Prevent scrolling in PDF text boxes

[micro99]

I’m using Writer 7.2.1.2 on Win10 x64.

Sometimes it’s important to prevent text scrolling inside a PDF text box; in other words to prevent the form user from typing more than they should into the field. In fact this becomes critical when the final form will be printed or flattened.

In the Text Box Form Control Properties, there is a ‘Max. text length’ parameter. While this works to limit the number of characters that can be entered, it’s not a scalable, adaptable approach, given the potential variability of fonts and text box sizes & proportions.

What I’m looking for is a control that, once exported, would effectively result in the Adobe Acrobat Text Field Property ‘Scroll long text’ being unticked if the PDF was examined in Acrobat.

I don’t think it’s possible but wanted to ask. This question applies to both single- and multi-line PDF text boxes.

[micro99]

No input from the community, so here’s my suggestion: the dialog for text boxes already allows a ‘Max text length’ entry value of ‘-1’. I propose therefore the following behaviour in the exported PDF form field:

• If Max text length > 0, enforce that limit for number of characters (‘Scroll long text’ in Acrobat is ticked AND ‘Limit of #### characters’ is populated from dialog value). This works correctly today.
• If Max text length = 0, allow scrolling (‘Scroll long text’ in Acrobat is ticked). This would result in unrestricted entry length. This works correctly today.
• If Max text length = -1, limit entry to visible field (‘Scroll long text’ is unticked). This needs a code change.

I get that this would be a feature request. Can it be opened in Bugzilla for tracking purposes? Looking for community input regarding the best way to request this and I’m happy to write it up.

[Wanderer]

Bugzilla is the right place for enhancement requests, so just open it there, if you wish a developer will see it.