I've got a question about XForms/XPath syntax when using xmlForm.js and the XMLForm transformer. The problem is how to address 'unnamed' nodes.
I have a bean with a nested structure (employees courtesy of Allan Moore):
workplan.bean =
{
firstName: "Campion",
lastName: "Bond",
email: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]",
tasks :
[
{
title: "Build Widget Prototype",
description: "Build prototype of new X41ZQ widget.",
actions: "Plan, Build",
people:
[
{
firstName: "Captain",
lastName: "Nemo",
strengths: "Has own submarine",
weaknesses: "Wants to destroy the major colonial powers.",
leadershipStyle: "delegate"
},
{
firstName: "Invisible",
lastName: "Man",
strengths: "Invisible.",
weakenesses: "Is a pervert.",
leadershipStyle: "support"
}
]
},
{
title: "Crush Competition",
description: "Kill their warriors, drive them before us, and listen to the lamentations of the women.",
actions: "Disseminate FUD about Competitors",
people:
[
{
firstName: "Dr.",
lastName: "Jekyl",
strengths: "Genius doctor.",
weaknesses: "Has evil twin.",
leadershipStyle: "delegate"
},
{
firstName: "Allan",
lastName: "Quartermain",
strengths: "Heroic.",
weakenesses: "Has a bad smack habit.",
leadershipStyle: "support"
}
]
}
]
}
So I want to take this bean and populate a form with it:
Getting the the title, description, and actions out of the form are straightforward. Applying:
<document xmlns:xf="http://apache.org/cocoon/xmlform/1.0";>
<xf:form id="form-workplanning" view="workplan" action="edit" method="POST">
<xf:caption>Personal Information</xf:caption>
<error>
<xf:violations class="error"/>
</error>
<xf:textbox ref="/firstName">
<xf:caption>First Name</xf:caption>
<xf:violations class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="/lastName">
<xf:caption>Last Name</xf:caption>
<xf:violations class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="/email">
<xf:caption>Email</xf:caption>
<xf:help>Please check this carefully</xf:help>
<xf:violations class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:group nodeset="/" id="tasks_group">
<xf:caption>Tasks</xf:caption>
<xf:repeat nodeset="/tasks" id="tasks">
<xf:group nodeset="task" id="task">
<xf:textbox ref="title" class="info">
<xf:caption>Task Name</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="description" class="info">
<xf:caption>Description</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="actions" class="info">
<xf:caption>Actions</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
</xf:group>
</xf:repeat>
</xf:group>
</xf:form>
</document>
To the bean yields:
<xf:form id="form-workplanning" view="workplan" action="edit" method="POST">
<xf:caption>Personal Information</xf:caption>
<error>
</error>
<xf:textbox ref="/firstName"><xf:value>Campion</xf:value>
<xf:caption>First Name</xf:caption> </xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="/lastName"><xf:value>Bond</xf:value>
<xf:caption>Last Name</xf:caption></xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="/email"><xf:value>[EMAIL PROTECTED]</xf:value>
<xf:caption>Email</xf:caption>
<xf:help>Please check this carefully</xf:help>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:group nodeset="/" id="tasks_group">
<xf:caption>Tasks</xf:caption>
<xf:repeat nodeset="/tasks" id="tasks"><xf:group ref="/[EMAIL PROTECTED] = 'tasks'][1]"><xf:group id="task" nodeset="task" xmlns:xf="http://apache.org/cocoon/xmlform/1.0";>
<xf:textbox class="info" ref="/[EMAIL PROTECTED] = 'tasks'][1]/title"><xf:value>Build Widget Prototype</xf:value>
<xf:caption>Task Name</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox class="info" ref="/[EMAIL PROTECTED] = 'tasks'][1]/description"><xf:value>Build prototype of new X41ZQ widget.</xf:value>
<xf:caption>Description</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:group id="people_group" nodeset="./">
<xf:caption>People Assigned</xf:caption>
<xf:repeat id="people" nodeset="people"/>
</xf:group>
<xf:textbox class="info" ref="/[EMAIL PROTECTED] = 'tasks'][1]/actions"><xf:value>Plan, Build</xf:value>
<xf:caption>Actions</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
</xf:group>
...
The difficulty is how to iterate over the people in each task in the bean, so that the people are grouped with each task. That problem arises because task and people nodes aren't explicitly labeled, and I don't want to explicitly label them because the goal is to allow insertion of deletion of arbitrary people within tasks, and arbitrary tasks within the bean.
If I try and write the JXPath statements from analogy, the result doesn't work;
<xf:repeat nodeset="/tasks" id="tasks">
<xf:group nodeset="task" id="task">
<xf:textbox ref="title" class="info">
<xf:caption>Task Name</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="description" class="info">
<xf:caption>Description</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:group nodeset="./" id="people_group">
<xf:caption>People Assigned</xf:caption>
<xf:repeat nodeset="people" id="people">
<xf:group nodeset="person" id="person">
<xf:textbox ref="firstName">
<xf:caption>First
Name</xf:caption>
<xf:violations
class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="lastName">
<xf:caption>Last
Name</xf:caption>
<xf:violations
class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="strengths">
<xf:caption>Strengths</xf:caption>
<xf:violations
class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:textbox ref="weaknesses">
<xf:caption>Weaknesses</xf:caption>
<xf:violations
class="error"/>
</xf:textbox>
<xf:selectOne ref="leadershipStyle"
selectUIType="radio">
<xf:caption>Needed
Leadership Style</xf:caption>
<xf:item id="support">
<xf:caption>Support</xf:caption>
<xf:value>support</xf:value>
</xf:item>
<xf:item id="delegate">
<xf:caption>Delegate</xf:caption>
<xf:value>delegate</xf:value>
</xf:item>
<xf:item id="coach">
<xf:caption>Coach</xf:caption>
<xf:value>coach</xf:value>
</xf:item>
<xf:item id="direct">
<xf:caption>Direct</xf:caption>
<xf:value>direct</xf:value>
</xf:item>
</xf:selectOne>
</xf:group>
</xf:repeat>
</xf:group>
<xf:textbox ref="actions" class="info">
<xf:caption>Actions</xf:caption>
</xf:textbox>
</xf:group>
</xf:repeat>Instead I get:
<xf:group id="people_group" nodeset="./">
<xf:caption>People Assigned</xf:caption>
<xf:repeat id="people" nodeset="people"/>
</xf:group>My assumption here was that xf:group works like xsl:for-each or xsl:call-template, where the currently selected node is the one in scope.
Can I buy a clue here?
Thanks.
-- Bill Humphries
