Is it possible to identify the user?

Question

Hi,
I know that I can check identity.name to see who the user is. But it seems that this property is only available during console, batch, menu and app initialization events.
I have a date that is supposed to auto fill if it is blank. I want it to work on every machine except one, and I want the form to identify the user and if that user is a specific user, the date doesn't auto populate.
If the identity object won't work, can anyone think of another way?
Thanks.

Answer 1

As documented in Adobe's Acrobat JavaScripting Manual, there are security restrictions with respect to the "identity" object. Those restrictions prevent one from directly accessing the "identity" object from a form field. You can access the properties from a folder level JavaScript. The following script when placed in Acrobat's application JavaScript folder will create and initialize application level variables that be accessed by any PDF opened by Acrobat:
// Folder level script to create an application level variables for the "identity" objects properties
var Identity = new Array();
Identity.Corporation = identity.corporation;
Identity.Email = identity.email;
Identity.LoginName = identity.loginName;
Identity.LoginName = identity.loginName;
Identity.Name = identity.name;
One can then add the following document level or field level javaScript to initialize fields within the PDF to the value of the application level variables:
this.getField("loginName").value = Identity.LoginName;
this.getField("name").value = Identity.Name;
this.getField("by").value = "By: ";
this.getField("by").value += Identity.Name;
With version 7.0 or above, you can use a trusted function located as a document level script to retrieve the information:
trustedIdentity = app.trustedFunction( function (sProperty) {
var iProperty = "";
app.beginPriv(); // explicitly raise privilege
iProperty = identity[sProperty];
app.endPriv();
return iProperty;
One can then add the following document level or field level javaScript to initialize fields within the PDF to the value of the application level variables:
this.getField("loginName").value = trustedIdentity("loginName");
this.getField("name").value = trustedIdentity("name");
this.getField("by").value = "By: ";
this.getField("by").value += trustedIdentity("name");