Mobile Forms Overview
Mobile Forms

Mobile Forms is a new capability in Adobe® LiveCycle® Enterprise Suite 4 (ES4) software that offers rendering of XFA form templates in HTML5 format. This capability enables the rendering of forms on mobile devices and desktop browsers on which XFA-based PDF is not supported. Mobile Forms not only supports the existing capabilities of XFA form templates but also adds new capabilities, such as scribble signature, for mobile devices. 

Mobile Forms generates documents based on standard HTML5 constructs. You can view Mobile Forms in all modern browsers that support HTML5. It does not require installing any additional browser plug-ins for the browsers. For more information about supported platforms, see Supported browsers and devices.

Mobile Forms on mobile devices including iPad

Key capabilities of Mobile Forms

  • Renders existing XFA forms in HTML5 supported on all compatible browsers.
  • Leverages standard XFA form design capabilities to target forms for mobile devices.
  • Uses dynamic XFA capabilities in HTML5 format.
  • Uses highly accurate SVG text layout (SVG 1.1) to match with the PDF text layout.
  • Provides Support for JavaScript and FormCalc.
  • Dynamically assembles fragments into interactive forms based on data-driven events or user input.
  • Provides support for custom CSS to match appearance of the forms according to your enterprise standards.
  • Enables custom widgets to offer a rich data capture experience.
  • Provides support for integration with web apps.

Multichannel publishing

Form developers can use an XFA template to render forms in PDF and HTML5 formats. This capability is beneficial in scenarios where you have a large set of XFA forms that require minimal changes to adapt to Mobile Forms design practices. You can render the existing XFA forms to HTML5 to target various devices where XFA-based PDF is not yet supported.

Render existing XFA forms to Mobile Forms

Manage Mobile Forms using Forms Manager

Adobe LiveCycle ES4 also provides a unified view for listing and managing all form templates using Forms Manager. You can use Forms Manager to activate, deactivate, publish, and preview forms. For more information about Forms Manager, see Introduction to Forms Manager.

Forms customization

Mobile Forms renders form templates using standard HTML5 constructs. This makes it simple to customize and extend forms in HTML5 format using web technologies, primarily CSS, and JavaScript. You can easily customize the appearance of existing widgets, create your own custom widgets, or use custom styles in forms. For more information about creating custom widgets and customizing existing widgets, see Customizing Mobile Forms

View complete documentation of Mobile Forms. If you are upgrading to Adobe LiveCycle ES4 from an existing version, see Upgrading to LiveCycle ES4.