| | XForms

XForms Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Last updated: $Date: 2001/08/20 14:03:32 $

Table of contents

• What's our message on XForms?
  • How does XForms benefit Web users?
• Who/where is the XForms community?
  • What conferences has XForms been presented at?
  • What conferences will XForms be presented at?
• How will XForms be deployed?
  • Who's developing XForms products?
    • Is there some Open Source software I can play with/look at?
    • Are they in the WG?
  • When those XForms products become available?
• Is there a formal description of the XForms data model?
• Do XForms and XML Schema fit hand-in-glove these days?
• Are XForms integrated with digest authentication? XML Digital signature?

What's our message on XForms?

In a nutshell: Final piece of deploying XML on the interactive Web.

How does XForms benefit Web users?

Benefits for readers and authors:

1. Device independence
2. Accessibility
3. Strong datatyping means client side checking
4. Less round trips
5. For the author: division of labour, reusability, declarative

In summary: identifying bottlenecks in current forms, and removing them.

Who/where is the XForms community?

The www-forms mailing list is very active, with more than 550 subscribers, and nearly 100 messages/month recently.

There is also the xforms@yahoogroups.com mailing list since January 2001.

What conferences has XForms been presented at?

• WWW10 in Hong Kong, May 2001 (by Steven Pemberton, CWI)
• O'Reilly XTech 2001, July 2001 (by Micah Dubinko, Cardiff)

What conferences will XForms be presented at?

Any major XML/Web conferences. To name a few, XForms will be presented at the following conferences:

• Two XML days in Amsterdam and Helsinki (by Steven Pemberton)
• XML and Webservice Connections, October 2001 (by David Cleary, Progress Software)
• XML Edge, October 2001
• Web 2001 in San Francisco, October 2001
• Hitech Forum, Berlin, November 2001
• Applied for XML 2001, December 2001
• Town Hall Meeting at XML 2001, December 2001 (by David Cleary, Micah Dubinko, et al.)

How will XForms be deployed?

Who's developing XForms products?

Known implementations are listed at: http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/#implementations

We have X-Smiles and Mozquito XForms Preview so far. More to come.

Is there some Open Source software I can play with/look at?

Yes, X-Smiles. Helsinki University of Technology is working on a open source Java-based XML browser. It supports XForms together with XSL-FO, SMIL and SVG.

Are they in the WG?

Yes.

When those XForms products become available?

Now.

Is there a formal description of the XForms data model?

Yes.

Note that the XForms WG formerly referred to he XForms Model as the XForms Data Model -- at present, XForms consists of the XForms Model, the XForms UI and The XForms Binding mechanism.

The formal data model for XForms is therefore emerges from the formal data models for the components making XForms.

XForms uses the following W3C technologies as building blocks:

1. XForms Model: XML Schema and XPath
2. Binding: XPath
3. UI: XForms UI will be expressed as a module suitable for integrating into other vocabularies, e.g. XHTML 2.0
4. Events: XForms uses XML Events

Do XForms and XML Schema fit hand-in-glove these days?

Yes.

In early days we went to a lot of trouble meeting with the Schema group, but we set up a joint XForms-XML Schema Task Force to work together in May 2001.

Now that the Full XForms implementations use XML Schema as the basis for the XForms Model, and light-weight Basic XForms implementations may only use a well-defined, strict subset of XML Schema which utilizes datatypes and limited structures. The Task Force has developed a subset of XML Schema for use in such Basic XForms implementations, and this has been passed on to the XML Schema WG and it is now under consideration by the XML Schema WG to formalize this subset as part of the requirements for XML Schema 1.1.

Are XForms integrated with digest authentication? XML Digital signature?

Re authentication: no, it will not be part of XForms 1.0. It's coming in 2.0.

Re Digital signature: XForms 1.0 does not address signatures of digest authentication, but technically it should be possible in a future version. However, we are aware of a patent.