RE: Debugging forms

Hi Bob,

I'm glad to know you think XFormation is a great tool but would like to see
if I can help you with the use of the debug tools within this which can
assist you greatly in writing your XForms including debugging my XPaths.

The  'state view ' is good to show the state of the instance data and
illustrate whether the state is valid or not. In future releases of
XFormation we are looking at highlighting the invalid elements on the tree
so it is clear to see which nodes are valid and which are not.

The watch window is valuable to test your XPath expressions allowing you to
incrementally build up the expression to ensure that the structure is valid.
This will shortly include the ability to execute XPath and XForms functions.

A technique that I also use when writing XForms is to use the following
style .invalid { border:1px solid red;} which helps me identify which
elements are invalid. For the elements of the Instance which are not bound
to controls I sometimes temporarily bind them to output controls to see the
bound value and where it is valid or not. 

It is also worth mentioning we are currently looking at improving the
existing debug functionality  to include highlighting the invalid elements
on the tree in the state view so that it is clear which nodes are valid and
which are not and the ability to execute XPath and XForms functions within
the Watch Window. This functionality will be announced  on the  XFormation
website .


If you are having specific problems with XFormation please don't hesitate to
contact us and we will try our best to point you in the right direction.

Regards

Rhydian Morris

www.xformation.com

Focus Software Ltd 
Cranford House 
Kenilworth Road 
Leamington Spa 
Warwickshire 
CV32 6RQ 

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Bateman [mailto:bobbateman@sequoiallc.com]
> Sent: 22 March 2004 22:10
> To: www-forms@w3.org
> Subject: Debugging forms
> 
> 
> 
> Greetings all.
> 
> I've been having a discussion today with an associate who 
> uses XML a lot.  
> During our conversation, I rambled on about the difficulties 
> I've been having 
> while I'm both learning XPath and XForms and writing a form.
> 
> One of the difficulties I'm having is "debugging" my various XPath 
> expressions.  One of the errors I get a LOT is my instance 
> data not being 
> "valid." This error means I can't write even invlid XML to 
> look at and "fix."
> 
> I realize I'm quite stuck in my ways (I've been programming 
> for over 22 
> years.) and some habits (like debugging) are hard to break.  
> What I'm hoping 
> for is a little advice from the "experts" on the list as to 
> better ways to 
> debug using XForms and XPath.  (Please note that I've looked 
> at XFormation 
> and found that, while its a great tool, I can't get it to 
> work for me....)
> 
> Thanks much for your time!
> 
> Bob Bateman
> Software Developer
> Sequoia Group LLC
>

Received on Tuesday, 23 March 2004 12:26:47 UTC