RE: Apple's XForms CFR Response

Also sprach David Cleary:

 > > Opera Software has been working on an XHTML module which 
 > > would add some functionality from XForms (e.g. basic data 
 > > typing and XML
 > > submission) without introducing large numbers of extra 
 > > dependencies. We hope to continue this work in cooperation 
 > > with W3C and its members.
 > 
 > Will you be using W3C XML Schema Data types or be creating new ones? Will
 > they allow user defined types? What will validate the structure of the
 > submitted XML?

While the XHTML module isn't ready for general publication, we think
the best way to answer your questions and to continue a fruitful debate
is to make the document available for members. Here is a snapshot:

 [1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-archive/2003Sep/att-0014/hfp.html

We must emphasize that this is very much work in progress and that we
would like to work with other members to enhance it. 

Now, to answer your questions:

 > Will you be using W3C XML Schema Data types or be creating new ones? 

We have extended the set of data types available in HTML. Some of the
new types are taken from XSD, but we have not done a wholesale import.
The list of types at the moment is:

    single line of text
    multiline text
    password
    a set (a list of zero or more values from a predefined list)
    an enum (a single value from a predefined list)
    datetime
    date
    expdate
    time
    number
    integer
    email
    file upload
    coordinate

Some of the above types can be further constrained based on:

    maximum length
    regexp pattern
    minimum and/or maximum
    content type

They can also be flagged as required values, and have some submission 
semantics set, e.g. word wrapping for the multiline text type.

 > Will they allow user defined types?

Yes, in two ways:

    1. the types above can be used to create new types (e.g. patterns)

    2. the automatic validation can be usurped from script to set the 
       validation state


 > What will validate the structure of the submitted XML?

The question doesn't really apply given the way XML submission is defined 
in the draft (the UA generates a known structure which is then either 
submitted or passed to a script for transformation then submitted).

-h&kon
              Håkon Wium Lie                          CTO °þe®ª
howcome@opera.com                  http://people.opera.com/howcome

Received on Friday, 5 September 2003 08:47:20 UTC