Creating a form for others to return

5 Feb 2010 16:07:18

Mark Ford

I would like to create an electronic form for others to fill in, mainly on PCs, in such a way that I can copy and paste the result into the placemarks on Google Earth.

The form would have bits of code related to how the text will appear interspersed with expandable spaces into which people write things.
I am not being clear to myself so how can I hope for help?
It might look a bit like:

<tr><td><b>Background:</b>BLAH BLAH BLAH<tr><td><b>Middleground:</b> BLAH BLAH<tr><td><b>Foreground:</b>BLAH BLAH BLAH
</center>
</p>

People would fill in the BLAH bits and sent them to me. I would scoop it all up and paste it int Google Earth.

They would need to be able to do this on a number of occasions and it would be good if they were unable to disturb the HTML. Most are not very computer savvy.

Is there a way for me to make such a pro-former?

Re: Creating a form for others to return

5 Feb 2010 22:51:34

Mick Burrell

Mark, rather than try to write the code, you could look at this site - they seem to offer a free account:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/

Re: Creating a form for others to return

6 Feb 2010 14:41:02

Mark Ford

Thanks Mick - will follow that link up.
However, I need the code to paste into Google Earth along with the new text so the text that has been sent to me is displayed in Google Earth properly. I want to avoid rewriting the code each time I enter a new description into a new placemark.

Re: Creating a form for others to return

6 Feb 2010 15:48:53

Trevor Hewson

I've never tried anything like this but, rather than embedding your HTML tags into the form, would it be possible to set up a script in Automator that invites you to enter the Blah blahs (perhaps by copy and paste) and then automatically wraps the HTML tags around for you? You might even be able to write a script that extracts the Blah blahs from the form, e.g. Blah from line 2, Blah blah from line 4, Blah blah blah from line 6.

Does this make any sense? Does it relate at all to what you are trying to do? Does anyone use Automator? It always looks so useful but I have never found anything to use it for!

Trevor

Re: Creating a form for others to return

6 Feb 2010 18:27:58

Mick Burrell

I don't think I'm quite following you Mark. Presumably we have two stages here. Stage one, you want to send a form for people to fill. Stage two you need to enter their text replies set in HTML code into Google Earth. Is that correct?

Re: Creating a form for others to return

7 Feb 2010 15:12:37

Mark Ford

Thanks for the idea Trevor - what you suggest relates directly to what I need to do. Like you Automator has seemed attractive to me but I have never spent enough time with it to know just how useful it could be. There are one or two other bits of software I have put on one side waiting to be explored when I haven't get much on. That time never comes.

Does anyone out there know if Automator looks like a possibility? If so I will invest some time in getting to grips with it.

Mick has found a solution off list which involves me sending an email with the code in one colour and space for Blah blah in another together with strict instructions to only make entries in the correct places. My correspondents then have to copy and paste my email into any old WP and they have as many templates as they need. Thank you Mick - the code has lost some of it's mystery and threat!

Another thought: is it possible to make a pdf that others can write on but not otherwise alter? I would need to be able to swipe and copy it all when it returned.

Re: Creating a form for others to return

9 Feb 2010 18:47:05

Euan Williams

"Another thought": yes, I did it back in the 1990's -- but will have to remember how !

Re: Creating a form for others to return

10 Feb 2010 19:18:19

Euan Williams

OK: open Acrobat Reader 9.x.
Download the HELP.pdf
Go to Chapter 7:

<quote>
Chapter 7: Forms
You can fill in forms using either Adobe® Acrobat® 9 Standard or the free Adobe Reader®. You can create static or interactive forms in Acrobat or Adobe LiveCycle® Designer ES (included with Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended for Microsoft® Windows®). Interactive forms streamline the process of filling in and collecting data.
Forms basics About forms
You can use Acrobat to create forms using one of the following methods:
• Convert an existing electronic document (for example an Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, or Excel document) to a PDF form.

>> Note: In Mac OS, you can only create a form using an existing PDF file. <<

• Scan a paper form to convert it to a PDF form.
• Create a form from scratch or from a template using LiveCycle Designer ES. This option is only available if you have Designer ES or Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended for Windows.

Note: You can create or edit XML forms in Designer ES but not in Acrobat. After you convert an existing document to a PDF form, you can add fields to it to convert it to an interactive form. An interactive form can be filled out on a computer and submitted through an Internet or local network connection.

For more information about forms, see these resources: • How to lay out form fields on a grid: acrobat.timhuff.net/ • Articles, tutorials, and tips about forms: http://acrobatusers.com/ • Forms gallery: http://acrobatusers.com/gallery/forms_gallery/
<unquote>

Hope this helps.

Re: Creating a form for others to return

10 Feb 2010 19:45:40

Euan Williams

Addendum:
the Help .pdf is here:
>> http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Acrobat/9.0/Standard/acrobat_standard_9.0_help.pdf <<

Re: Creating a form for others to return

11 Feb 2010 16:34:53

Mark Ford

Thanks Euan - plenty to do!