XForms XML Powered Web Forms
by Raman, T. V.Edition: 1st
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2003-09-23
Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
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Summary
-XForms are a combination of two of the most successful experiments ever performed on the Web: XML and HTML forms.-Raman, a member of IBM's Almaden Research Center, has years of experience writing and is a member of the XForms Working Group.-The strong market trend towards merging XML with forms as a means to manage data entry reinforces the need for this tutorial.
Author Biography
T. V. Raman is a member of IBM's Almaden Research Center and of the W3C XForms Working Group. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and has filed more than 20 patents during his 10 years of work in advanced technology development. His areas of expertise include auditory interfaces, scripting languages, Internet technologies such as Web server applications, and Web standards.
Table of Contents
| List of Figures | p. xv |
| List of Tables | p. xix |
| Preface | p. xxi |
| Acknowledgments | p. xxiii |
| How to Read This Book | p. xxv |
| Welcome to XForms | |
| XML Powered Web Forms | p. 3 |
| Background | p. 4 |
| A Simple Web Application | p. 6 |
| Questionnaire Form | p. 7 |
| Developing the Web Application | p. 7 |
| Developing the User Interface | p. 8 |
| A More Sophisticated Implementation | p. 9 |
| XForms Components | p. 10 |
| XForms Overview | p. 12 |
| XForms Model | p. 12 |
| XForms User Interface | p. 14 |
| XForms Submit | p. 18 |
| The Complete XForms Questionnaire | p. 19 |
| Deploying the XForms Questionnaire | p. 19 |
| Summary of XForms Benefits | p. 21 |
| XForms Features | p. 21 |
| XForms at a Glance | p. 23 |
| Standard Building Blocks | p. 25 |
| Introduction | p. 25 |
| XPath: XML Path Language | p. 26 |
| Location Paths | p. 27 |
| Location Path Syntax | p. 28 |
| Variables, Functions, and Expression Evaluation | p. 29 |
| DOM2 Events | p. 30 |
| Introduction to DOM Events | p. 30 |
| XML Events | p. 32 |
| XML: Extensible Markup Language | p. 33 |
| Encapsulating Structured Data Using XML | p. 33 |
| Namespaces for Compartmentalizing XML Data | p. 34 |
| XML Schema | p. 35 |
| Schema Built-in Types | p. 37 |
| Extending Built-in Types | p. 38 |
| Defining Aggregations Using Complex Types | p. 40 |
| XForms Implementations | p. 42 |
| X-Smiles: An Open Source XML Browser | p. 42 |
| Novell XForms Preview | p. 43 |
| FormsPlayer--XForms for Internet Explorer | p. 43 |
| IBM XForms Preview | p. 43 |
| XML Standards at a Glance | p. 44 |
| XForms Components | |
| XForms User Interface Controls | p. 49 |
| XForms User Interface Design | p. 50 |
| Common Aspects of XForms Controls | p. 52 |
| Anatomy of a User Interface Control | p. 53 |
| Binding Controls to the Model | p. 53 |
| Rendering User Interface Controls | p. 56 |
| Interaction Behavior of Form Controls | p. 58 |
| Collecting Text Input | p. 59 |
| Customizing Input Controls | p. 60 |
| Selecting from a Set of Values | p. 63 |
| Types of Selection Controls | p. 65 |
| Open and Closed Selections | p. 66 |
| Default Selection | p. 66 |
| Selections Using Static Choices | p. 67 |
| Dynamic Selections | p. 68 |
| Selecting XML Structures | p. 70 |
| Grouping Available Choices | p. 72 |
| Rendering Selection Controls | p. 72 |
| Selecting from a Range of Values | p. 74 |
| Uploading Data | p. 76 |
| Triggering Actions | p. 78 |
| Anatomy of Element (trigger) | p. 79 |
| Submitting Data | p. 81 |
| Anatomy of Control (submit) | p. 81 |
| Modeling What, How, and Where to Submit | p. 82 |
| Anatomy of Element (submission) | p. 83 |
| Using Element (submission) | p. 86 |
| Submit Round-up | p. 88 |
| XForms Controls at a Glance | p. 89 |
| Creating Complex User Interfaces | p. 91 |
| Aggregation Using (group) | p. 92 |
| Labeling Groups | p. 92 |
| Navigating among Groups | p. 94 |
| Groups and Binding Expressions | p. 94 |
| Dynamic User Interaction with (switch) | p. 95 |
| Anatomy of Construct (switch) | p. 95 |
| A Simple Example of (switch) | p. 96 |
| Model and Interaction-Based Switching | p. 97 |
| Creating Multipage Tab Dialogs Using (switch) | p. 98 |
| Creating Wizards Using (switch) | p. 100 |
| Repeating Structures with (repeat) | p. 102 |
| Designing Construct (repeat) | p. 103 |
| Anatomy of Construct (repeat) | p. 104 |
| Shopping Cart Using Construct (repeat) | p. 105 |
| Adding Controls to the Shopping Cart | p. 111 |
| User Interaction with Construct (repeat) | p. 113 |
| Using Construct (repeat) within XHTML Tables | p. 114 |
| Summary of Construct (repeat) | p. 118 |
| Complete Example of an XForms User Interface | p. 118 |
| Defining the Structure of the Task List | p. 120 |
| Declaring the Task List Instance | p. 122 |
| Declaring the Data Model within XHTML (head) | p. 123 |
| Creating the User Interface Via Nested Repeats | p. 124 |
| Binding User Interface Controls to the Task List | p. 129 |
| Adding a Toolbar for Navigation | p. 129 |
| Putting It Together inside an XHTML Page | p. 130 |
| Submitting the Task List | p. 133 |
| XForms User Interface at a Glance | p. 134 |
| XForms Model Properties | p. 135 |
| Introduction | p. 135 |
| Model Properties and CSS Style | p. 136 |
| Attaching Constraints Via Element (bind) | p. 139 |
| Property relevant for Model-based Switching | p. 140 |
| Insurance Form Using Model-based Switching | p. 140 |
| Property required for Mandatory Fields | p. 142 |
| Extending Insurance Form with Property required | p. 142 |
| Property readonly for Controlling Changes | p. 143 |
| Conditional Editing Using readonly | p. 144 |
| Property constraint for Dynamic Validation | p. 144 |
| Constraining Travel Dates Using constraint | p. 145 |
| Constraining the Number of Permitted Entries | p. 145 |
| Property calculate for Dynamic Computation | p. 147 |
| Examples of Property calculate | p. 147 |
| Augmenting Schemas with Type Constraints | p. 148 |
| Declaring Privacy Level Via P3P | p. 149 |
| XForms Model Properties at a Glance | p. 150 |
| XForms Functions | p. 151 |
| Introduction | p. 151 |
| Boolean Functions | p. 152 |
| Function boolean-from-string | p. 152 |
| Function if | p. 153 |
| Number Functions | p. 153 |
| Computing Minimum, Maximum, and Average | p. 154 |
| Function index for Addressing (repeat) Structures | p. 155 |
| Function count-non-empty | p. 156 |
| String Functions | p. 156 |
| Date-time Functions | p. 157 |
| Function now | p. 158 |
| Node-set Functions | p. 159 |
| Binding Expressions: The Full Story | p. 159 |
| XForms Functions at a Glance | p. 161 |
| XForms Actions | p. 163 |
| Introduction | p. 163 |
| Declarative Event Handlers | p. 164 |
| Action (setfocus) | p. 165 |
| Action (setvalue) | p. 165 |
| Action (load) | p. 166 |
| Action (send) | p. 166 |
| Action (reset) | p. 168 |
| Action (message) | p. 168 |
| Action (action) | p. 169 |
| Action (dispatch) | p. 170 |
| Invoking XForms Processing | p. 171 |
| Actions (insert), (delete), and (setindex) | p. 172 |
| XForms Actions at a Glance | p. 173 |
| XForms Events | p. 175 |
| Introduction | p. 175 |
| Initialization Events | p. 177 |
| Interaction Events | p. 178 |
| XForms Processing Events | p. 178 |
| Navigation Events | p. 179 |
| Help Events | p. 180 |
| Submit and Reset | p. 180 |
| Notification Events | p. 181 |
| Setting Values | p. 181 |
| Select and Deselect Notifications | p. 181 |
| Interacting with Repeat Collections | p. 183 |
| Listening for Changes in State | p. 183 |
| Submit Notifications | p. 183 |
| XForms Events at a Glance | p. 185 |
| XForms and the Next Generation Web | |
| Connecting the User to Web Services | p. 189 |
| A Human-centric View of Web Services | p. 189 |
| XForms Access to Weather Service | p. 190 |
| Connecting Users to Their Data | p. 192 |
| Leveraging XML for Collecting Information | p. 192 |
| XForms Collect Structured Data | p. 194 |
| Creating Personalized Information Views | p. 195 |
| What Is a Portal? | p. 195 |
| Content Syndication Using RSS | p. 196 |
| UI Syndication Using WSRP | p. 197 |
| XForms Web Services at a Glance | p. 199 |
| Multimodal Access | p. 201 |
| Multimodal Interaction for Ubiquitous Access | p. 201 |
| Multimodal Access | p. 201 |
| Multimodal User Interface Principles | p. 202 |
| Multiple Modalities Need to Be Synchronized | p. 202 |
| Multimodal Interaction Should Degrade Gracefully | p. 203 |
| Multiple Modalities Should Share a Common Interaction State | p. 204 |
| Multimodal Interfaces Should Be Predictable | p. 205 |
| Multimodal Interfaces Should Adapt to Users Environment | p. 206 |
| Creating Multimodal Interfaces Using XForms | p. 206 |
| One Model to Bind Them All | p. 206 |
| Abstract Controls Enable Flexible Access | p. 207 |
| XForms UI Creates Synchronized Views | p. 208 |
| XML Events Enable Rich Behavior | p. 209 |
| Multimodal Interaction at a Glance | p. 210 |
| XForms and Accessibility | p. 211 |
| XForms Enables Universal Access | p. 211 |
| Design Principles for Accessible Interfaces | p. 213 |
| Content Should Encapsulate Relevant Metadata | p. 213 |
| Separate Content from Layout and Presentation | p. 213 |
| Ensure That Content Can Be Refactored | p. 214 |
| Ensure That Rich Content Degrades Gracefully | p. 214 |
| Avoid Device-specific Events | p. 215 |
| User Interfaces Should Exhibit Predictable Behavior | p. 215 |
| Allow for Late Binding of Interaction Behavior | p. 216 |
| Enable Centralized Event Handling | p. 216 |
| Raise Notification Events for Key State Changes | p. 216 |
| Provide Hooks for Attaching Special Behavior | p. 216 |
| Use Declarative Handlers in Favor of Scripts | p. 217 |
| Leveraging XForms Accessibility Features | p. 217 |
| XForms Creates Accessible Content | p. 218 |
| Accessibility in Style | p. 218 |
| Accessibility through Eventing | p. 220 |
| User Agent Guidelines for Leveraging XForms Accessibility | p. 221 |
| Accessing XForms Features from Adaptive Technologies | p. 222 |
| XForms Accessibility at a Glance | p. 222 |
| Colophon | p. 223 |
| Bibliography | p. 225 |
| Index | p. 229 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
Excerpts
W3C XForms--XML powered Web forms--is an overhaul to HTML forms from 1993. On-line forms are critical to electronic commerce on the Internet, and the HTML forms design from 1993 is now beginning to show its age. The advent of XML on the Web, and the subsequent move to Web Services as a means of connecting disparate information technologies to deliver end-to-end customer solutions has now made XML documents central to the fabric of the Web.XForms leverages the power of using XML in modeling, collecting and serializing user input. The XForms design enables simple browser-based interfaces for creating and editing XML documents with the client providing interactive support for ensuring that the XML document is valid. Thus, XForms enables thelast mileof connecting the end user to Web Services.XForms user agents provide an easy-to-use browser-based interface that enables the end-user to interact directly with information technologies that have been published as Web Services. As the Web moves from being a desktop-only phenomenon to a means of ubiquitous electronic access, Web transactions need to be available from a variety of end-user access devices ranging from desktop computers to smart phones. The XForms authored interface is well-suited for delivery to a variety of interaction modalities and end-user devices, thus assuring content developers the widest audience for their transaction based applications.From the user's perspective, XForms revolutionizes the way business critical information is collected and published on the Web. A key consequence of this evolution is that information technologists can continue to model business data using abstract structures that are amenable to machine processing; XForms binds a user-friendly Web browser interface to such abstract XML models, thereby empowering the end-user to edit and update these abstract structures. In this sense, XForms enables a standard Web browser to associateeditable viewsto the underlying XML models. This ability to view and edit XML documents from within a standard Web browser is likely to prove a key empowering technology. How To Read This BookThis book is targeted primarily at Web authors wishing to use XForms in their work. It is also meant to help IT specialists transition from using legacy HTML forms for their Web projects. The book has been written to complement the W3CX Forms specification, and not to replace it.Each chapter of this book has a specific theme and concludes with a section that presents the material covered by that chapter at a glance. The book is organized in three parts: Welcome: The first part gives a birds-eye view of XForms and the various XML standards that it uses. Components: The second part details the various components making up the XForms architecture. Emerging Areas: The final part covers the relevance of XForms in the areas of Web services, multimodal interaction and accessibility. Welcome To XFormsThe first chapter of this book presents a birds-eye view of XForms after motivating the need for this new technology. This chapter should be sufficient to give decision makers a taste for the benefits of this exciting new standard. Web authors will find an introductory example that is first authored using the now familiar legacy HTML forms and then recast as an XForms application.W3C XForms is built on a set of XML standards. The second chapter reviews these various standard building blocks and is meant as a quick tutorial. The material presented here is sufficient to get a taste for these standards and understand the examples in this book. However, it is not meant to be a complete review of these various standards. Readers familiar with XML Schema, XML namespaces and XPath will find this chapter a useful review. Readers new to these specifications will find the chapter a useful starting point as they get acquainted with the space of XML
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