Forms

Dynamic Text fields

Editable text fields are used to collect user-provided information. Carbone can prefill these fields.

Important Notes:

• The template must be an ODT file edited with LibreOffice.
• Editable text fields are only supported in ODT and PDF documents.
• Other file formats (e.g., XLSX, DOCX, ODS) do not support editable text fields, nor do ODT files created with MS Word.

Example in LibreOffice

1. In the top menu, click on Form > Text Box.
2. Draw the text box on the document body.
3. In the form toolbar, disable "Design Mode".
4. Insert a Carbone tag inside the text box, e.g., {d.value}.
5. Generate the document as a PDF or ODT with Carbone, and you're done!

Dynamic Checkboxes

Editable checkboxes allow users to choose between two distinct values, making them useful in complex forms and checklists. Here are several solutions:

• Solution 1: Clickable checkboxes can be created in PDFs and ODT reports. The template must be an ODT file edited with LibreOffice. Input elements in other formats (XLSX, DOCX, ODS, etc.) will not be clickable, even if the ODT file is created with MS Word.
• Solution 2: Use Unicode characters or emojis to represent checkboxes.
• Solution 3: Create custom checkboxes using SVG images.

Example 1: Clickable Checkbox in ODTs

1. In the top menu, click on "Form" > "Check Box".
2. Insert the check box into the ODT template.
3. Right-click on the check box and select "Control Properties".
4. Insert the Carbone tag in the "Name" property. The checkbox will be ticked (checked) when the value is a Boolean with the value "true," a non-empty string, a non-empty array, or a non-empty object.

Note: It is not possible to create a list of checkboxes; otherwise, an error will be returned.

Example 2: Checkbox in Any Document

Using the following expression, if the value is true, it will display ✅; otherwise, it will display ⬜️. Emojis can be replaced with Unicode characters.

  {d.value:ifEQ(true):show(✅):elseShow(⬜️)} // Emojies
  {d.value:ifEQ(true):show(☑):elseShow(☐)} // Unicode Characters 1
  {d.value:ifEQ(true):show(☒):elseShow(☐)} // Unicode Characters 2

Example 3: Custom checkboxes from images

This example uses dynamic images to print custom checkboxes dynamically from SVG. The following JSON dataset is used:

Data

{
  "value": false,
  "img1": "data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMzAiIGhlaWdodD0iMzAiIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyI+PGc+PHJlY3Qgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDAwIiBpZD0ic3ZnXzEiIGhlaWdodD0iMzAiIHdpZHRoPSIzMCIgeT0iMCIgeD0iMCIgZmlsbD0iIzA4ODc0RCIvPjwvZz48L3N2Zz4=",
  "img2": "data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMzAiIGhlaWdodD0iMzAiIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyI+PGc+PHJlY3Qgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDAwIiBpZD0ic3ZnXzEiIGhlaWdodD0iMzAiIHdpZHRoPSIzMCIgeT0iMCIgeD0iMCIgZmlsbD0iI0ZGRkZGRiIvPjwvZz48L3N2Zz4="
}

SVG images img2 and img1 are formatted as Data-URLs:

1. Encode the SVG image as base64.
2. Add the prefix data:image/svg+xml;base64, before the base64 string.

Template

In the template, insert a square placeholder image. Then, select the image and right-click > Properties > Alternative Text and write the following expression to display a colored checkbox: {d.value:ifEQ(true):show(.img1):elseShow(.img2)}.

Expression Details:

• d.value: The checkbox value.
• :ifEQ(true): Conditional formatter that checks if the value is equal to true.
• :show(.img1): If the condition is true, the .img1 SVG image is displayed.
• :elseShow(.img2): If the condition is false, the .img2 SVG image is displayed.