Tuukka Haapaniemi

XForms – What’s the need? HTML forms Very outdated Hard to develop and to maintain Requires lot of work To create basic validation To create basic calculations In effect, to make anything userfriendly’ish Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi

Limitations of HTML forms Provides no means of separating data from the view Data insertion into the templated form Client -> Server ideology Hard to implement workflow Flat, key-value paired data Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi3

Key ideas of XForms Separation of data from views of data Model View Controller –pattern Referencing complex data easily from the view Workflow by changing only the view Simple calculations Simple validations Dynamic controls Device specific rendering Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi4

XForms’ requirements XML namespaces XML Xchema Xpath XML events CSS Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi5

How to use XForms now Browser specific plug-in Common users propably don’t want to download Server side XForms engine Orbeon Forms Many others Client side parsing Ubiquity XForms Many others Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi6

Server side XForms engine No need for a separately downloaded plug-in Similar idea as with PHP, ASP(.NET) etc. Produce currently supported code, that is, HTML, JavaScript and CSS from the XFoms code on the server Emulation layer creates extra payload on server Multiple postbacks or heavy custom scripting required Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi7

Client side parsing No need for a separately downloaded plug-in By using existing JavaScript libraries and adding new APIs to them, parse the XForms code on client Light on the server A bit slower on the client Ajax support – less full postbacks required Hard to make cross-platform and cross-browser compatible Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi8

Near future of XForms Current implementations allow to test and learn the technology New applications can be created with XForms and used through the existing implementations Easy to transform if/when native support arrives Intelligent usage of supported technologies possible Strong ground through being a W3C standard Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi9

Future of native XForms FireFox Has a good plug-in created close to the browsers core Implements most of XForms’ requirements Is constantly rising in ”market share” (44%, Oct 2008) Microsoft Internet Explorer Has one of the best plug-ins Microsoft has a competing product: InfoPath Could lose its market leader status (47,1%, Oct 2008) Opera and Apple unenthusiastic Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi10

Questions & discussion Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi11

Thank you! Future of XForms - Tuukka Haapaniemi12