Local data in writer pulldown list

users
#1

I want to create a fillable PDF form using Writer but I'm stuck on one issue. When selecting one of a choice of options, it can be done with a pulldown list or a set of radio buttons. The pulldown list is the simpler way and it uses a lot less real estate on a page, but Writer wants to connect it to a database.

I can see this might be useful in some rare instances but creating a fillable PDF isn't one of them. Such a document, or even a Writer form, normally needs to be self-contained so it can be distributed.

If Writer simply wants to load the options one time from the database then it should also be possible to insert them directly into the document but I can't see a method to do this. If it wants to maintain the connection to the database so that it loads them when the pulldown is activated, then it makes the feature rather useless.

Is it possible to create a pulldown list and fill in the options without connecting to a database?

#2

1. Right mouse click on the list box, choose control
2. On the 'General' Tab, choose List entries.
3. type your first entry BUT press Shift+Enter to make non-breaking space
for the 2nd entry
4. repeat as necessary.
5. Choose File>Export as PDF.
6. Select the 'Create PDF Form' option.

I left the Submit format as 'FDF', & it worked in qpdfview, prompting me to
save when I exited. I'm afraid you'll need to research the other options.

#3

Thanks.

It's actually a little more complicated. In order to create the list box, you need to select a data source. Then when you go to edit it, before changing the General entries, you need to clear out the Data bits and change the Type of list contents to Value list. Otherwise the list entries is greyed out.

Interestingly, the document remembers the data source even though it's no longer in use, so creating subsequent list boxes, etc. use the same data source. However, unlike a form letter, a data entry form could have several data sources (different lists). In fact, I'd suggest that it would be rare for different list boxes in the same document to use the same data source.

This suggests to me that the Insert List Box dialogue is designed incorrectly. It should ask for the data source (type and value) instead of forcing you to use a database link.

#4

Gary Dale wrote

It's actually a little more complicated. In order to create the list
box, you need to select a data source.

No, using LO 5.2.2 I simply open Writer and

1. selected the listbox icon from the Form Controls toolbar then
2. clicked and dragged the outline of a listbox on the page
3. (as mentioned previously)

Are you perhaps using the wizard instead?

#5

Yes, when I go into Design Mode then Insert | Form Controls | List Box, it brings up the wizard after I draw the list box. It also does that if I I use the Form Controls toolbar. Since the dialogue pops up in each case, it's not obvious that you can simply cancel it without also losing the form control.

So I guess my real complaint is about the wizard being rather the opposite - something that gets in the way of a simpler process.