Technical and Philosophical Question re: Digital Signatures

my question technical, has philosophical issue driving it.

 

summary:

in livecycle designer es2 (9), setup form digital signature that, once enabled reader, can apply digital signature without having save.  know can done.  example:  http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/opm71.pdf

 

technical:

how done?  setting of signature field object?

 

philosophical underpinings:

1. don't need digital signature legally defensible, don't care if if document changes after applying signature, nor of fields locked down after signing.  however, digital signature @ company uses legally defensible type, using instead of digital ink simplcity's sake.

2. when people sign paper document, sign, , date.  problem adobe et al.'s implementation of digital signatures have date, , sign, or else date field locked down after forced save document after signing.  know date field not required when using digital signatures, need date field in case decides print form , sign old fashioned way.

3. because of conundrum, made date field auto-populate signing date applying javascript signature field populates date field upon signing.  problem adobe forcing me save document after signing, date field not populate because signature applies version of document existed prior signature being applied.  since date field wants populate after signing, discarded.

 

hence, want prevent reader forcing me save.  approaching philosophical conundrum wrong?

 

signed,

befuddled

"you can apply digital signature without having save.  know can done."

whenever signature applied, form gets saved. so, can't apply signature without having saved form. modifications in form have provided, save , validate signature. validation suggest changes have been done in form, signature invalidated @ stage. means data has been changed in form after signing making unreliable say.

 

since moving digital signing in form, not understand why there's need manually enter date after signing form digitally. once sign form, date automatically comes in signature. solves purpose/use case user needs fill in date. ideally, need remove date field form.

 

"i know date field not required when using digital signatures, need date field in case decides print form , sign old fashioned way."

if can't remove date field form , want have simialr experience in digital world, option write simple script in form checks whether date filled in or not. if it's not filled in, abort signing process , provide message asking user fill in date.

More discussions in LiveCycle Designer

adobe