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' Pixel Perfect PDF generation feature allows you to generate additional PDF forms as part of a work flow. This capability is not supported in the form designer in this version although it will be available in a future release. You will need an "Acroform" to generate a pixel perfect PDF. Acroforms (also known as Acrobat forms) are forms that contain writable form fields. You can generate as many PDFs as you like. It is very easy to map controls to individual Acroform fields for each one. The additional PDF forms are generated at the end of a flow and all generated PDF forms will be added to the document set of a completed flow. This makes it possible for the form designer to specify doc actions on these additional form documents as well. The designer can construct flows in which the generated forms may be viewed at any point in the work flow via a new Form Viewercontrol. See below for the details.
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- Digital signatures in PDF forms, and Word doc forms are not supported.
- Currently PDF form creation must be done in the flow designer. Adding an additional PDF as the output of an e-form will be added to the form designer in a future release.
- Adobe XFA Forms are not supported. The tool that Adobe uses to create PDF's does not support integration with third party software. Use PDFescape to generate acroforms for mapping with Live Forms.
- Password or sensitive text fields being transferred to a PDF form will be written in plain text if they are mapped to a PDF field.
- PDF files support layers that can be turned on/off as a way of hiding and showing content dynamically. These are the underlying technology behind optional content groups. These can be manipulated programmatically as a way to dynamically build forms.
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You can only drop the "New PDF Form" below the "Default Generated Form" activity, if present. The default name will be "Generated Form N", where N is a unique number starting at 1. You can change the name of the activity and set up any preconditions precondition that your flow may require on the Properties panel. You may have to completely exit the flow and then go back in to see name changes. The For Example, currently the only way to disable a template is to use a precondition that always evals to false and it will be skipped.
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Skipped activities do not affect PDF's generated by Live Forms. For example, controls in flow activities containing default values, that have been mapped in the pdf mapper, will show up in the PDF even if the activity is skipped due to a precondition. Use a form.load rule to set the "initial state" data dynamically instead. |
You may have to completely exit the flow and then go back in to see name changes. The new form generation activity will NOT be automatically selected and any previous selections will be maintained. Click on the new activity to select it. The activity will display with a green color and contain the edit and
delete icons.
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Use the New Form Generation screen to upload the Acroform for the PDF you wish to fill using fields. Click the 
New icon to begin:. If you do not provide a name for your template, the file name will be used.
A list showing all of the PDFs to be generated for this activity of the flow will display.
Click the icon to remove the template and the
icon to edit the template name. You will be asked to confirm the deletion as the template and all field mappings will be removed.
Click the icon to edit the template name. If you try to delete the template name, you will see the message "Name is Required".
makes a copy of the uploaded Acroform template and modifies it with available selections of appropriate e-form fields for each PDF Acroform field. The modified PDF Acroform (Mapper) will be re-generated every time because the e-form fields may have changed. Upload the modified template every time you make a change to your Acroform PDF. For example, changing the Acroform to make a field acro-fillable, requires the upload of the modified template again.
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will not allow the use of an owner or user password protected PDF acroform to be used as a template. It is the the flow designer's responsibility to provide an unprotected PDF acroform. There are programs available to "remove" an owner password from a protected PDF such as PDFescape. Simply upload the password protected PDF to PDFescape, then save and download it. The passowrd will be "removed" from the PDf and you will be able to use it as a template. |
Download the Mapper
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Invalid templates cannot be uploaded either. The message "Invalid PDF or password protected" will display. |
Download the Mapper
Download the Mapper by clicking on the icon. The downloaded mapper is a modified template so it will have the same name as the template that you uploaded even if you changed it.
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If you add a control from schema with maxOccurs="unbounded" to your form or flow, when you download the mapper, the mapping options show a maximum of 100 items. This is as designed. |
Map the E-Form Fields to the Acroform Fields
Open the mapper with an external PDF viewer/editor, such as Adobe Reader (version 11 or higher), Mac Preview or PDFescape.
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PDF.js, a PDF Viewer available for the Firefox browser, may not render the PDF properly. If you are using this as your viewer, and the PDf does not look as expected, download the PDF and view it in Adobe or Mac Preview. |
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Previous mapping selections should be retained. There There are some forms where Adobe reader may loose the previous mappings. If this is the case, all fields will have to be manually mapped again. Here is an example of the downloaded mapper for the W-4 PDF. Notice the Acroform fields are re-written with editable combo box controls. The combo boxes are pre-populated with the names of relevant e-form fields from the flow for the purposes of field mapping.
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It is up to the designer to ensure that the content fits within the acroform field. The acroform will truncate it if it does not fit.
Upload the Completed Mappings
Save the completed mapping PDFs and upload them to by clicking on the Upload Mapping icon on the activity form generation screen. You must upload completed mappings for each PDF Acroform that you want to generate.
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The fields in the uploaded mapped PDF must match exactly to the fields in the uploaded form template. |
will process the mappings and post a status that can be viewed by clicking on the [Details] button. Any errors encountered will be listed here. This can be a valuable tool for troubleshooting any problematic issues when mapping your e-form to the Acroform pdf.
The Form Generation Mapping Status screen will display the following information:
- the Acroform Field Name
- the Acroform field type
- the "Selectable Values" column is useful when mapping to PDF comboboxes, lists and radios. It is important to have the eform's mapped checkbox, select or radio's option values be the same as the corresponding PDF fields option values. The values will be shown in the selectable values column. See PDF Form Generation Rules below for more information.
- Mapping Status = Mapped or Not Mapped
- The E-Form Field Name, if the field is mapped.
You will see this error icon if the mapping for your form is incomplete. It will change to the
critical error icon under the following conditions:
- Incorrect Mapping File - if any fields in the mapped PDF do not match the original set of form fields in the template.
- Mapping File Invalid - the uploaded mapping file must have exactly the same set of form fields as the original uploaded template. A mismatch results in an invalid mapping file.
- Form Template File Invalid - the uploaded template is checked to see if it is a valid, read-able PDF Acroform File.
- Mapping Errors - the form fields in the mapped PDF must be filled with a valid selection corresponding to an e-form field. Any Acroform fields mapped to an unknown e-form field will show the invalid e-form mapping field name. For example, if you delete a field from your form after mapping, or change a control to a different one you will see the "Invalid E-form field" in the Mapping Status column:
The 
icon indicates that the mapping is complete and there are no errors.
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When you change the name of a control, it is essentially a new control and gets a new id. If the control name is changed, the PDF mapping for that control is broken and it will display with a status of Invalid E-form field. Even if the changes are reverted, the PDF mapping for that control is still broken. The "new" control will have to be mapped again. |
Mapping Table and Repeat Controls
E-form controls placed within repeats or tables use the max number property to create multiple "instances" of the e-form field for mapping. Controls within a repeat (or table) are indexed to allow the user to select the specific control for mapping. will put the correct number of instances of the control in the mapping select list based on the max number of the repeat/table. Each of these instances will be clearly labeled with an index. For example, a table in your form to collect the Education History of a new employee has a column for the Degree earned. The dropdown choices are: High School, Bachelors, Masters and PhD. The Max # property for the table is set to 10.
The mapping selections list the 4 choices (High School, Bachelors, Masters and PhD) with indexes of X of 10 for each choice.
Here is an example of an Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (W-7) that has fields for Name and Name at Birth - if different. A Repeat control with a name field and min/max values of 1 and 2 respectively, can be used in your form to capture both pieces of information.
The choices in the mapper dropdown for the first name control are: FirstName (1 of 2) [form > Names > FirstName]:followed by a unique id. or FirstName (2 of 2) [form > Names > FirstName]:followed by a unique id. Choices for the middle and last name controls follow the same format.
In the mapper, selecting the (1 of 2) choice for the First, Middle and last Name controls and the (2 of 2) choice for the repeating first, middle and last name controls that appears after the user clicks the plus sign, maps the data as shown:
Nested repeats, use the max numbers of each repeating level multiplied to determine the total max index of an item. This is best illustrated with the example below showing repeat 2 nested in repeat 1. Each repeat has a section and each section a text control. Each repeat level has a max of 2. The inner most text control will index up 4 (2x2) as shown.
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| Info |
Adobe Reader supports the linkage of fields. This means that Acroform fields can share the same values even if the fields have different names. For example: Let's say you have an Acroform pdf consisting of 8 pages. Writable fields for Name, Address, City, State and Zip Code are located on the first, third, fifth and eighth pages. If you are using Adobe Reader to map your PDF, then you can map the Name and Address fields in the mapper on the first page and the Name and Address fields on pages three, five and eight will automatically become mapped. Adobe enforces the link between these fields even though the field names are different. (the Name field on the first page is named topmostSubform[0].Page1[0].f1... while the Name field on the third page is topmostSubform[0].Page3[0].f1...). If you are using Adobe Reader, you cannot map the fields on pages three, five and eight separately. If you are using a mapper that does not support field linkage, such as Mac Preview or PDFEscape, you will have to map the Name and Address fields on each page. |
Upload the Completed Mappings
Save the completed mapping PDFs and upload them to by clicking on the Upload Mapping icon on the activity form generation screen. You must upload completed mappings for each PDF Acroform that you want to generate.
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The fields in the uploaded mapped PDF must match exactly to the fields in the uploaded form template. |
will process the mappings and post a status that can be viewed by clicking on the [Details] button. Any errors encountered will be listed here. This can be a valuable tool for troubleshooting any problematic issues when mapping your e-form to the Acroform pdf.
The Form Generation Mapping Status screen will display the following information:
- the Acroform Field Name
- the Acroform field type
- the "Selectable Values" column is useful when mapping to PDF comboboxes, lists and radios. It is important to have the eform's mapped checkbox, select or radio's option values be the same as the corresponding PDF fields option values. The values will be shown in the selectable values column. See PDF Form Generation Rules below for more information.
- Mapping Status = Mapped or Not Mapped
- The E-Form Field Name, if the field is mapped.
You will see this error icon if the mapping for your form is incomplete. It will change to the
critical error icon under the following conditions:
- Incorrect Mapping File - if any fields in the mapped PDF do not match the original set of form fields in the template.
- Mapping File Invalid - the uploaded mapping file must have exactly the same set of form fields as the original uploaded template. A mismatch results in an invalid mapping file.
- Form Template File Invalid - the uploaded template is checked to see if it is a valid, read-able PDF Acroform File.
- Mapping Errors - the form fields in the mapped PDF must be filled with a valid selection corresponding to an e-form field. Any Acroform fields mapped to an unknown e-form field will show the invalid e-form mapping field name. For example, if you delete a field from your form after mapping, or change a control to a different one you will see the "Invalid E-form field" in the Mapping Status column:
The icon indicates that the mapping is complete and there are no errors.
| Tip |
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When you change the name of a control, it is essentially a new control and gets a new id. If the control name is changed, the PDF mapping for that control is broken and it will display with a status of Invalid E-form field. Even if the changes are reverted, the PDF mapping for that control is still broken. The "new" control will have to be mapped again. |
Mapping Table and Repeat Controls
E-form controls placed within repeats or tables use the max number property to create multiple "instances" of the e-form field for mapping. Controls within a repeat (or table) are indexed to allow the user to select the specific control for mapping. will put the correct number of instances of the control in the mapping select list based on the max number of the repeat/table. Each of these instances will be clearly labeled with an index. For example, a table in your form to collect the Education History of a new employee has a column for the Degree earned. The dropdown choices are: High School, Bachelors, Masters and PhD. The Max # property for the table is set to 10.
The mapping selections list the 4 choices (High School, Bachelors, Masters and PhD) with indexes of X of 10 for each choice.
Here is an example of an Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (W-7) that has fields for Name and Name at Birth - if different. A Repeat control with a name field and min/max values of 1 and 2 respectively, can be used in your form to capture both pieces of information.
The choices in the mapper dropdown for the first name control are: FirstName (1 of 2) [form > Names > FirstName]:followed by a unique id. or FirstName (2 of 2) [form > Names > FirstName]:followed by a unique id. Choices for the middle and last name controls follow the same format.
In the mapper, selecting the (1 of 2) choice for the First, Middle and last Name controls and the (2 of 2) choice for the repeating first, middle and last name controls that appears after the user clicks the plus sign, maps the data as shown:
Nested repeats, use the max numbers of each repeating level multiplied to determine the total max index of an item. This is best illustrated with the example below showing repeat 2 nested in repeat 1. Each repeat has a section and each section a text control. Each repeat level has a max of 2. The inner most text control will index up 4 (2x2) as shown.
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Form
repeat1
section1 (max 2)
text1 -- index = 1
repeat2
section2 (max 2)
text2 -- index = 1
section2
text2 -- index = 2
section1
text1 -- index = 2
repeat2
section2
text2 -- index = 3
section2
text2 -- index = 4 |
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Select the choice that begins with EligibilityChoices.An_alien_authorized_to_work_(Alien_... [form > from the dropdown in the mapper for the option value of An Alien authorized to work (Alien # or Admissions #) Alien authorized to work (Alien # or Admissions #) in the radio control.
Select the choice that begins with EligibilityChoices.A_noncitizen_national_of the United States from the dropdown in the mapper for the option value of A noncitizen national of the United States (see instructions) in the radio control.
Select the choice that begins with EligibilityChoices.A_noncitizen_national_of the United States from the dropdown in the mapper for the option value of A noncitizen national of the United States (see instructions) in the radio control.
Correct mapping will result in a checked box on I-9 generated pdf depending on the choice selected by the new employee on the Live Form. The image shows the pdf when the A citizen of the United States is selected.
Correct mapping will result in a checked box on I-9 generated pdf depending on the choice selected by the new employee on the Live Form. The image shows the pdf when the A citizen of the United States is selected.
To Summarize:
- When mapping the entire selection control (Dropdown, Checkbox, Radio), then the option values in e-form should match the selectable values, else nothing will be checked in the generated PDF.
- When mapping an individual option of a selection control (Dropdown, Checkbox, Radio) to a PDF control, then the value and selectable value need not match. If it is checked while testing the form, it will be checked in the generated PDF.
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| Adobe Reader has an issue with grouped check boxes. Sometimes it only allows a single selection for all of the check boxes in a group. In this case it will only be possible to map the whole e-form checkbox, radio or select control to the pdf checkbox (vs. mapping individual options). An example is discussed below. |
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In order to map these two options, you must make sure that the values for the options in the properties pane of the radio control in the e-form EXACTLY match the options you see in the Selectable Values column for the acrofield. The mapping is done when the user selects one item in the radio corresponding to selected radio option. The items/options are matched to value/option, not label, of the control. Only one selection is supported. See PDF Form Generation Rules for more information.
The options values of the Live Form Status control in the e-form are shown below: Note the Selectable Values from the mapping status are on the option value side of the equal sign. The case of the option values is important. The option values MUST be the same case as listed in the mapping status.
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Single=Single
Married filing jointly=Married Filing Jointly
Married filing separately=Married Filing Separately
HoH=Head of Household
QW=Qualifying Widow(er) |
A user who selects the Head of Household radio button in the Live Form will see that option checkbox checked if the mapping is done correctly.
Date/time will be derived from the xml and it will be in ISO format and in UTC (time and date/time only). There are two issues to consider:
- Timezone. Times and date/times must be formatted using the form’s timezone.
- Formatting dates (and times) use the formatting from the e-form set by the designer.
Form Viewer Control
You may have a flow where you want the user to view the generated PDFs for accuracy. The Employee On Boarding flow requires that the new employee review the generated PDFs and sign to verify that the information is correct. The Form Viewer control allows a generated form to be viewed as part of a form activity. The Confirmation form in the Employee On Boarding flow lets the new employee view and approve the generated W-4 form by signing in the provided signature field. Clicking on the generated form name in use mode displays the form in a separate window/tab. The form can then be viewed or downloaded via the Save procedure for the PDF viewer you are using. There may be other methods of downloading/saving the form depending on the browser.
Open the Flow designer for your flow. Select the step in the flow where you want the PDFs to be viewed by clicking on it and then click on the pencil icon to launch the Form Designer. Notice the addition of the Form Viewer control to the palette. The form viewer control is only available in the form editor's palette when the form editor is launched from the flow designer. You will not see this control on the Forms Designer palette.
Drag and drop the Form Viewer control from the palette into your form. It can not be placed in a repeat or table control. You will need a Form Viewer control for each PDF that you want to be reviewed. The generated form will display in Link Mode. Select the PDF to be viewed for each control from the Form dropdown..
option, not label, of the control. Only one selection is supported. See PDF Form Generation Rules for more information.
The options values of the Live Form Status control in the e-form are shown below: Note the Selectable Values from the mapping status are on the option value side of the equal sign. The case of the option values is important. The option values MUST be the same case as listed in the mapping status.
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Single=Single
Married filing jointly=Married Filing Jointly
Married filing separately=Married Filing Separately
HoH=Head of Household
QW=Qualifying Widow(er) |
A user who selects the Head of Household radio button in the Live Form will see that option checkbox checked if the mapping is done correctly.
Date/time will be derived from the xml and it will be in ISO format and in UTC (time and date/time only). There are two issues to consider:
- Timezone. Times and date/times must be formatted using the form’s timezone.
- Formatting dates (and times) use the formatting from the e-form set by the designer.
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Mapping of dynamically generated selection control options via a rule is not supported at this time. It will be available in a future release of . |
Form Viewer Control
You may have a flow where you want the user to view the generated PDFs for accuracy. The Employee On Boarding flow requires that the new employee review the generated PDFs and sign to verify that the information is correct. The Form Viewer control allows a generated form to be viewed as part of a form activity. The Confirmation form in the Employee On Boarding flow lets the new employee view and approve the generated W-4 form by signing in the provided signature field. Clicking on the generated form name in use mode displays the form in a separate window/tab. The form can then be viewed or downloaded via the Save procedure for the PDF viewer you are using. There may be other methods of downloading/saving the form depending on the browser.
Open the Flow designer for your flow. Select the step in the flow where you want the PDFs to be viewed by clicking on it and then click on the pencil icon to launch the Form Designer. Notice the addition of the Form Viewer control to the palette. The form viewer control is only available in the form editor's palette when the form editor is launched from the flow designer. You will not see this control on the Forms Designer palette.
Drag and drop the Form Viewer control from the palette into your form. It can not be placed in a repeat or table control. You will need a Form Viewer control for each PDF that you want to be reviewed. The generated form will display in Link Mode. Select the PDF to be viewed for each control from the Form dropdown..
The default width is 400px and the default height is 300px. Changes to margin, padding and border properties will have no effect but the rest of properties on the Style tab work as expected. Style properties for the Form Viewer control will be addressed in a future release.
In version 5.1.1. the Form Viewer control added from schema to a form that is not in a flow displays:the message: 'Form viewer control is only supported within a flow.' You will see this message in design and use mode.
Link Mode
The Form Viewer control defaults to link mode. Link mode offers the generated PDF to the user as a link for viewing/downloading/saving it. Clicking on the generated form name in use mode displays the form in a separate window/tab. The form can then be viewed or downloaded via the Save procedure for the PDF viewer you are using. There may be other methods of downloading/saving the form depending on the browser. The download link is inactive in edit mode unless you right-click on it and open the form in a new window/tab. Form Viewer controls in link mode in the designer display as shown in the image. Select the PDF to be viewed for each control from the Form dropdown.
In version 5.1.1. the Form Viewer control added from schema to a form that is not in a flow displays:the message: 'Form viewer control is only supported within a flow.' You will see this message in design and use mode.
Testing the flow
When the generation of Pixel Perfect PDFs for your flow is completed, and you have saved the updates, click on the Test icon and run the flow and submit it. When you get to the form with the Form Viewer controls, be sure to check the generated Pixel Perfect PDFs such as the W - 4 etc.
If you are using MySql MySQL, and you see the following exception in the frevvo.log when are running/submitting a form/flow with a large Acroform , the large acroform, , you may see this error:
The default value of the max_allowed_packet parameter in your MySQL server may not be large enough. Refer to this website for detailed information about the MySql configuration parameter.
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Increasing the max_allowed_packet variable setting in your MySQL Server from the default (1M) to something like 16M (16777125) fixes the issue. To fix the issue temporarily, run the following commands:
To permanently set it, choose one of the two methods listed below:
mysqld --max_allowed_packet=16M
On Mac OS, you can access the my.cnf file by typing
The location of the my.ini/my.cnf file varies by configuration.