HTML to Acrobat Reader Communication?

Question

Id like to have html to Acrobat Reader communication (and vice versa). Im able to add a messageHandler to the hostContainer within Acrobat Professional to respond to messages posted via JS on the client. I'm then able to extended the forms with liveCycle reader extensions so that the fucntionality works with Acrobat Reader. I have a few questions/issues:
1) Is this the best approch for accomplishing the task above?
2) What is the best way to communicate in the other direction - from Reader to the client?
3) I'm not able to add the same AcroJS to a form that I create w/ LiveCycle Designer. I add the functionality then extend the form, but the function never gets executed. Is this possible w/ LC?
4) I also need to post the form for data collection, so I was looking into LC designer so that I can post via a webservice. Is this the best approch or should I just stick with Acrobat Pro and simply use this.submitForm to post, or is there a better alternative?
Sorry to jam so many questions into this post, but I'm not clear on which product I should be using (Pro or LC) or which approch is considered best practice.
Thanks,
Matt

Answer 1

> 1) Is this the best approch for accomplishing the task above?
Yes.
> 2) What is the best way to communicate in the other direction - from Reader to the client?
Read the postMessage documentation, especially regarding the document requirement to be disclosed.
> 3) I'm not able to add the same AcroJS to a form that I create w/ LiveCycle Designer. I add the functionality then extend the form, but the function never gets executed. Is this possible w/ LC?
Where are you adding the code in your XFA form?
> 4) I also need to post the form for data collection, so I was looking into LC designer so that I can post via a webservice. Is this the best approch or should I just stick with Acrobat Pro and simply use this.submitForm to post, or is there a better alternative?
Read the API reference regarding the SOAP object. This works in both AcroForms and XFA forms and is your most versatile option for communicating with webservices. This will still require the form be Reader Extended is the target audience only has Reader.