Using XForms in Rich Clients

Hello all,

For those who might be interested in how XForms makes it extremely easy to
build advanced internet applications, there are some comments and
screenshots on my blog showing some pre-release apps:

  <http://internet-apps.blogspot.com/2005/11/platform-20.html>

(The blog shows some screenshots, with links to more on Flickr.)

The examples combine XHTML, XForms, SVG and XBL to produce controls
recursively. For example, one such control is a 'Flickr strip'--a set of
images based on searching Flickr using some tag. This strip is made up of
further widgets--'Flickr thumbnails'--which in turn comprise the actual
Flickr image, overlaid with an SVG analogue clock that shows the time the
photo was taken. Moving the mouse over the clock makes it larger.

This whole approach of combining objects in a declarative way is not the
same as writing everything in some AJAX or SVG widget library (or even a
'Flash library', as is being mooted in some quarters). Using standard
mark-up like this is far more powerful and flexible than that. For example,
each embedded widget can make its own web service requests via XForms,
allowing it to get further information as needed. As you can see in the
screenshots, this technique is used to retrieve extra information whilst you
are navigating; Technorati information about the author of a blog, more
Flickr pictures based on the tags that Alexa has assigned to the document
you are viewing, a map showing any geographic positioning info found in the
page, etc.

But perhaps more important even than the ability to create complex controls,
is that the information sources one uses is entirely up to the user; you can
add Alexa, Yahoo!, del.icio.us, Technorati, Flickr ... whatever you want.
This is significant because it puts each *user* at the centre of the web,
rather than the web being experienced via whatever centralised, server-based
mash-ups are available (or worse, requiring users to produce their own).

Regards,

Mark


Mark Birbeck
CEO
x-port.net Ltd.

e: Mark.Birbeck@x-port.net
t: +44 (0) 20 7689 9232
w: http://www.formsPlayer.com/

Download our XForms processor from
http://www.formsPlayer.com/

Received on Monday, 7 November 2005 12:52:37 UTC