Re: repeats

>> You can get by with a single document prototype and a schema. Then  
>> you
>> can have of course 10000 "concrete" documents that you want to edit
>> with XForms and that validate with the schema.
>> It would be of course nice if a schema could allow to do without a
>> document template. I am not a Schema specialist, but I don't think
>> that there is a simple schema-based solution to create documents in a
>> way that would satisify most use cases. For now it's probably better
>> to leave that kind of functionality to external tools.
>
> I was suggesting perhaps schema could replace the prototype for  
> instance data, not be used as the basis for a complete xform. As  
> you say there are external tools that try to do just that.
>
Hi,

I think the point about schema is interesting. One could argue that  
XForms should make XML Schema work harder than it does more  
generally. As you say, you end up replicating a lot of stuff from the  
schema in the form.

But then, there is no guarantee that there is an underlying schema,  
or at least no WXS schema, and XForms still has to work. So I don't  
really see an alternative to defining prototypes in XML. At least in  
1.1 the prototypes don't have to be part of the target instance so  
you can actually start with a schema valid instance (if there is a  
schema).

I guess the best XForms can do is to provide mechanisms that  
replicate what you can express in schema (and more), but without  
requiring that there actually be a schema present. As Erik says   
tools can do the transformation from schema to XForms if you do have  
one.

All the best

Mark

Received on Wednesday, 8 November 2006 12:01:30 UTC