On Wednesday 19 November 2003 3:39 am, Matt Sergeant wrote: > But going further on that I think there's more we can do on two fronts: > more interactive forms, and easier to develop forms. > > For more interactive forms I think we can do something more advanced > with PerForm - adding features to automatically add in client side JS > code where appropriate. I'd also like to think about how we can extend > PerForm so people can create their own PerForm widgets, rather than > having to stick to the default ones we provide.
You accomplish that with XSLT. I did it on my last project, basically a GIANT 14 part form! (don't ask). A common library of JavaScript functions is included from an XSLT. Each form field tag contains an indicator as to which test (if any) to perform for validation. At the close of form generation I just construct a set of script tags which contains all the required functions (1 per data type) and builds the logic to call each of them. As for other client-side things, you can simply invent whatever syntax you want to include them in your page and then do transforms in XSLT to construct the corresponding dynamic elements. Its not really different from generating sidebar navigation or anything else. > > In order to make form development easier it would be nice to have > better external control of the flow of forms. This could be done with > some sort of XML system, or we could look at developing something more > complex like Cocoon's "Flow" system (though emulating that exactly > requires continuations, which we don't have). It shouldn't be hard to construct an XML syntax which describes where to go next and translate that into form actions and related elements. I have code already which parces an XML 'binding language' and uses that information to build and populate a form on output and validate input and round-trip the data back into an XML data structure. Going from there to RDBMS is trivial. Tricky things in the flow would seem to me to be things like forms which can go to multiple places. The mortgage application system at www.correctmortgage.com uses a number of these techniques (though it isn't built with AxKit...). > > Unfortunately as with everything in Open Source, it's a matter of > someone having to scratch this particular itch. I will soon be passing > on this web project to someone else (job still open if anyone's > interested), and so will be going back to full time spam detection. But > I can certainly point people at what I think might be "quick wins". I for one would be interested in hearing what people have to say about it. I'm sure getting sick of form processing systems built mostly by hand. Even with the various tools I've come up with it seems like we still don't have the right solution. > > Matt. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Tod Harter Giant Electronic Brain http://www.giantelectronicbrain.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
