PDF Interactive Forms Test

A recent project was creating an interactive PDF conference registration form for a non-profit organization.
Up till then they used a non-interactive PDF that members/attendants had to print, fill in with a pen, and either scan and e-mail or send by snail mail.
Due to the members/attendants' high average age there was some fear that withe the new interactive form we might be spending many hours on support calls.

That is why I wrote a simple "PDF Form Test", allowing members to check if their software is capable of handling PDF forms at all, and if not explaining them to use the old print-pen-snail mail technique.
It was created using PDFill PDF Form Maker.
Initially, it will show the following text:

If the PDF reader is capable of handling Adobe JavaScript, however, this text is immediately replaced by the following text (with the actual software name and version), and a hidden "Print" button is made visible:

Though not visible in the normal view, some extra debugging info will be included in the printed output:

var debugmsg = "";
var newmsg = "";
var viewername = "an unknown program";
var viewerver = "";
var advforms = false;
 
if ( typeof app.viewerType != "undefined" )
{
	debugmsg += "app.viewerType         = " + app.viewerType;
	debugmsg += "\napp.viewerVersion      = " + app.viewerVersion;
	if ( typeof app.pxceInfo != "undefined" )
	{
		debugmsg += "\napp.pxceInfo.name      = " + app.pxceInfo.name;
		debugmsg += "\napp.pxceInfo.variation = " + app.pxceInfo.variation;
		debugmsg += "\napp.pxceInfo.platform  = " + app.pxceInfo.platform;
		debugmsg += "\napp.pxceInfo.version   = " + app.pxceInfo.version.join( "." );
		debugmsg += "\napp.pxceVersion        = " + app.pxceVersion.join( "." );
	}
	if ( typeof app.isFoxit != "undefined" )
	{
		debugmsg += "\napp.isFoxit           = " + app.isFoxit;
	}
	if ( typeof app.plugIns != "undefined" )
	{
		var plugins = app.plugIns.join( "\n                         " ); // 25 tabs to align plugins
		if ( plugins == "" )
		{
			plugins = "none";
		}
		debugmsg += "\napp.plugIns            = " + plugins;
	}
 
	if ( app.viewerType == "Exchange" )
	{
		viewername = "Acrobat Standard";
		advforms = true;
		viewerver = " version " + app.viewerVersion;
	}
	else if ( app.viewerType == "Exchange-Pro" )
	{
		viewername = "Acrobat Pro, Foxit PDF Reader or PDF-XChange, or other software spoofing as Acrobat Pro";
		advforms = true;
		viewerver = " version " + app.viewerVersion;
		if ( typeof app.pxceInfo != "undefined" )
		{
			viewername = "PDF-XChange " + app.pxceInfo.name;
			viewerver = " version " + app.pxceInfo.version.join( "." );
		}
		else if ( typeof app.isFoxit != "undefined" )
		{
			if ( app.isFoxit.indexOf( "Foxit" ) > -1 )
			{
				viewername = app.isFoxit;
			}
		}
		else if ( typeof app.plugIns != "undefined" )
		{
			if ( app.plugIns.join( ).indexOf( "ADBE" ) > -1 )
			{
				viewername = "Acrobat Pro";
			}
		}
	}
	else if ( app.viewerType == "eXPertPDF" )
	{
		viewername = "VisageSoft Expert PDF Reader";
		viewerver = " version " + app.viewerVersion;
	}
	else if ( app.viewerType == "Nitro-Reader" )
	{
		viewername = "Nitro PDF Reader";
		advforms = true;
		viewerver = app.viewerVersion;
	}
	else if ( app.viewerType == "Reader" )
	{
		viewername = "Adobe Reader";
		advforms = true;
		viewerver = " version " + app.viewerVersion;
	}
	else if ( app.viewerType == "PDF.js" )
	{
		viewername = "Mozilla Firefox";
		viewerver = " version " + app.viewerVersion;
	}
	else if ( app.viewerType == "pdfium" )
	{
		viewername = "Brave, Chrome, Edge, Opera, or another browser";
		viewerver = " version " + app.viewerVersion;
	}
 
	if ( advforms )
	{
		newmsg += "Congratulations!\n";
	}
 
	newmsg += "You are using " + viewername + viewerver + ".\n";
	if ( advforms )
	{
		newmsg += "This software can be used to fill in interactieve PDF forms without restrictions.\n\n";
	}
	else
	{
		newmsg += "This software can be used to fill in basic interactieve PDF forms with some restrictions, i.e. calculations will most likely contain errors.\n";
		newmsg += "Using alternative software that is capable of performing calculations is recommended.\n\n";
	}
	newmsg += "Click the \"Print\" button to send these test results to a printer.";
	this.getField( "Result" ).value = newmsg;
	this.getField( "DebugHeader" ).display = display.noView; // hidden in normal view, but visible on printout
	this.getField( "DebugResult" ).display = display.noView;
	this.getField( "DebugResult" ).value = debugmsg;
	this.getField( "Button" ).display = display.noPrint; // visible but not printed
}

The download contains both English and Dutch test PDFs, and the PDFill project files as well, allowing you to modify the files yourself (e.g. translate into other languages?)

Detect PDF Viewer

Some objects available in JavaScript to try and detect the exact PDF Viewer program:

Notes:	1:	The test is not 100% reliable on smartphones, some "unknown" PDF viewer apps may still display an empty form.
	2:	Saving the test results as PDF is of no use, since it will remain an interactive PDF showing the results for the computer that opens the saved file. That is why I chose to use a "Print" button: with a PDF printer you can still save the results as a "static" PDF file.

JavaScript	Returns	Application	Form Fill Capabilities	Remarks
app.viewerType	Exchange	Acrobat Standard	Good
	Exchange-Pro	Acrobat Pro, Foxit PDF Reader, PDF-XChange Editor	Good	Though of little use to detect the exact viewer, still useful to check if the viewer is capable of handling forms
	eXPertPDF	VisageSoft Expert PDF Reader	Limited
	Nitro-Reader	Nitro PDF Reader	Good
	Reader	Adobe Reader	Good
	PDF.js	Mozilla Firefox	Limited
	pdfium	Brave, Chrome, Edge, Opera, other browsers	Limited
app.viewerVersion	version (string)			Viewers that spoof their `app.viewerType` value (e.g. Foxit, PDF-XChange) may also spoof their `app.viewerVersion` value
app.pxceInfo.name	Editor	PDF-XChange Editor	Good	Available in PDF-XChange only, use `if ( typeof app.pxceInfo != 'undefined' ) { ... }` to prevent the script from crashing in non-PDF-XChange viewers. `app.pxceVersion` returns an array of four numbers that represent the Editor version. `app.pxceInfo` returns an object with properties version (identical to `app.pxceVersion`), variation, name, and platform.
app.pxceVersion	version (array)
app.pxceVersion.join('.')	version (string)
app.isFoxit	foxit name and version	Foxit PDF Viewer	Good	Available in Foxit PDF Viewer only, use `if ( typeof app.isFoxit != 'undefined' ) { if ( app.isFoxit.indexOf( "Foxit" ) > -1 ) { ... } }` to prevent the script from crashing in non-Foxit viewers
app.plugIns.join().indexOf('ADBE') > -1	true if Adobe software	Adobe Reader, Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Pro	Good	Available in Adobe, Foxit and PDF-XChange software, but not in browsers and file managers, use `if ( typeof app.plugIns != 'undefined' ) { ... }` to prevent the script from crashing in browsers and file managers