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Subject: Initial thoughts on input specifications
After a brief discussion with Ken, here are some initial thoughts on what the input specification should entail -- all things that should be implementable with any mainstream forms technology. 1) Overall navigation order for all form controls 2) The location within UBL XML of where the data for each control resides 3) For each control, list the "data collection intent" based on a vocabulary of intentions. An initial list of intentions is: "output" -- nonmodifiable, dynamically updated data "input" -- short, typically a single line or less data entry "secret" -- short, typically a single line or less data entry that should not be echoed back "textarea" -- longer, typically multiline data entry "select exactly one" -- selection of one and only one item from a list "select zero or more" -- selection of zero or more items from a list "select from range" -- selection of a value between a minimum and maximum There are more possibilities (like "upload" or "submit") but they may not be needed. Anyway, this is just a starting point. A few more things came to me after the discussion. 4) A few things will be computed, so we need to say what gets calculated from what 5) Other accessibility things, like accesskey or the equivalent 6) This might get complicated, but maybe some kind of prioritization for what needs to be included in the form. Will the input specification say that a form *must* map every possible part of UBL XML to a visible form control? For example, when I implemented the UBL 0.7 purchase order, instead of cluttering things with a 'currency' form control on each input line, I placed it once for the overall form, and had the data percolate down as needed. Should the input specifications allow this or say anything about it? Thanks, .micah -- Available for consulting. XForms, web forms, information overload. Micah Dubinko mailto:micah@dubinko.info Brain Attic, L.L.C. http://brainattic.info Yahoo IM: mdubinko Learn XForms today: http://xformsinstitute.com
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