Why no variables?

As I've been working with XForms (primarily 1.1), I've been wondering
why the spec doesn't allow for variables.  In particular, I would think
that variables would be useful in event handlers (actions), and I think
they'd be pretty straightforward to define.  I imagine them looking
something like this (where the `xf` prefix maps to the XForms namespace
and the `ev` prefix maps to the XML Events namespace):

  <xf:action ev:event="some-event">
    <xf:variable name="actionContext" value="current()"/>
    <xf:variable name="target" value="xpath/to/target"/>
    <xf:insert origin="$actionContext/new" context="$target"/>
    <xf:delete nodeset="$target/old"/>
  </xf:action>

At the very least, then, variables would be scoped to the containing
action handler; we could then have some interesting discussion about
whether or not we'd want to expand that scope to the outermost action
handler or even to a global scope.

Take care,

    John L. Clark  |  Systems Analyst
                   |  Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Research
 Cleveland Clinic  |  9500 Euclid Ave.   |  Cleveland, OH 44195
                   |  (216) 445-6011

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Received on Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:41:48 UTC