Inserting a Graphic 

Use

Under the graphic node, you can insert graphics, such as a company logo, to be used in the form output. In Adobe LiveCycle Designer, you bind graphic nodes to an object of the type Image Field. You use the graphic node to specify where the content of the image comes from at runtime. To do this, you either specify the URL address of an image or the name of a field in which the image content is specified in binary code at runtime.

For information about the supported image file formats, see the online help in Adobe LiveCycle Designer under Defining Object Properties ® Image Fields ® About Image Fields.

Prerequisites

Any graphics that you want to display with the Graphic Content option must be stored in MIME Repository. For more information about graphics used in Smart Forms, see Migrating BDS Graphics into MIME Repository.

Procedure

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       1.      Select an existing node in the context, under which you want to create a graphic node.

       2.      In the context menu of the node, choose Create ® Graphic.

       3.      The system creates a graphic node under the selected node. Enter the required data about the graphic in the Properties window under the form context.

You can choose from the following graphic types:

○       Graphic Reference

Choose this option if you want to insert a graphic from its address (URL). The URL can point to a Web server or to a file system. You must be able to access the graphic at the specified URL. This means that you may have to configure appropriate access rights for Adobe Document Services (ADS). Graphics stored in MIME Repository cannot be accessed through a URL. To use these graphics, choose Graphic Content.

○       Graphic Content

Choose this option if you want to specify graphic content using a field. This field contains all image information at runtime. The graphics must be in MIME Repository.

       4.      The entries you need to make depend on whether you chose Graphic Reference or Graphic Content in the last step.

○       If you have chosen Graphic Reference as your graphic type, enter the URL of the graphic.

In Adobe LiveCycle Designer, you can choose whether the system gets the graphic at runtime, or whether the graphic is embedded in the form. For more information, see the online help in Adobe Designer.

○       If you have specified Graphic Content as your graphic type, you must do the following:

■       In Field, enter a field name from the interface.  The field must have the type STRING (graphical data is Base64-coded) or XSTRING (for binary-coded graphical data).

■       Enter a valid MIME type, such as ’image/bmp’.

       5.      Under Conditions, enter the prerequisites that need to be met before the graphic node is processed at runtime and displayed in the form.

Result

You have created a complete graphic node. You can insert this node in the layout in Form Builder.

Example

You want to insert a graphic from the Website of the fictitious company AnyCompany in your form. You have chosen Graphic Reference as your graphic type. The example shows you two ways of specifying the URL.

1. Specifying a URL with Fixed Values

Graphic URL	Delimiter
’http://www.anycompany.com/images/logo.gif’

 

If you have inserted the graphic node in Adobe LiveCycle Designer, the following URL is entered for the graphic object:

http://www.anycompany.com/images/logo.gif

 

2. Specifying the URL by Using Fields

Graphic URL	Delimiter
‘http://www.anycompany.com/images’	/
GRAPHIC_NAME
’.gif’

 

GRAPHIC_NAME is a field from the interface that is entered as an import parameter. At runtime, it contains the name of the graphic that you want to load. The graphic is unknown when the layout is created, which is why no URL appears in Adobe LiveCycle Designer.