User manual ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS 1.0.2

[. . . ] ARTS PDF Variform Plus Version 1. 0. 2 ARTS PDF Variform Plus TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. 0 INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1. 1 Product Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. 0 ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS SETUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2. 1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] ARTS PDF Variform Plus supports the use of calculations and the merged output will include the results of any calculations defined in the form. Note: In order for calculations to merge correctly you may not use a custom font for the field which contains the calculations. This is because ARTS PDF Variform Plus must put additional data for the custom font in the field when performing a merge. Page 9 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5. 0 USING ARTS PDF VARIFORM PLUS To use the software, select "ARTS PDF Variform Plus. . . " from the Acrobat "Tools" pulldown menu. Alternatively, you can launch ARTS PDF Variform using the button on the Acrobat toolbar. See the following sections for more details on setup, printing and using Pilot folders. Note: If the security settings for a document are set to disallow printing or making changes Variform will not allow you to print it. You must remove document security before attempting to merge a data file. 5. 1 Preferences The preferences for Variform can be set using the standard Acrobat method of Edit -> Preferences -> ARTS PDF Variform Plus. The ARTS PDF Variform Plus Preferences window has a drop-down list with two sections ­ General and Default Folders. Both are described below. 5. 1. 1 General Preferences · Use Default Settings File Within the main Variform window the user has the option to save their settings. This preference allows the user to specify a settings file to be loaded each time Variform is launched. · Database Login Defaults When using database files that require a user login for access this preference allows the user to set their User ID and Password so that they are not prompted every time they access a database for merging. Page 10 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus · Remember Session Login If this is turned on, Variform will only ask for the user ID and password once during a session (A session being from the time Acrobat is launched until Acrobat quits). If it is off, the user will be prompted for the user ID and password each time they try to connect to a password protected database. · Show Errors While Printing If any errors occur during merging to a printer, including format or validation errors, having this option selected will cause a window to open and show the errors as they occur. · Show Form Error Dialog A PDF form may include javascripts, calculations, validations, and so on for one or more form fields. If this option is on and error occurs during merging a window describing any errors will open at the conclusion of the merge. · Flatten Pages When this option is selected form fields will be removed (flattened) in merged PDF files. Deselecting this option will preserve the form fields. Note: This option flattens the entire PDF page which means that all annotations, including non-form fields, will be flattened. · Open Merged PDF After Saving When "PDF" and "Single File" are selected as the output mode in Variform this preference will cause the resulting PDF to be automatically opened in Acrobat after Variform is finished merging. Page 11 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5. 1. 2 Default Folder Preferences · Use Default Query File Folder: Variform uses these folders when you click "Load/Save" to select a query. · Use Default Delimited File Folder: This determines the default path where Variform will look for delimited data files when "Set" is clicked. · Use Default Output Folder: This determines the default folder where ARTS PDF Variform Plus will send PDF files when "PDF" is selected in the main window. Page 12 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 5. 2 The "ARTS PDF Variform Plus" Main Window This window is the first step in preparing to merge data. With the PDF form open in Acrobat the user selects the data source options and other features such as highlighting. 5. 2. 1 Data Source Options · Use Database When selected the Setup button becomes active and allows the user to connect to a registered ODBC data source. See Database Basics later in this document. · Use FDF/XFDF Files When this option is chosen the Select FDF Folder button becomes active. Clicking the button allows the user to select a folder containing Adobe FDF or XFDF files to be used for merging. FDF/XFDF Folder: This box will display the path to the selected folder. Page 13 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus · Use Delimited File This allows the user to select a tab, comma, semicolon or space delimited text file for merging. Delimiter: This drop-down list is used to select the type of delimiter used in the data file. Qualifier: Delimited data files may contain qualifiers to separate blocks of data that contain the delimiter. Supported options are None, Double Quote ("), or Single Quote (`). The qualifier is used only if the data has an instance of the delimiter in it to differentiate it from a regular delimiter so it is recognized as a single value. Note: Delimited data files must have the field names in the first line of the file. 5. 2. 2 Other Options · Highlighting There are three options for highlighting fields in the output. Note: No Highlighting is the default. ARTS PDF Variform Plus will not apply any highlighting when merging data. Highlight Blank Fields: Choosing this option will cause any field which does not contain data from the data file to be highlighted in the output. Highlight Fields Containing: This allows the user to specify a text string that will cause highlighting in the output if the data file contains that text. Highlight Color: This gives the user the ability to specify a color to be used for highlighting in the output. Page 14 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus · Auto-Map Fields When selected this option means that Variform will compare the field names in the selected data source with the field names in the PDF form. When exact matches are found ARTS PDF Variform Plus will "connect" the fields so that they will merge. · Map Fields If Auto-Map Fields is deselected you may manually map fields. [. . . ] Select the 'Machine Data Source' and click on `New' Check the 'System Data Source' then select the appropriate database driver. Then add the name of the database, description and choose the relevant server the database is located on E. g Name: TestDatabase, Description: SQL database, Server: server004 Then choose the option of setting up the SQL server authentication with a login name and password. Once it's done test the newly created data source by clicking on the 'Test Data Source' button. If it returns successful, it means that the DSN was created successfully and it's ready to be used. Note: To connect to an authenticated database, please use the `Machine Data Source' and the `System Data Source' when creating the Data Source. Page 26 of 28 ARTS PDF Variform Plus 1. 0. 2 Copyright © 2004 ARTS PDF ARTS PDF Variform Plus 7. 3 SQL Queries SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standard interactive and programming language for getting information from and updating a database. [. . . ]