Summary report on the XForms-XML Schema Task Force

Greetings,

     This is the summary report of the XForms-XML Schema Task Force,
intended to provide an overview of the current status and resolution of the
Task Force's objectives. Also included is a technical description of the
results of the Task Force's work along with actual XML Schema
implementations conforming to the current Schema Recommendation.

     The Task Force was formed in May 2001 as a joint effort of both the
parent groups to determine how to best support the use of XML Schema within
XForms across a wide array of device types. More information about the Task
Force's mission and goals are available from the home page [1].

     The Task Force has now come to a point in its efforts where we feel
that we have accomplished our stated goals and considered most if not all
pertinent issues. The Report and the Schema implementations included here
form the technical part of our final report which we would like to submit to
our parent groups for comment and approval. Previous reports on specific
topics have been sent to the mailing lists of both groups.

     In brief, the question of how to best support XML Schemas on small
devices for use within XForms turned out to revolve almost exclusively
around the use of datatypes. The use of Schema structures was deemed
inappropriate and unnecessary and so the task was reduced to enumerating a
subset of Schema datatypes suitable for the target device class. The result
was two 'conformance profiles' of the Schema datatypes, one "basic' profile
and one 'full' profile. These profiles consist of specific subsets of XML
Schema datatypes. The full conformance profile includes all Schema
datatypes; the basic profile omits several datatypes whose use within XForms
models on small devices was considered unnecessary.

     We as members of the Task Force feel that this has been a worthwhile
and successful effort in cross-group collaboration, and feel that this
result will help to promote the use of both XForms and XML Schema throughout
the industry and on the Web. Please review the final report included here
and submit your comments and questions to the Task Force mailing list:
w3c-forms-schema@w3.org.

Regards,

D-

[1] http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/Group/Schema