How to have a unique list of items for separate dropdown lists?

Question

Software: Acrobat X (10) pro on Windows
I want to create a pdf form in which all dropdown lists are populated with the same list of items to choose from. If I use the same field name for all drop down lists, the item selected in one dropdown list is automatically selected in all lists. This is not what I want. I wish to be able to select a different item in each & single dropdown list. I could of course maintain separate item lists for each field (using separate field names) but what a waste of time!... especially as the field lists would then have to be updated separately. There's got to be a better way to do it.
Any idea how this could be achieved? Thank you.

Answer 1

Here's a sample script that first defines a list of items in an array and uses it to update a number of dropdowns, name dd1...dd10:
// Populate an array with the list items
var aItems = ["-- Select a state --", "Alaska", "Hawaii", "Washington", "Oregon", "Idaho", "Montana", "Wyoming", "Nevada", "Colorado", "Arizona", "New Mexico"];
// Loop through the dropdowns...
for (var i = 1; i < 11; i += 1) {
    // ...and set the list items
    getField("dd" + i).setItems(aItems);
That's all there is to it. This can be run from the Mouse Up event of a temporary button that you create, the interactive JavaScript console (Ctrl+J), etc.
More info on setItems: http://livedocs.adobe.com/acrobat_sdk/9.1/Acrobat9_1_HTMLHelp/JS_API_AcroJS.88.752.html