Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Acrobat -- Apply Image Fields Toolkit



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Update (08/11/2017): Now available, a free sample file that demonstrates the image field toolkit.
The script in this file is limited to rotating the field to only 0 or 180 degrees, and the "Image Scaling: When" section is disabled, but the rest works just like in the full version.

With the introduction of the new Image field into Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous), I thought it was time to introduce some of the more advanced features of these fields and make them more accessible to the users.
Using this script you can apply my Image Field Toolkit to your fields. What this means is that they will be able to easily and quickly apply multiple commands to the fields, such as:
  • Select an image
  • Clear the image
  • Set the image's rotation (in intervals of 90 degrees)
  • Set the image's scaling options (how and when to scale)
And if the field is set to include not just an image, but also a caption text they'll be able to also:
  • Set the caption text
  • Clear the caption text
All you have to do is run the script on your file in Acrobat, and it will automatically apply the code to all Image fields (button field with the Icon option enabled).
Clicking the field will then cause a pop-up menu to appear with all of these options, which can be used in both Acrobat and in the latest version of the free Reader DC (Continuous)!

 Here's how it works. You open your file with the image fields in Acrobat and run the script from the menu item it adds to the Tools panel:

The original file with the image fields


It will identify those fields and prompt you to make sure you want to apply the Toolkit to them (this will overwrite any existing Mouse Up events associated with them!):

The script's confirmation dialog
After running the script on the file in Acrobat we can save it and then open it in Reader, where it looks pretty much the same:

The same file in Acrobat Reader DC
However, when we press one of the fields, the Image Field Toolkit menu appears:

The Toolkit for an image field
We can then select an image for this field:


And then change the way it looks. For example, we can rotate it:


The image rotation options

The rotated image


Or we can change the scaling options for it, so it fits better into the field:

The image scaling options

The scaled image
If we now click on the field that contains both an image and a caption we can do the same there, starting with selecting an image:

The menu for an image field with a caption


And then we can set a new caption text:


The image and the new caption in the same field
We can even clear the selected image, directly through the toolkit's menu:




So all in all, this toolkit adds a lot of options to the standard image fields that come with Acrobat and Reader, and allows you (and your users) to make the most of them!

For more information about this tool, you can contact me directly.

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