Please read the spec [1]. XForms does
exactly what you describe. The XForms Data
Model has not been removed but has been
replaced by a subset of XML Schema that
has been extended by forms-specific
validation, e.g. such as "relevant" for
inter-field dependencies.
XForms allows you to embed (or externally
reference) both an XML instance as well as
an accompanying XML Schema directly in/from an
XHTML document (or any other XML UI document).
XForms also defines a set of new UI widgets
which can reference nodes of the XML instance
via XPath. The UI form widgets take their
value(s) from the corresponding node(s) in the
XML instance and adhere to the rules defined
by its Schema for input validation.
For more advanced scenarios it is of course
possible to generate XForms via XSLT from
the XML instance or Schema itself, whereas
instead of generating normal HTML via XSLT you
would now generate XHTML (or perhaps SVG) that
defines one or more XForms inside.
XForms is in Last Call. Several
implementations [2] have shown proof of
concept. XForms is ready to go.
- Sebastian
[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/XForms
[2] http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/#implementations
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Murray Spork [mailto:]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 3:54 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [xml-dev] HTML forms with XML
>
>
> Peter V. Mikhalenko wrote:
>
> > We are using for similar purposes the XForms product from Nanoworks
> > Inc. - it is pretty old (it seems that it was written before the
> > W3C Xforms 1.0 Draft), and, unfortunately, is unsupported at the
> > moment. But it can generate HTML forms with/without client
> > validation (JavaScript), with/without server validation (Java)
> > from XML file in a specific format (similar to modern XForms
> > format, but there is much less capabilities). You can translate
> > to that format from your via XSLT. Sources and docs are here:
> > http://xform.nanoworks.org . If you need I can give you some of
> > my comments for the library as we are using them about a year. :-)
> >
>
> XForms could have been a good solution for this - but
> unfortunately the
> XForms Data Model seems to have been removed from the current
> draft (?)
>
> XForms seems to be at the same level as HTML forms - just
> better able to
> handle XML I guess.
>
> We have been looking for something that is at a higher level of
> abstraction - that would for example allow direct annotation
> of an XML
> schema with information on how to present a form to the user. There
> needs to be a more defined process of:
>
> XML Schema --> Schema UI annotations --> XForm --> XML instance
>
> I've been looking at the Schema Adjunct Framework [1] but I'm
> not sure
> what the current status of this is (Jonathon?) [2].
>
> [1] http://www.tibco.com/products/extensibility/saf/exec-summary/
> [2] http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200202/msg00166.html
>
> Cheers,
>
> Murray
>
>
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