The XML development team at IBM alphaWorks labs has released an 'XML Forms Package' as one of several new technologies. The XML Forms Package is a toolkit consisting of software components designed to showcase the possibilities presented by W3C XForms. XForms is W3C's next generation of web forms defined in a Candidate Recommendation specification.

Traditional HTML forms violate many of the tenets of good markup language design, frequently mixing presentation and data. This article introduces you to XForms, an extension of XHTML that represents the next generation of Web forms. Though XForms is still in an embryonic state, it holds great promise: For instance, a form written with XForms can be written once and displayed in optimal ways on several different platforms. This article will give you a head start on this important emerging XML technology.

The XML Forms Package allows developers to deploy XForms applications without any client-side technologies, using the Java XForms compiler.

XForms models, collects and transmits user input by building on several existing W3C standards. Re-using existing standards makes it possible to construct XForms processors from existing software that is designed to work with the standards being re-used.

Today's Web applications require sophisticated control over a form's presentation and over the data that is ultimately submitted. XForms, currently at the level of Candidate Recommendation status at the W3C, aims to satisfy those needs, including separating functionality from presentation and streamlining validation and events processing.

W3Schools: XForms Tutorial offers a tutorial on how to use the next generation in HTML forms. XML.com: What Are XForms?

Various XForms links

W3Schools: XForms Tutorial Open site in a new window - offers a tutorial on how to use the next generation in HTML forms. XML.com: What Are XForms?

Learn how to prepare for XForms, and how to start using XForms Data in applications.

This updated article gives an introduction to XForms.

Micah Dubinko has a new site with tutorials on XForms. He's using a browser, written in Flash, to display XForms on any up-to-date browser.

"The current design of Web forms doesn't separate the purpose from the presentation of a form. XForms, in contrast, are comprised of separate sections that describe what the form does, and how the form looks. This allows for flexible presentation options, including classic XHTML forms, to be attached to an XML form definition."

Learn how to prepare for XForms, and how to start using XForms Data in applications

So you are asking "Why do we need another W3C standard?" Simply put, XForms fills a significant void in HTML Web Forms. More and more, Web browsers are becoming the users' interface for applications. Companies are leveraging the network by using the Internet to connect users from everywhere, and the simplest, fastest way to do this is to deliver the interface via HTML in a browser.

XForms is W3C's name for next generation Web forms. The key idea is to separate the user interface and presentation from the data model and logic. XForms brings XML to Web forms, transferring form data as XML.

XForms Tutorials

Some useful links about XForms.

Introduction to XForms This is a very comprehensive tutorial on XForms. What are XForms XML.com explains how XForms will change how you use forms.

The specification introduction includes a brief tutorial on XForms and contain a normative description of XForms described in XML Schema, information

Over the course of this three-part tutorial, I introduced XForm, with a look at the <xforms:submission> element in an XForm using built-in XML Schema datatypes