Adobe expands LiveCycle with PDF tool

Adobe on Monday said it’s broadening its LiveCycle Enterprise Suite development software to add a way to create wizard-like “Form Guides” and flash-based graphics so users can interact easily with PDF-based content online.

Accord to Brian Wick, Adobe’s group product marketing manager, Adobe next month will ship a free plug-in called Guide Builder for the LiveCycle Designer tool. Guide Builder will let developers working in PDF generate dynamic forms that could be used to build applications such as for online mortgages, insurance claims and other documents where users might need step-by-step prompts.

“These dynamic forms could be especially useful for applications outside the firewall,” said Wick. “Guide Builder can create a front-end application and a form that can be digitally signed.”

LiveCycle Enterprise Suite, which runs on a J2EE-based server and starts at $50,000, has been in the market for about three years.