Forms are the current customer – organization interface. Forms are present wherever there is a need of dialog between a user and an organization. Most sites offering a service to users have multiple forms to allow for registration, information retrieval and gathering , requests, shopping, etc…etc… Hence we were able to gather a collection of existing forms , representing complex operations such as job request, bank operations and so on… Users request to have continuous access to the organizational interfaces by means of such forms.

This chapter is a primer on XForms; however, it’s important that you understand and are able to use current form applications. Table 8.1 lists all XHTML elements and attributes used to create forms. For detailed descriptions of these elements and attributes, see Chapter 3, "Overview of Element Structure."

This chapter discusses constraints that can be bound to form data. The combination of these constraints with an instance data node is called a model item. Overall, the constraints are called model item constraints.

Forms were introduced into HTML in 1993. Since then they have become a critical part of the Web. The existing mechanisms in HTML for forms are now outdated, and W3C has started work on developing an effective replacement. This document outlines the requirements for "XForms", W3C's name for the next generation of Web forms.

An Overview of W3C’s work on XHTML, XForms & Voice Interaction

The xforms-submit Event

In section 1.4, Document Conventions have been updated for greater consistency. The rest of the document has been made to match the new document conventions.

Many forms define integrity constraints that act over multiple fields. For example, the total value of an order can be defined in terms of a computation over other values such as unit prices, quantities, discounts, and tax and shipping costs. Such computations can be conveniently represented using the syntax outlined in here.

All state in the previous operational signatures was opaque to the Consumer (eg. either as navigationalState or a sessionID). In addition, a Producer MAY expose information about entitity-specific state to a Consumer by publishing a model of the entitity’s Properties. We introduce notation to define property models following the XFORMS specification, and then show how subsets of this information may be retrieved using the getPropertyDescription operation (the type definitions, access level, and scoping), and the getProperties/setProperties operations (the instance values of the properties themselves).

Xforms handles all of the user interface stuff for us. It allows rapid prototyping (quick placement of scrollbars, buttons, canvases, etc. (all of these are also called widgets)). Xforms uses the x-window system to create a window that OpenGL can draw in. xforms functions all start with "fl" (F and L, not F and the "one" character).

These tools use the new W3C Recommendation "Xforms" - a language designed to replace the existing mixture of methods that allow a user to provide information in a form on a web page. In order to use the tools, you will need an Xforms-capable browser or plugin.

This chapter defines infoset contributions that can be bound to instance data nodes with element bind (see 3.3.4 The bind Element). The combination of these contributions to an instance data node is called a model item. Taken together, these contributions are called model item properties, and are defined in the following section.

XForms 1.0 is an application of XML [XML 1.0] and has been designed for use within other XML vocabularies—in particular within a future version of XHTML [XHTML 1.0]. XForms always requires such a host language. This chapter discusses the structure of XForms that allow XForms to be used with other document types.

Device Independent Authoring in XML

XForms User Interface controls, also called form controls, are declared using markup elements, and their behavior refined via markup attributes. This markup may be further decorated with class attributes that can be set using CSS stylesheets to deliver a customized look and feel.

XForms 1.0 is an application of XML [XML 1.0] and has been designed for use within other XML vocabularies—in particular within a future version of XHTML [XHTML 1.0]. XForms always requires such a host language. This chapter discusses the structure of XForms that allow XForms to be used with other document types.

The XForms Reference Processing Model is a normative explanation of the components, predictive behavior, and mechanisms of XForms Processors. It is not intended to constrain implementations. XForms Processors may be implemented in any manner, so long as the end results are identical to that described in this chapter.

This informative chapter provides an easily approachable description of the design of XForms, describing the major components and how they relate. Not every feature of XForms is covered here. For a complete, normative description of XForms, refer to the remainder of this document.

As an example, portions of a questionnaire pertaining to the user's automobile may become relevant only if the user has answered in the affirmative to the question 'Do you own a car?'.

One possibility is a record set control which allows users to add and delete records, where all of the records satisfy the same XForms Model.