[pdftex] [Resolved] Getting started with JavaScript and pdftex

[Suresh Govindachar]

To write plain TeX code that will have JavaScript functions embedded in the
pdf created using pdfTeX, with the functions being callable via user clicks:

References:  http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/tb22-3/tb72story.pdf, eforms.dtx and
insdljs.dtx (both .dtx from
http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/acrotex/)

Outline of implementaion:

1) To make a clickable link call a JavaScript function, use the following as
the "action":

     <</S/JavaScript/JS(myHelloWorld();)>>

2) To embed a JavaScript into the pdf, add the following to the tex file
(for processing by pdftex):

   \immediate\pdfobj {
        << /S /JavaScript /JS (function myHelloWorld()
              {
                  app.alert("Hello World -- via TeX!", 3);
              }
              )
        >> }
   \xdef\objDLJS{\the\pdflastobj\space 0 R}
   \immediate\pdfobj {%
   << /Names [(Doc Level JS) \objDLJS] >> }
   \edef\objNames{\the\pdflastobj\space 0 R}
   \pdfnames {/JavaScript \objNames}


Please consider updating the pdfTeX manual with some indication of embedding
and using JavaScript functions.

Thanks,

--Suresh