Adobe Acrobat XI - Manual (Page 261)

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Forms
Last updated 1/14/2015
JavaScript code is generated automatically to encode the selected fields in the XML or Tab Delimited format. The
Barcode Field Properties dialog box closes, and the barcode for which you specified values appears on the form.
Note: If you add a new field to a form after you have created the barcode, it is not automatically included in the data
for existing barcodes. However, you can manually include additional data fields in the barcode.
Test a barcode field
1 Choose Forms >Tasks >Close Form Editing, or click the Preview button in the Forms toolbar.
2 Fill in the form. Use sample data that represents the maximum amount of information for each field or that you
expect users to enter.
3 If the barcode field is dimmed, follow either the procedure for resizing the barcode field or for adjusting the content
data. (See the following tasks.)
4 Make sure that the barcode field area is large enough to contain all of the incoming data. Choose Forms >Clear Form
to remove the sample data.
5 Select File > Save.
The barcode form field is now ready for distribution.
Include additional data fields in the barcode
1 If you are not in the form editing mode, choose Tools > Forms > Edit.
2 Double-click the barcode field.
3 In the Value tab, do one of the following:
• If Encode Using is selected, click Pick, and select additional form fields to be encoded.
• If Custom Calculation Script is selected, click Edit, and write additional JavaScript to include the additional
fields.
After including new data fields in the barcode, be sure that the barcode area is large enough by testing sample data. If
the barcode area is dimmed, adjust the barcode size or text field properties so that the data content fits into the barcode
area.
Adjust data content to fit in a barcode field
1 If you are not in the form editing mode, choose Tools > Forms > Edit.
2 To edit the barcode properties so that it can accommodate more data, double-click the barcode field, and do any of
the following:
• In the Options tab, click the Custom button and enter lower values for Error Correction Level and Y/X Ratio.
• In the Options tab, select Compress Data Before Encoding To Barcode, but only if you are using an Adobe
software decoder (available separately).
• In the Value tab, select Tab Delimited rather than XML as the data-encoding format. XML requires more barcode
area to encode information than Tab Delimited does.
• In the Options tab, select a different Symbology option.
• In the Value tab, click the Pick button, and deselect any fields that don’t need encoding. For example, don’t
include fields with redundant information.
• In the Value tab, enter a custom script that converts user-entered text to either all lowercase or all uppercase
characters during the encoding process.