How to spawn pages using script on a button in InDesign through FormMaker to PDF

[KeltexanParticipant]

I have a page with a table with form fields where a user can add pages as needed by clicking a button. I have found a simple script that works great when applied in Acrobat, but you must first set up a template page there. Now that I am using FormMaker, I want to keep all formatting, actions, and scripts in InDesign. How can I tweak the script to work from InDesign, and would I need to set the template in InDesign to be exported to PDF? Below is the script I have used in Acrobat. My scripting skills at this time are rudimentary. Thank you.

var a = this.getTemplate (“*”);

a.spawn();

//* is the name of the template of the page being replicated

[~~Ariel~~Participant]

Hi Keltexan,

This is an excellent question.

After playing around with the various possibilities, it seems, unfortunately, that it is not currently possible to create template pages (that is, mark pages as being templates) with FormMaker. (I was hoping to do something clever with a document script.)

Acrobat enforces this restriction for security reasons (not sure what the specific risk here is, TBH).

Adding a feature to FormMaker to allow the user to mark pages (in InDesign) as template pages is a great feature request, though, and something I will definitely put on the to-do list for a future update.

If this is an urgent need for you and would save lots of time and money, I’ll be happy to quote you for creating a custom version of FormMaker that would make it possible.

So, meanwhile, what you can do is add custom scripts to button events with FormMaker, using the spawn() method as you show above. But the actual step of turning certain pages into template pages will still need to be done manually in Acrobat.

Ariel

[Author]

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