fields within your text block.
Change the binding on all of the text fields that correspond to a floating field to "Global".
Enter the following javascript into the Exit event for each text field: xfa.layout.relayout();
At this point if you preview the form, it should work. You'll want to now set the user-entered fields at the top to "Visible (Screen Only)" so that they do not print on the form letters.
Hope this helps!
Jo