[tool] Set form field properties from Excel

[Mathew]

This tool enables one to set most of the field properties using copy and paste from an Excel (or Open/Libre Office) spreadsheet.

Background
I don't think there's a built-in way to set more than the values of form fields from either a tab delimited or comma separated text file (if there is, please comment!) This tool allows you to set any number of arbitrary properties (such as the Tooltip, colors, visibility, etc) in addition to the value of fields.


Using the Tool
Once installed it will add a button to the Form ribbon (or menu) "Apply Excel Table…":

image.png

Running the tool opens up this dialog:

image(1).png

? opens a dialog with further information about the properties that can be used
Get Field Names opens a dialog with all the field names in the current document, in a format that can be pasted into a row in Excel.
Column Format/Row Format allows one to organize the spreadsheet data in columns (with the field names across the top) or in rows (with the field names down a column).

Copy the cells from the spreadsheet and paste them directly into this dialog. Press "OK" to apply the changes.


Installation
Detailed instructions here: viewtopic.php?p=196006#p196006
Extract the zip and save js files into the Javascripts folder

setFormData v1.1.zip

Example
I have a pdf with four form fields. I've set the name of two of them identically, so some properties applied to these fields will always be the same between them.

image(2).png

I then run the tool, and press [Get Field Names] to get all the field names, and paste them into Excel. After that, I've added some rows with information that I want to apply to the fields (this table is organized in "Column Format"):

image(3).png

Copy and paste this table into the dialog. It looks a bit messy, but so long as each cell is separated with a Tab (not spaces), it will work:

image(4).png

Press OK, and it updates all the fields:

image(5).png

BTW the same table, organized in Row Format would be:

image(6).png

Limitations/Bugs

• Fixed in v1.1:None of the properties can include Tab or Newline - it will break the parsing of the data. It's on my todo list.

[Mathew]

This version parses tab delimited data better (handles quotes and newlines in the text). Also adds the option to organize the table by row or column.

setFormData v1.1.zip

Changes in v1.1

• handle newline and tab in delimited data;
• add option for row format

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Thank you Mathew.