Using [subform].keep.next to fix flow problems?

Question

Hi,
I have a dynamic form with many subforms, and I am having trouble getting certain subforms which function as headers to stay on the same page as their body subforms when they are flowed. I tried using the "Keep with Next" property in the GUI for the header subform, but that seems to pertain to content areas, which I am not using, and does not work for me... it elicits strange behavior from some of the subforms where they are completely rearranged at runtime or when I click the "next" button in design.
I was excited to find that you can specify to keep a subform with the next object using javascript through the "subform.keep.next = 'pageArea'" syntax... but I can' t get that to work either.
It seems that the scripting modules are only triggered by events, so under what event do I put my script to specify this property?
I can't post the form itself, because it contains some proprietary info from my company, but I'll try to describe what going on in the form below:
The form is saved as a dynamic form, is set to run in Adobe 7.0.5 or later, and the text formatting and event model are set to version 7. My LiveCycle version is 8.2.1.
I have many categories of options which users can pick from on my form. Each category has a subform with a text header and a drop-down list of "yes" or "no", and then another main subform or two that contain the actual options. If they don't wish to use any options form a particular category, the user can pick "no" from the drop-down in the header subform and the next subform(s) containing the options for that category is hidden. Of course, once one subform is hidden, the subforms coming after move up and the pagination changes.
The layout looks like this:
>MainForm
     >Page1 (flowed)
          >Subform1_Header (positioned)
          >Subform1_Body (flowed, so that internal subforms can be split across pages)
               >Subform1a_BodyOptions (positioned)
               >Subform1b_BodyOptions (positioned)
          >Subform2_Header (positioned)
          >Subform2_Body (flowed, so that internal subforms can be split across pages)
               >Subform2a_BodyOptions (positioned)
               >Subform2b_BodyOptions (positioned)
     >Page2 (flowed)
          >Subform3_Header (positioned)
          >Subform3_Body (flowed, so that internal subforms can be split across pages)
               >Subform3a_BodyOptions (positioned)
               >Subform3b_BodyOptions (positioned)
This hiding/showing works fine when all of the categories are visible, but when one or more is hidden and the next subforms move up, the header subforms are often set as the last thing on a page, with their options, which are much longer, being pushed to the next page. I want to always make sure that no matter how the subforms are flowed, the header stays with its options on the same page. I tried putting the above script to keep with next on the exit event of the drop-down list, which is what triggers the hiding on the subforms, but I don't see any results.
I am not using content areas because I am not using master pages... my subforms are all totally different sizes, so I don't know how to make a master page to fit all. Right now I just have a flowed regular page object containing my subforms for each page on the form that exists when all of the subforms are showing. I don't know if maybe my problem is that I'm not using the page objects or master pages as I should? Ideally this layout should just be one long page-break-less list of subforms that paginate dynamically depending on what sets of options the user wants, but I can't figure out how to make this work.
Any help at all would be appreciated.
-Jess

Answer 1

Thanks for the smaple, djaknow
The thing is, the objects in my body subforms are all static themselves... the expanding doesn't happen when a user types in too much information to fit in the subform. It's hiding/showing of the subforms which make other subforms move up or down
I have tried using the "keep with next" option as you have done for the second header/subform combo. Try using it on the subform called "sub13ExportOptionsHeader" in my sample, under page 4. For me, when I select this the whole subform jumps down so that it is located between sub14a_sec2 and sub14a_sec3 in the layout.
I had previously tried using these options on an earlier version of the form and had no problems like this at desgin time, when I previewed in LiveCycle, or when I tested it in Acrobat 9. However, when I tested the form in Acrobat 8, I had similar issues... when certain subforms were hidden, some of the still visible subforms were rearranged so that they were not in the correct order anymore. I never truly resolved this issue; the only thing that fixed it was to have neither Keep With Previous or Keep With Next selected for every subform.