Create a PDF Check Box Scoring Questionnaire in Five Minutes

Here's the scenario: A PDF questionnaire with check box choices for each question, and a number scoring system that allots points for each answer, then totals the points at the end.

For example, each question has 5 choices:

1)   Strongly disagree (1 point).

2)   Disagree (2 points).

3)   Somewhat agree (3 points).

4)   Agree (4 points).

5)   Strongly agree (5 points).

There are 10 questions per page, with three pages.  The highest possible score is 150 (10 x 3 x 5).  Once you have your static PDF you can add the form fields and put this together in less than five minutes because of the following principles.

1)   Check boxes with the same name and different export values are mutually exclusive (only one in the series can be checked simultaneously).

2)   In form editing mode, using right-click > Place Multiple Fields will create multiple fields with the same route name and a different suffix.

3)   Adding together field values of fields with the same route name and a different suffix requires only selecting the field with the same route name in the calculation tab of the field properties.

4)   Adding the values of check boxes with numbers for export values will add those numbers togethers and ignore, or treat as zero, unchecked check boxes, which have a default export value of "Off".

5)   The export value of multiple check box fields can be changed simultaneously by changing the export value of one check box, while multiple check boxes are selected.

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HERE ARE THE STEPS:

1)   Create a check box with any name.  In this example we'll name it Points.

2)   Open the field properties and put the number 1 as the Export Value in the Options tab.

3)   Right-click the field, select Place Multiple Fields, and enter 30 down and 1 across.  You should now have 30 check boxes named Points.0 through Points.29.

4)   Move the first 10 fields into position over the check box graphics on page 1.

5)   Cut (Ctrl + x) the next 10 fields from page 1 and paste (Ctrl + v) them to page 2.

6) Cut the last 10 fields from page 1 and paste them to page 3.

7)   Go back to page 1 and select all the fields by dragging mouse around all the fields.

8) Copy (Ctrl + c) the 10 fields.

9) Paste (Ctrl + v) the 10 fields

10) Move the fields into position.

11) With the pasted fields selected, right-click one of the fields, select Properties, and change the Export Value from 1 to 2.

12) Repeat steps 9 to 11 but change the export value from 1 to 3.

13) Repeat steps 9 to 11 but change the export value from 1 to 4.

14) Repeat steps 9 to 11 but change the export value from 1 to 5.

15) Repeat steps 8 to 14 for pages 2 and 3.  You should now have 5 columns of 10 rows of check boxes on each page.  The check box export values in each column should be the same as the other export values in the column (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5).

16) Create a text field called Total.

17) In the calculation tab of the field properties of the Total field, select Value is the sum, and pick only one field:  Points (You will see Points.0 through Points.29, but you should also see a field called only Points).

When the user checks and unchecks the check boxes in the questionnaire, the total field will add the total points automatically.

VIDEO

The screen capture video below shows all 20 steps.  The video would be less than 5 minutes if I didn't go slowly and explain each step. To view in full screen mode on a PC click the square frame in the bottom right of the video when it starts playing.

Full Screen Selector

To exit full screen and come back to the article, press the Esc key.

TIPS FOR CALCULATED FIELDS

Calculated fields should be set to Read Only for the following reasons:

1)   Since it is useless to type any value into them because they will always revert to the calculated value, you shouldn't give users the option.

2)   Since users can't type in the field, the tabbing through fields will skip fields set to Read Only.

WHEN THE COLUMN OF CHECK BOXES WON'T FIT ON A PAGE

When you use right-click > Place Multiple Fields to create your column of check boxes, if you are requesting more fields than will fit on a page, you will get a warning like "number of fields must be between 1 and 55".  What do you do if you get that warning but you need 75 fields?  There are 2 things you can do.

1)   Adjust the number to 55 so you can maximize the fields on the page.  Then move the last field to the top of the page and right-click > Place Multiple Fields, and add the number of fields required.  The second time you do this the fields will have 2 decimal separated prefixes (Points.54.1, Points.54.2, etc.).  This is not an issue as you will still only need to select the field called Points to add up all the variations of the Points field.

2)   You could create a PDF with a longer page so the number of fields you require will fit on the page.  Then simply copy the fields from one PDF to other.

For point 2 above, use the app.newDoc( ) method in the JavaScript console, which will create a one page PDF and takes 2 optional input parameters: The width in points and the height in points. There are 72 points per inch. If the parameters are omitted, a 612 x 792 (8.5" x 11") page will be created. Since your page didn’t fit all the check boxes you needed, simply double the height like this:

app.newDoc(612, 1584);

I trust this tutorial will save you time. If you have any questions about this article, or suggestions for future articles, please feel free to use the comment section. In the next article I’ll be demonstrating at least one other math calculation shortcut. See you then…