Integration with package "hyperref" for editable electronic pdfs (Feature #188)

Hello Alexis, thanks for the prompt reply.

Web-based assignments would be simpler on their own.
But I would use paper version as a standard form, letting the student to opt for the electronic version only if they wish.

I think that the paper form is much more effective as a commitment to a regular study (at least in math and physics), and I would use only the paper form.
But the fact is that from next year I will start using AMC-based weekly assignment on a much bigger class (250+ students). And I am very worried about the extra burden on the scanning process.

I might experiment myself with the code, but I fear I will need some help every now and then.

Cheers,
Andrea

(250+ students). And I am very worried about the extra burden on the scanning process.

With a single separate answer sheet per student and a scanner with automatic document feeder, this should not be so heavy.

I might experiment myself with the code, but I fear I will need some help every now and then.

I will try to help you when needed.

Hello Alexis,

This is what I came up with.
I think the most viable way is to turn some of the \fcolorbox into \CheckBox defined by the package "hyperref".

What I did is the following:

I changed the definition of \AMC@caselettre to use the command \AMC@HYPERboxedchar:

\newcommand\AMC@caselettre[4]{
  \AMC@HYPERboxedchar{\ifx\@empty#1\@empty
...

\AMC@HYPERboxedchar is identical to \AMC@boxedchar except that the former uses \HYPERfcolorbox.

And \HYPERfcolorbox is:

\newcount\HYPER@counter
\HYPER@counter=1000
\newcommand{\HYPERfcolorbox}[3]{\global\advance\HYPER@counter\@ne%
\CheckBox[checkboxsymbol=\ding{110},bordercolor=#1,backgroundcolor=#2,height=1.8ex,width=1.8ex,borderwidth=.4pt,bordersep=0.0pt,name=\the\HYPER@counter]{}}

The result is very satisfing. But I have a big problem: the "Layout detection" will not work on the newly defined fcolorbox.

Maybe you can give me an hint on how the Layout detection actually work?

Many thanks,
Andrea

\AMC@tracebox is used to draw the box and log (in a .xy file) the exact position of the box on the page. Maybe redifine the \AMC@shape@square command, with something like (I did not test):

\renewcommand\AMC@shape@square[5]{\AMC@tracebox{#3}{#4}{\HYPERfcolorbox{#1}{#2}{}}}

Hello Alexis, your suggestions worked very well, and after few minor amendments to properly align the "tracebox" to the "checkbox", I can produce a very sleeky AMC-based hyperref documents.

However the problems are not quite finished, here I list the two major ones:

1) I didn't find an open source program to burst the multiple page document in many single page documents which would burst also the "Form" environment. For instance, with pdftk, the bursted version has problems in almost all pdf readers. The only robust alternative is Adobe Acrobat Pro, which is proprietary software.

2) If the form is returned as an FDF file, any PDF reader would produce is own version, and again pdftk (which I use to mount back the filled documents) is not very happy with all of them.

It is all a bit cumbersome. Mostly because of continuous clashes with the proprietary software that the user might use to fill the form.
I might post an update when I will actually start to use the system in October, in the meanwhile, I would close the thread.

Regards,
Andrea