Display patterns consist of special symbols, depending on the type of the field. For example, MMMM stands for the full month name. These symbols will be resolved at runtime according to the appropriate locale. For instance, MMMM could result in January, Januar, or Janvier.

 

Inside patterns literals can be used. To include a phrase in a pattern, delimit the text string with quotation marks ('...').Example, 'Your payment is due no later than' MM-DD-YY.

 

The comma (,), dash (-), colon (:), slash (/), period (.), and space ( ) are treated as literal values and can be included anywhere in a pattern.

 

Be aware that display patterns cannot be translated. All patterns are case-sensitive.

 

After you type in the desired display pattern, press Enter. Adobe LiveCycle Designer will then check whether the pattern is syntactically correct.

Make sure the field for which you define the pattern has enough space, particularly if you use a long display pattern. To find out if enough space has been provided, activate the form and run a test program.

 

Sometimes data can come in various forms, so that one single simple pattern would not work. For example, number plates vary a lot from state to state. That is why you can also write patterns with several options.

 

At runtime, the pattern that matches the data will be taken. The syntax for defining a number of acceptable patterns is as follows: {}|{}.

 

You can specify an unlimited number of patterns. can be date, time, num, or text. For example, text{AA-99}|text{AAA-999} text{AA-99}|text{AAA-999}

 

Processing of patterns:

• At run time, Adobe LiveCycle Designer displays date, time, and numeric field values in locale-sensitive format when you use the Preview function. If you start the application program, the language and country parameter settings will influence the output. Using patterns can superpose this.

   

• If you want to display a field value in a format other than the default, you can specify the custom pattern by choosing the Patterns button on the Field tab.

   

• Because the display pattern describes how data will be displayed in the form, all default values, user-entered values, and values passed via the context are converted to the format described by the display pattern

   

• In addition, you can write a script to format the user input.

 

 

What you can do with the validation pattern:

• Verify the format of the field value against a specific field pattern.
• Invoke a validation script. You can define a validation pattern to validate user input for date/time fields, numeric fields, text fields, and password fields. If the field value matches the validation pattern, it is formatted for display.

 

If the user-entered value does not match the validation pattern, a programming error or warning appears.

 

The error/warning is trapped by Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or Adobe document services, which returns a message to the user automatically. If an edit pattern has not been specified and the user input does not match LiveCycle Designer defaults, validation fails.

 

If you are designing an interactive form, consider what user input must be validated.

 

For example, depending on usage, a text field may or may not require validation. A multiple-line text field allowing the form filler to enter a comment does not need to be validated. Similarly, a numeric field will automatically prevent the form-filler from entering any non-numeric data.

 

However, if the data has to be restricted to a specific range of numbers, you will want to validate the user input. You can choose to display a custom message to prompt users for a correct value at runtime. If you do not specify a custom message, the system generates one automatically.

 

User input can be processed through FormCalc formulas and JavaScript scripts (for example, a script can request the raw value of a field). Because formulas and scripts operate on raw values, it is important to validate those fields where input is restricted. One example of how an edit and validation pattern may be used together is a credit card or social security number entry.