[Scribus] Combo boxes etc.

[Calum Polwart]

OK first off you should be able to use 1.3.3.4 quite easily (refer to
the wiki to add the scribus repository for debain to your list - very
easy to do.)  It stable enough that you are not really beta testing.

1.2.5 also exists although I haven't tried installing it from the debain
repository..

(See
http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/Getting_Scribus_on_Ubuntu/Kubuntu_up_and_running
)

Then look at:
http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/Your_first_PDF_form_with_Scribus

You possibly need to describe a little more what you want to do... what
database?  Do you simply mean a short list of options?  If so they can
be typed into the text box that makes up the Drop Down Menu...
Otherwise I suspect you may be looking at JavaScript??

Calum

On Thu, 2006-11-09 at 09:30 -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> I am trying to create a PDF form that is editable. Editable PDF forms
> became possible after the release of Adobe Reader 7.0 and Acrobat 7.0
> Professional. In an editable PDF file you can have controls, like text
> boxes, radio buttons, check boxes, drop-down lists, and others. The
> controls can even be tied to a database. Forms like this have existed
> in the world of word processing for a long time. Companies would create
> a form and lock it so that employees could only enter data in the
> controls, then print it out and send it to someone (management, etc.).
> Now we have Acrobat 7.0 and Reader 7.0, so management can now make the
> form a PDF file.
> 
> I wish to use this technology to create editable PDFs as student
> exercise tools. Think of drop-down boxes where the student chooses the
> correct answer from a list. Or think of multiple-guess questions where
> students click on a radio button in front of the correct answer. Or an
> essay question with a text box where students can type their answer.
> This can be used for exams, but an even better use would be practice
> sheets. Instead of making flash cards, the professor can make an
> editable PDF for the students to practice on. They can print their
> answers, but cannot save a copy or overwrite the original PDF. So after
> they finish the practice form they can correct it and, if they didn't
> get a good enough score, reopen the PDF and start over again with a
> fresh copy. Over time a professor can create a library of such editable
> PDF forms which can be recycled each time the professor teaches the
> course.
> 
> A professor is supposed to do this using MS Word (for the forms) and
> Acrobat 7.0 Professional (for the PDF creation). But I thought it
> should be possible under Linux. OpenOffice.org can create the form
> ( have done so), but when the form is exported to PDF OOo sets the font
> for all controls to Helvetica, regardless of what the user set in the
> Properties sheet for the control. When Adobe Reader 7.0 opens the
> resulting PDF file, it doesn't have Helvetica, so it substitutes its
> own font. And its internal font lacks a lot of characters I need for
> linguistics work (characters in the International Phonetic Alphabet).
> Setting the control to Helvetica on export to PDF is by design and hard
> coded into OpenOffice.org. There are no plans to change it.
> 
> So there's the problem. I must abandon OOo and seek something else. In
> discussing this online, someone suggested that Scribus could do this.
> Indeed, I have had Scribus 1.2.4.1 on my Ubuntu Dapper amd-64 laptop
> for some time. I have used it occasionally for small projects, but have
> never become proficient in using it. So just now I fired it up and
> poked around a bit. It does have controls (Insert PDF Fields) and it
> looks as though it could do the job for me. However, I can't find any
> documentation on how to use the features. E.g., I placed a combo box on
> a page and can't figure out how to link it to a database so it will
> display choices, or how to give the control a drop-down button. Maybe
> those features are not available (but it appears that they are). Is
> there a detailed discussion somewhere on how to use the PDF fields?
> 
> On another note, version 1.2.4.1 is all I can install on this computer.
> I realize there are later versions (I have been reading this list for
> some time), but they are not available via Synaptic. And anyway, I'm
> not really into being a beta tester, unless I have no other choice to
> get a functionality that I need.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
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