Full documentation for migration of applications can be found here:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/livecycle/9.0/leverage_legacy_solutions.pdf

Ability to Route Arbitrary Content
Now you can route a flat pdf, .jpeg, .gif etc… for approval (basically anything that can be displayed in a web browser).

Approval Container
A Workspace mode specifically designed and tailored for approval processes.

User Actions
Gives the LiveCycle developer full control over the buttons presented in the Workspace Chrome, and the order in which they appear. Also provides tighter integration with process routing via Destinations.

Approval Confirmation Dialog
Allows you to present a confirmation dialog with a custom EULA and inform the user that this is a binding agreement. To get this option in Workbench simply double click a defined User Action.

IP Address Auditing
The ip address of the signer/approver is captured in the output of the Assign Task & Multiple Assign Task operations. This can be used to build an audit log.

Cheers,
_Seth

What is DDX?
To specify documents that you want the Assembler service to produce, you use an XML-based language called Document Description XML (DDX). DDX is a declarative markup language whose elements represent building blocks of documents. These building blocks include PDF pages and other elements such as comments, bookmarks, and styled text. The DDX document can be considered a template for the document(s) that you want the Assembler service to produce.

Document Builder Features:

• WYSIWYG editor for designing DDX
• Full integration with Workbench and Assembler’s Invoke DDX service
• Schema Validation
• Ability to test DDX and to preview results
• Templates for the most commonly used Assembler operations
• Design and Source modes

The following Record and Playback improvements were made in ES2:

• A visual indicator (a red dot) will now appear when recording is activated for a particular process
• You can manage process recordings at a global level (Start/Stop/Delete etc…) This allows an administrator to easily disable all recordings on a server.
• You can activate/deactivate recordings for an entire application in a single click

Cheers,
_Seth

Basic | All filter toggle
Most property sheets in ES2 now include two modes — Basic and All. Basic presents the most commonly used settings, while All will present you with all available settings for the service.

Render PDF Form
The FormsService:renderPDFForm service has been greatly simplified, and thanks to the new asset picker there is no longer a need to hand type URIs. Here is the new service in Basic mode.

Asset Picker
No longer a need to hand type URIs!

Auto Discovery of Credential Alias Names
You no longer have to look at the adminui to determine the available aliases for Reader Extensions or Signing credentials. This feature applies to Apply Usage Rights, Sign Signature Field, Certify PDF & Certificate Encrypt PDF.

Cheers,
_Seth

Let’s pre-fill a form for display in Workspace in less than five minutes…

LiveCycle Version: 9.0

If you get stuck… here is the collateral and completed LCA (.pdf w/ attachments): ES2_Prepopulate

Ingredients:

• An XML schema (a sample schema is provided in collateral download if you do not have one).

Brewing Instructions:

1. Launch Adobe LiveCycle Workbench and create a new application.
2. Expand the application, right click version 1.0 and select New > Form, this will launch the new Form wizard. When promoted for a data model import your schema (The use of a schema is highly recommended, if you do not have a schema you can use a service such as http://www.hitsw.com/xml_utilites/ to create one based on sample XML).
   
3. Adobe LiveCycle Designer will launch — Drag a few items from the Data View onto your form. This will automatically bind your form fields to the schema. Save and close the form. If you don’t see any items in the Data View, right click the Data Connection and specify the correct root node in the schema.
   
4. Launch the new process wizard by right clicking your application and selecting New > Process. Choose the following options in the wizard: When a user submits a task in Workspace… & Use an existing Form (select the form you just created)
5. In the process double click the start point and click on the Manage Action Profiles button.
   
6. Create a new Action Profile named Prefill.
7. Make sure your newly created profile is selected and click the Create a Prepare Data Process button, select defaults and click OK. This is going to automatically stub out a new pre-fill process for you. Close the Manage Action Profile dialog and switch back to your process.
   
8. Notice that the new Action Profile you just created is now selected for the Workspace Starpoint. Action profiles are tied to a specific form, you can manage them by right clicking the form in the application view or from the startpoint Presentation and Data settings property editor.
9. Save your main process and open the pre-fill process that was created for you (If you left the defaults intact it should be named [YourFormName]PrepareData).
   
10. Examine the stubbed out process — Notice that you already have an xml variable that is backed by the schema that your form is associated with; This is the advantage of using the wizards.
11. Drag a SetValue operation onto the canvas from the tool bar.
12. To configure the SetValue, the location should be the node you want to set in your form’s input data (Since you are using a schema you can simply drill down into it and double click it to build the XPath statement).
    
13. For this example let’s set the field’s value to the task creator’s name. Double click the empty [Expression],  drill down into the Task Context and locate the Common Name, double click it and say OK to complete the SetValue operation.
14. Deploy the application by right clicking version 1.0 in the application tree and selecting Deploy.
15. Test the application: Right click the main process in your application view (or right click in the canvas) and select the Invoke operation. Choose the option to Open the selected start point in a web browser (another nice ES2 shortcut).
    

Additional Action Profile Tips:

• For each step in a workflow you may have a different Action Profile e.g. you may want to perform a pre-fill when a process is initiated, but for the second user you may just want to use the default (no-op) profile so that the form is not modified. Action profiles give your this flexibility.
• An Action Profile set is associated with a particular form. You can re-use the associated pre-fill and render processes but each form will have its own Action Profile definition/set.

Cheers,
_Seth

 ———————–

Janus Health
Gresham B. Bayne
Vice President, Operations
“Adobe LiveCycle ES2 offers users clearly defined starting points for automating business processes. The intuitive environment of the latest release will shorten a user’s learning curve and simplify developing and deploying critical, new processes.”

“The enhanced Workspace integration in LiveCycle ES2 is terrific. Creating new forms and integrating them into automated processes is faster and easier than ever. We can efficiently update existing processes or rollout new ones as needed.”

———————–

Medtronic Jesse Nalezny
eForms Business Analyst
“The enhancements in LiveCycle Workbench ES2 are terrific. Having all forms resources in a single folder will enable developers to quickly create and rollout highly efficient processes. We would be able to automate business processes in half the time because it will be easy to create interactive forms that incorporate process controls and integrate with backend systems.”

“We are very excited about the new integration capabilities between LiveCycle ES2 and the Adobe Flash platform. This is going to enable even better user experiences and improvement in end-user productivity.”

“With enhanced capabilities in Adobe LiveCyle ES2, we will be able to improve our productivity and automate more processes. Creating forms and establishing tracking and routing processes will be faster than ever. The new functionality makes it simpler to build in more controls for end users, such as incorporating warnings if people are about to take the wrong actions on forms. Overall, the experience is enhanced for developers and end users.”

 ———————–

State of Illinois Department of Human Services
John L. Riggs Chief
Bureau of Automation
“Like other government organizations, we face increased demands from constituents and fewer resources to deal with them. It’s imperative that we can easily and efficiently keep automating business processes, so we can do more work without adding staff. The rapid development functionality within Adobe LiveCycle ES2 will enable our department to deploy newly automated processes to meet the changing needs of government staff and citizens.”

 ———————–

Bank Midwest
Josh Laire
Application Development and Integration Manager
“With the new release of Adobe LiveCycle ES2, Adobe is putting a lot of ingenuity into LiveCycle with a focus on front-end processes and productivity for both the developer and business user. Building composite RIAs using Adobe LiveCycle Mosaic ES2 is great for business users, since they would have all of the information they care about linked and available in one location.”

“The tighter integration of LiveCycle Workbench ES2 and LiveCycle Forms ES2 enables our developers to cut development time by viewing processes in real-time without uploading forms or toggling between screens. With a streamlined development environment, we can rapidly develop and deploy cost-effective, efficient processes that improve productivity and service.”

If you want to know more, here is the full LiveCycle Enterprise Suite 2 Press FAQ sheet: LC ES2 Press FAQ External Final

You might have noticed that I recently re-branded my blog. Adobe recently launched the Adobe LiveCycle Cookbook on the Adobe Devloper Connection portal — So I have re-branded my blog so that is does not conflict.
Cheers,
_Seth