XForms

1
XForms SVGMITA Seminar, HUT

• Mixing XML Languages
• Summary
• Relation to MITA
• Conclusions
• References

• SVG
• Introduction
• Features
• Benefits
• Simple Example
• Standardization
• Mobile Environment
• Current Status

• XForms
• Background
• Introduction
• MVC Model
• XForms Model
• User Interface
• Current Status
• Mobile Applications

2
SVG Introduction

• Scalable Vector Graphics
• Scalable scalable for different display
  resolutions
• Vector flexibility compared to raster graphics
  (e.g. jpeg, png)
• Graphics language for describing 2D graphics
• XML-based
• Markup language for textual presentation of
  vector graphics
• Usable as XML name space
• Stand-alone vs. Embedded SVG content
• Modularization enables the definition of profiles
• Standardized by W3C

3
SVG Features

• Examples
• Basic shapes
• Possibility to define symbols
• Raster effects (e.g. blurs, shadows)
• Interactive vs. Dynamic documents
• Animations can be included
• Events
• Scripting support (ECMAScript)

4
SVG - Benefits

• Vector graphics is expressed as mathematics (cf.
  bitmaps)
• Main benefits
• Small file size
• Resizing capabilities
• Flexibility
• Compatibility with other standards efforts
• Compatible with XML 1.0
• SVG content can be used as SMIL media components
• Compatibility with HTML4 and XHTML
• Check SVG spec for further details

5
SVG Simple Example

• ltsvg width"12cm" height"4cm" viewBox"0 0 1200
  400"
• xmlns"http//www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  version"1.1"gt
• ltdescgtExample rect01 - rectangle with sharp
  cornerslt/descgt
• lt!-- Show outline of canvas using 'rect' element
  -gt
• ltrect x"1" y"1" width"1198" height"398"
• fill"none" stroke"blue"
  stroke-width"2"/gt
• ltrect x"400" y"100" width"400" height"200"
• fill"yellow" stroke"navy"
  stroke-width"10" /gt
• lt/svggt

6
SVG Standardization

• Standardized by W3C
• SVG Working group
• Many major industry players involved Corel,
  Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Adobe, IBM, Sun,
  Macromedia, Apple, HP, ZOOMON
• The latest specification SVG 1.1 Specification
• Modularization
• Errata found in 1.0

7
SVG Mobile Environment

• Two profiles especially targeted to mobile
  devices (SVG Mobile)
• SVG Tiny for mobile phones
• SVG Basic for smart phones and PDAs
• SVG Mobile included as supported media format
• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS, TS 26.140)
• Packet Switched Streaming (PSS, TS 26.234)
• SVG Tiny mandatory, SVG Basic optional
• SVG software available for mobiles
• ZOOMON is the leading provider of SVG for mobile
  devices
• Opera plug-in
• Symbian Companion Technology Program

8
SVG - Current Status

• Competing solutions
• Microsofts Vector Markup Language
• Macromedia FLASH
• Many SVG implementations available (see W3Cs SVG
  site)
• Adobe Acrobat Viewer
• SVG plug-in to Opera browser for Symbian by
  ZOOMON AB
• SVG Promotion Win Nokia 3650 the best SVG
  mobile greeting card
• http//www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Competition

9
XForms Background

• HTML forms have severe limitations
• Do datatypes or validity checking
• No separation of data and presentation
• No inter-field calculations
• Low accessibility
• Hard to maintain
• Scripting is needed
• Lots of round-trips to the server

10
XForms Introduction

• W3C Recommendation
• XML based
• Fully integrates to other XML standards
• XPath
• XML Schema
• Solves most common use cases with declarative
  markup
• Define datatypes and other validity information
  of the form
• Inter-field calculations
• Event handling

11
XForms MVC Model

• Model-View-Controller architcture
• Clean separation of layers
• Model
• Instance data Any XML data
• XML Schema structure and datatypes
• Calculations
• View
• XForms User Interface host document
• Controller
• The XForms Form Controls

12
XForms - Model

• Instance data in any XML format
• Dynamic calculations and constraints defined with
  XPath
• Calculation engine takes care of calculation
  order
• ltbind nodesettotal calculatesum(../item/price
  )/gt
• Datatypes defined with XML Schema
• ltbind nodesetitem/quantity typexsdinteger/gt

13
XForms - User Interface

• Common user interface controls
• Datatype sensitivity
• For instance, for xsddate datatypes, show a date
  picker
• Repeating structures
• Shopping cart / structured editors
• Wizard or multipaged user interfaces

14
XForms - Current Status

• W3C Recommendation Oct 2003
• Already many implementations
• Clients
• Novell's XForms preview (Java client)
• Browser plugins
• X-Smiles from HUT (Java XML browser)
• FormsPlayer for IE 6.0
• Server-side transcoders
• Chiba (Java based XForms-HTML transcoder)

15
XForms Mobile Applications

• Server-side implementations can already be used
  in mobile applications
• Having XForms client reduces round-trips and
  takes better advantage of the device dependent
  user interface
• XForms 1.0 needs a XML Schema and XPath
  processors.
• XForms Basic removes the need of XML Schema
  processor
• W3C Candidate Recommendation
• Only basic XML Schema datatypes supported
• No implementations yet

16
Mixing XML Languages

• It is always possible to reference whole
  documents, written in different language
  (lthtmlobject srcimage.svg)
• This is limited
• For more functionality, it is necessary to mix
  different XML languages in a single document
• XML namespaces
• Current trend is to define modularized XML
  languages
• E.g. SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration
  Language) 2.0 contains 46 modules
• XHTML 1.1 contains 20 modules
• XForms 1.0 has 8 modules

17
Mixing XML Languages (cont.)

• SVG includes already the animation module from
  SMIL
• XForms can in theory be embedded in any
  displayable XML language
• XHTML 2.0 working draft includes XForms as the
  forms module
• SVG 1.2 working draft also includes XForms

18
Summary Relation to MITA

• XForms and SVG not directly included in MITA
• MITA presented Nokias vision some years ago
• XForms and SVG not mature enough that time
• SVG identified as an important technology for
  Nokia
• SVG included as supported media format for
• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
• Packet Switched Streaming (PSS)

19
Summary Conclusions

• XForms
• Still very new technology
• Already implementations
• Server-side transcoders can be used for mobile
  devices
• XForms Basic targeted to mobile devices
• No implementations yet
• SVG
• Many big companies involved
• Mobile environment addressed (SVG Tiny, SVG
  Basic)
• Incorporated in 3GPP MMS and PSS specifications
• Looking promising

20
References - SVG

• SVG Working Group (specifications,
  implementations, etc.)
• http//www.w3c.org/Graphics/SVG/
• 3GPP (MMS TS 26.140, PSS TS 26.234)
• http//www.3gpp.org/
• Articles, etc.
• New Mobile SVG Standard Graphics Format for Cell
  Phones Screens
• http//www.cellular.co.za/news_2003/011603-new_mo
  bile_svg_standard_graphics.htm
• Nokia The Rise of Mobile Graphics
• http//www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,27115,00.html
• SVG Modularized and Mobile
• http//www.webreference.com/xml/column51/
• ZOOMON joins Symbian Companion Technology Program
• http//www.symbian.com/news/2003/pr030811.html

21
References XForms

• XForms Working Group (specifications,
  implementations, etc.)
• http//www.w3c.org/MarkUp/Forms/
• Articles, etc.
• What are XForms
• http//www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/09/05/xforms.html
• Ten implementations reviewed
• http//www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/09/10/xforms.html
• O'Reilly book XForms Essentials
• http//www.oreilly.com/catalog/xforms/