micah-dubinko

XForms: binding to an optional element

I asked this on the XSLTForms list, but it’s worth casting a wider net.
Say I have an XML instance like this:
<root>
<format>xml</format>
</root>
Possible values for the format element are “xml”, “text”, “binary”, or a default setting, indicated by a complete absence of the <format> element. I’d like this to attach to a select1 with four choices:
<xf:select1 ref=”format”>…
* [...]

The Model Endpoint Template (MET) organizational pattern for XRX apps

One of the lead bullets describing why XForms is cool always mentions that it is based on a Model View Controller framework. When building a full XRX app, though, MVC might not be the best choice to organize things overall. Why not?
Consider a typical XRX app, like MarkLogic Application Builder. (You can download a your [...]

Application Builder behind-the-scenes

I’ll be speaking next Tuesday (Oct 27) at the Northern Virginia MarkLogic User Group (NOVAMUG). Here’s what I’ll be talking about.
Application Builder consists of two main parts: Search API to enable Google-style search string processing, and the actual UI wizard that steps users through building a complete search app. It uses a number of technologies [...]

XForms 1.1 is out

XForms 1.1 is now a full W3C Recommendation. Compared to version 1.0, which went live a bit more than 6 years ago, version 1.1 offers lots of road-tested tools that make development easier and more powerful, including new datatypes and XPath functions, a significantly more powerful submission subsystem, and a more flexible event model.
And XSLTForms [...]

XForms Developer Zone

Another XForms site launched this week. This one seems pretty close to what I would like XForms Institute to become, if I had an extra 10 hours per week. -m

XForms Institute moved to SVN

About a week ago I moved XForms Institute over to Subversion. Now the entire site is under version control, with a local copy I can edit. Publishing is as easy as logging in and running the command ’svn up’. Honestly, I should have done this long ago. And any future sites I work on will [...]

XForms validator: disabling Google ads, no more blank pages

Thanks to those who wrote in with bug reports about the XForms Validator: something changed recently and made the inserted Google Ads script confuse browsers, resulting in a blank page where you’d expect results. I’ve turned off the response-page ads, which were only getting in the way, and the problem seems to have vanished. Carry [...]

XSLTForms beta

XSLTForms, the cross-browser XForms engine (written about previously) that makes ingenious use of built-in XSLT processing, reached an important milestone today, with a beta release. Tons of bug fixes and additional support for CSS and Schema.
If you’re thinking about getting involved with XForms and are looking for something small and approachable, give it a look. [...]

XForms for HTML

I’ve heard not a peep about this before, but here it is: XForms for HTML. Let’s read this together. Feel free to drop any comments or observations below. -m

XForms for HTML

I’ve heard not a peep about this before, but here it is: XForms for HTML. Let’s read this together. Feel free to drop any comments or observations below. -m

XSLTForms looks promising

Implementing client-side forms libraries is, and has been, all the rage. I’ve seen Mozquito Factory do amazing things in Netscape 4, Technical Pursuits TIBET on the perpetual verge of release, UGO, and others. In a more recent time scale, Ubiquity XForms impresses me and many others, and it has the right combination of funding and [...]

XiX: Details about XForms in XQuery

I was asked offline for more details about what I have in mind around XiX.
Take a simple piece of XML, like this: <root><a>3</a><b>4</b><total/></root>.
An XForms Model can be applied, in an out-of-line fashion, to that instance. This is done through a bind element, with XPath to identify the nodes in question, plus other “model item properties” [...]

XiX (XForms in XQuery)

I’m pondering implementing the computational parts of the XForms Model in XQuery. Doing so in a largely functional environment poses some challenges, though. Has anybody tackled this before? How about in any functional language, including ML, Haskell, Scheme, XSLT, or careful Python?
I borrowed the book Purely Functional Data Structures from a friend–this looks to be [...]

More mobile XForms goodness

I haven’t tried this, but these guys claim to have a solution where
The form definitions are saved and exchanged as XForms, and the data as XForm[s] models. The data can be exchanged over http (if the phone users can afford GPRS and have a data connection) or over compressed SMS messages.
Sounds like they have the [...]

XForms spambots on the loose

A determined spambot has been submitting the XForms contact form on XForms Institute. OK, so it’s probably more Flash-aware than XForms-aware, but still. -m

XRX

Bumped into XRX today. XForms + REST + XQuery. I like the sound of this, and XForms on the client just got a whole bunch easier…
I’m seeing multiple signs that the confluence of XForms and XQuery has legs. (And REST just plain makes sense in any situation). -m

XForms Validator on Google App Engine?

I registered ‘xfv’ on Google App Engine. Too bad there doesn’t appear to be any significant XML libraries supported. I have XPath covered by my pure-python WebPath, but what about Relax NG? Anyone know of anything in pure python? -m

XForms Ubiquity

I just found out about a nice little XForms engine called Ubiquity. (Having dinner with Mark Birbeck, TV Raman, and Leigh Klotz certainly helps one find out about such things) :-)
It’s a JavaScript implementation done right. Open source under the Apache 2.0 license. Seems like a nice fit with, oh maybe MarkLogic Server? -m

XQuery Annoyances…

If you are used to XSLT 1.0 and XForms, you see { $book/bk:title } and think nothing of it. XSLT 1.0 calls the curly-brace construct an Attribute Value Template, which is pretty descriptive of where it’s used. Always in an attribute, always converted into a string, even if you are actually pointing to an element.
In [...]