XFORMS: THE FUTURE OF WEB I/O
When developing Web-based applications, the process of designing the 
input screens, or forms, can be not only tedious but also complex. 
Different access mechanisms such as traditional Web browsers, PDAs, 
XML, and other proprietary applications can cause you to create many 
implementations for your forms. A new protocol, called XForms, aims to 
simplify the many faces of Web forms.

OUT WITH THE OLD
There are a few problems with the current methodology behind Web-based 
forms. To start with, these methods are very focused on a particular 
challenge, how to capture data via the handful of formats available 
from 
a "standard" Web browser. Browser input data usually consists of a text 
box, a radio button, a check button, or a list selection. Sometimes, 
the data can be more complex, such as an uploaded file. The 
conventional Web-based form approach causes problems when the scope 
grows large enough to encompass other ways to input data, such as an 
interactive voice response (IVR) system, mobile device network, and 
integrated data applications. Each of these systems must be custom 
configured to understand the basic concepts provided by HTML and XHTML 
forms.

IN WITH THE NEW
The goal of XForms is to provide a more comprehensive approach to Web-
based data input and processing. By assuming the scope of Web 
applications will continue to broaden, the XForms protocol leaves a lot 
of room for growth. XForms uses a modular approach that separates the 
meaning and presentation of the form. In other words, if you need to 
use the "Customer Data Input" form, you will have options regarding how 
to display the form depending on the presentation technology. An 
Internet Explorer user might see some elements differently than a Palm 
user or a mobile telephone user.

DISPLAY, SUBMIT, PROCESS
XForms is not going to create a new paradigm in presentation. Instead, 
XForms technology allows for a standard set of user interface controls 
that can be implemented across multiple presentation platforms. XForms 
also implements a new submit methodology. In addition to the 
traditional submit and reset form methods, XForms provides events such 
as refresh, initialize, and exception. This allows for a much richer 
form implementation without dependencies on client-side scripting 
technologies. Once the XForms is submitted using the XForms Submit 
Protocol, it is delivered to the processing application as XML instance 
data. This means that the data that has been entered into the form is 
packaged as an XML document representing that particular instance of 
the form. This allows the processing application to look at the form 
data as an XML document, rather than a group of unrelated data.

MORE INFO
There is more information available online about XForms. To read the 
World Wide Web Consortium's current specifications and ideology, visit 
the W3C XForms 1.0 Working Draft or read the W3C paper XForms - The 
Next Generation of Web Forms.
http://click.techrepublic.com/Click?q=d8-XWY3QWLPzvNyIgZVkYUQf-Aqy9RR
http://click.techrepublic.com/Click?q=ca-icRuQUgTCLJQyhCql1NegWZuusRR

SUMMARY
As the Web grows beyond simple Web browsers to encompass more access 
technologies, the problem of capturing data will continue to become 
more complex. XForms aims to provide a modular solution that will help 
ease the pains of developing for multiple presentation platforms and 
deliver data in a more XML-friendly manner.

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