Multimedia Communication and Information Logistics for AFTER-SALES AND PRODUCT LIFE- CYCLE SUPPORT Click to edit Master title style

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. BUILDING WWW APPLICATIONS WITH XML FORMS Kaisa Kostiainen XML Finland ‘99 Helsinki Fair Center

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 CONTENTS Introduction Reporting Tool RPX Forms architecture RPX Forms examples Conclusions

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 XML AND WWW APPLICATIONS  system-to-system interchange format  distributed, heterogenous data sources  database interface  lack of mechanism to update XML data according to user’s input

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 PROPOSALS POSTED TO W3C XFA  template.htm XFDL  both require a plug-in at the browser

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 CASE: REPORTING TOOL  WWW application for Wärtsilä NSD Service  enables the workflow of the service reports  forwards data as XML format to other applications  invoicing  document management  knowledge discovery  etc.

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 CASE: REPORTING TOOL  handles over hundred technical records  the structure of the technical data hard to generalize  creating and adding new technical records has to be easy  high quality of printing

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 DIFFERENT OPTIONS  HTML Forms  too labourious to write software  XSL Transformation from XML data  the lack of proper XSL development tools causes the creation of technical records very painful for the developer

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORMS  form data is separated from user interface  form DTD is pre-defined  form data can be any XML data  uses RPX Form filter language for binding form input elements to data

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 EXAMPLE Remtec Systems Tekniikantie 12

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORMS ARCHITECTURE Form XSL Form XSL Form DTD Form DTD Form XML Form XML Data Binding Form XML Form XML XML/XSL Transform XML/XSL Transform Browser HTML Browser HTML Decoding Data sources Form design RPX Service Browser UI

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORMS ARCHITECTURE  the rpxf query patterns are resolved dynamically  a pattern identifies a value in a data source  a single form may refer to several data sources  when the form is posted to the server the server code automatically creates XML objects from the form data  business logic rules decide which data sources are available and which data sources are updated

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORM DTD  similar to HTML  a form contains pages, which are divided vertically to sections  basic input elements: input field, radio group, drop-down list, etc.  title, paragraph, list, picture, …  XSL style sheet for presenting the form in the browser and for printing

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORM FILTER LANGUAGE  very similar to XSL  RPX Form filter language elements: rpxf:value-of, rpxf:attribute, rpxf:insert, rpxf:repeat  syntax :

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORMS EXAMPLES Input fields <rpxf:attribute name="selected” select="/Installation/ApplicationType2"/>

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 RPX FORMS EXAMPLES Creating dynamic lists

© Copyright Remtec Systems, Ltd., All rights reserved. 9/17/2015 CONCLUSIONS  RPX Forms enables very easy way to develop WWW applications that update XML data  no plug-ins is needed at browser  see Reporting Tool at Remtec’s stand