RE: XForms for Server Side?

Hello Robert,

> The assertion is that for applications that use client/server model,
> XForms is not appropriate. Can anyone give me ammo to refute this?

The main problem with the argument is the inappropriate definition of client
and server. Most well designed desktop applications will have an element of
client and server about them, all within one machine. An XForms processor is
no exception and in fact the design of XForms lends itself very well to this
kind of split.

So the question is not whether it should be "on the client or the server",
since it needs to be both; you and your questioner are really talking about
where the split should take place. Could the "server" be on a web server and
"the client" be a browser (which you say is possible), or should the whole
thing be on the user's PC (as your colleague believes)?

Which is better will depend on your application, user environment, security
constraints, target devices, distribution issues, and so on. If you have
hundreds of users with WAP phones then you will need a web server solution
since you won't be able to install XForms processors on their phones. On the
other hand if you want a solution that uses SVG and MathML alongside your
XForms then you will need a client-based processor.

But whatever your criteria, it is certainly *possible* to run an XForms
processor split across two machines - all you need is a way to pass events,
which is not that tricky. You say:

> If the event takes place on a web page, then it is all client side.

but there is no reason for this to be the case. In fact, we are working
towards splitting our XForms processor across many machines at the same
time, so the boundaries are actually quite meaningless. And in fact you can
also think of many uses of XForms where there is no user interface - so they
could be set to run *only* on the server, if you wanted.

Regards,

Mark


Mark Birbeck
Managing Director
x-port.net Ltd.

Download our XForms processor for IE6
from http://www.FormsPlayer.com/

Received on Thursday, 28 August 2003 17:53:06 UTC