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XForms Essentials

By Micah Dubinko
August 2003
Pages: 232
ISBN 10: 0-596-00369-2 | ISBN 13: 9780596003692
(Average of 3 Customer Reviews)

Description

XForms Essentials is an introduction and practical guide to the new XForms specification. Written by Micah Dubinko, a member of the W3C XForms working group and an editor of the specification, the book explains the how and why of XForms, showing readers how to take advantage of them without having to write their own code. You'll learn how to integrate XForms with both HTML and XML vocabularies, and how XForms can simplify the connection between client-based user input and server-based processing. If you work with forms, HTML, or XML information, XForms Essentials will provide you with a much simpler route to more sophisticated interactions with users.
Full Description

The use of forms on the web is so commonplace that most user interactions involve some type of form. XForms--a combination of XML and forms--offers a powerful alternative to HTML-based forms. By providing excellent XML integration, including XML Schema, XForms allows developers to create flexible, web-based user-input forms for a wide variety of platforms, including desktop computers, handhelds, information appliances, and more. XForms Essentials is an introduction and practical guide to the new XForms specification. Written by Micah Dubinko, a member of the W3C XForms working group and an editor of the specification, the book explains the how and why of XForms, showing readers how to take advantage of them without having to write their own code. You'll learn how to integrate XForms with both HTML and XML vocabularies, and how XForms can simplify the connection between client-based user input and server-based processing. XForms Essentials begins with a general introduction to web forms, including information on history and basic construction of forms. The second part of the book serves as a reference manual to the XForms specification. The third section offers additional hints, guidelines, and techniques for working with XForms. Topics covered in the book include:

creating XForms files in a text or XML editor
converting existing forms (electronic or paper) to XForms
collecting XML data from users in a user-friendly way
reducing the amount of JavaScript needed within browser interfaces
increasing the security and reliability of your current forms system by combining client-side and server-side checks into a common code base
creating interactive websites using the latest standard technology

XForms Essentials focuses on the practical application of XForms technology. If you work with forms, HTML, or XML information, XForms Essentials will provide you with a much simpler route to more sophisticated interactions with users.

Featured customer reviews

Re: Examples please, October 03 2008
Submitted by Sarah Kim [Respond | View]

Just a quick note for anyone looking for the example files for this book. They can be found by clicking the "Examples" link located under the book's cover on this page.

Examples please, May 20 2005

Rating:

Submitted by Kevin [Respond | View]

Too many complex concepts without code examples. No samples on the website makes learning difficult.

Well written for the XForms author, April 06 2004

Rating:

Submitted by Doug D [Respond | View]

The book is well written and organized by one of the authors of the W3C XForms specification itself. The intended audience is the technical person who needs to author XForms at the tag level. Knowledge of XML is very helpful.

It's not formatted as a reference manual, but contains enough reference material to get by. Organization is good so that one doesn't need to extensively search through the whole book. An index and decent TOC is included. It is also not a cookbook. Brief examples are provided as illustrations, not as complete working solutions.

Related technologies (i.e., XPath, XML Schema and CSS) are covered so that the reader doesn't need to turn to another book or online reference.

Throughout the book, common traps and pitfalls clearly appear on the page. My favorite chapter is chapter 10 that includes 20 pages of design patterns and troubleshooting ideas. When learning a new technology, it is very helpful to see how it is intended to be used and what common problems to avoid. It saves many hours of frustration.

Read all reviews

XForms Essentials Review, March 15 2004

Rating:

Submitted by Marc Schroeder [Respond | View]

Beware, no Example file on the O'Reilly website.

I hate myself for not having checked this BEFORE buying the book.

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