[Scribus] problem with check boxes

[John Jason Jordan]

> On Friday 02 March 2007, jack wallen wrote:
> hello everyone.
> 
> i'm working on a form for a client using scribus 1.3.3.6. i'm
> trying to add check boxes but am having no luck. i add the check
> boxes but when i try to view them (currently in either Evince or OS
> X's Preview) the boxes are not showing up. i have text fields that
> are working perfectly - but not the checks.
> 
> am i missing something? is there an issue that i'm not aware of?

At this time there is only one PDF viewer that can display editable
PDFs -- Adobe Reader 7.0 or later. I have the Linux version of Adobe
Reader 7.08 installed on my Ubuntu Edgy amd64 computer and it works
fine. I can create the editable PDF in Scribus, export to PDF, and when
I open the PDF in Adobe Reader the check boxes and other PDF fields are
fully editable by the user. 

I should also add that at this time there are only three ways to create
editable PDFs -- any program, by printing to Adobe Acrobat Professional
7.0 or later, or with OpenOffice.org, or with Scribus. The latter two
have their own PDF export utility built in so Acrobat is not required.
Acrobat cannot be made to run on Linux, even with Wine or Crossover
Office. You could do so on Linux only by installing it in a virtual
machine, that is, use VMware, qemu or such utility to install Windows
or MacOS as a guest OS running inside of Linux. That requires a Windows
or MacOS license, of course. And you have to buy Acrobat Professional
7.0 or 8.0 as well. 

And I should also say that between OpenOffice.org and Scribus, the
ability to create editable PDFs is at par, but with differences. In
OpenOffice.org you cannot set the font for a PDF field -- the program
automatically applies Helvetica to the control regardless of what the
user specifies. Scribus also limits the font for the control (PDF
field), but you can at least choose from five different fonts. So
Scribus is ahead in that area, but in OpenOffice.org you can link a
database to the control, which you cannot do in Scribus. So if you need
to link a control to a database, e.g., a drop-down box, OpenOffice is
your best tool. But if you need fonts, go with Scribus --
OpenOffice.org on Linux can't use OpenType fonts at all, not even for
regular text. And that is not going to be fixed even in OOo 2.2,
scheduled for late spring release. Personally, I think that is totally
lame, but that's the way it is.