Orbeon Forms
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General

For the latest default values of general properties, see properties-base.xml.

Name
oxf.url-rewriting.service.base-uri
Purpose
specify the base URL for rewriting some internal service URLs
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value
Empty. Rewriting is done against the incoming request.
Usually Orbeon Forms uses the host, port, and context name as seen by the browser, such as:
http://www.mycompany.com/orbeon
to infer how to reach itself when calling some service URLs (see below for which URLs apply depending on the Orbeon Forms version). But in some cases, Orbeon Forms cannot reach to itself this way and an explicit base URL must be specified with this property.
Such cases include:
  • accessing the server through different host names (like https://foo/orbeon and https://bar/orbeon reaching the same Orbeon Forms instance)
  • accessing the embedded eXist database (for demo purposes) when the request goes through a reverse proxy
When you are in such configurations, please make sure to set oxf.url-rewriting.service.base-uri to point to the local servlet container instance, for example:
<property
as="xs:anyURI"
name="oxf.url-rewriting.service.base-uri"
value="http://localhost:8080/orbeon"/>

Since Orbeon Forms 4.7, this property is only used for the following:
  • access to the embedded eXist database
  • access to custom services located in the Orbeon web app (there are none by default)
You don't need to set this property if:
  • you do not use the embedded eXist or custom services
  • or you use the embedded eXist database or a custom service and
    • you are running your servlet container on a local computer for testing or deployment
    • or your external server name and port are accessible from the servlet container
When things don't work out of the box, typically when the network setup contains a front-end web server and/or prevents a network connection from the servlet container to itself, setting it to the following is usually enough:
<property
as="xs:anyURI"
name="oxf.url-rewriting.service.base-uri"
value="http://localhost:8080/orbeon"/>
Make sure to adjust the port and prefix as needed.

Up to and including Orbeon Forms 4.6.x, this property was used for all service calls, including calls to internal services used by Form Runner and Form Builder, such as loading i18n resources and accessing the persistence implementation.
With 4.6.x and earlier, you don't need to set this property if:
  • you are running your servlet container on a local computer for testing or deployment
  • or your external server name and port are accessible from the servlet container
When things don't work out of the box, typically when the network setup contains a front-end web server and/or prevents a network connection from the servlet container to itself, setting it to the following is usually enough:
<property
as="xs:anyURI"
name="oxf.url-rewriting.service.base-uri"
value="http://localhost:8080/orbeon"/>
Make sure to adjust the port and prefix as needed.

This property is used to create a private key used for encryption. It is recommended to change the default value of the password, even though a random seed is used.
<property
as="xs:string"
name="oxf.crypto.password"
value="CHANGE THIS PASSWORD"/>
As of Orbeon Forms 2021.1, this property is used for:
The following uses are considered legacy and not in use by default in Orbeon Forms anymore:
  • The $instance URL parameter encryption
  • Form static/dynamic state with client state handling encryption
NOTE: If the backwards compatibility property oxf.xforms.password is defined, then it is used first.

This property specifies the length of the AES encryption key. The default is 128 bits.
<property
as="xs:integer"
name="oxf.crypto.key-length"
value="128"/>
Higher strength encryption is usually not enabled by default in the JVM. See Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files. When higher strength encryption is available, this value can be changed to 256, for example.

This property specifies the default hash algorithm. The default is SHA1. Higher strength encryption is usually not enabled by default in the JVM.
<property
as="xs:string"
name="oxf.crypto.hash-algorithm"
value="SHA1"/
Higher strength encryption is usually not enabled by default in the JVM. See Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files. When higher strength encryption is available, this value can be changed to 256, for example.
Orbeon forms uses hash algorithms in at least the following cases:
  • to encode random identifiers, such as document ids in Form Runner
  • for internal caching purposes
  • XForms
    • keys for client-side scripts
    • keys for aggregated JavaScript and CSS resources
    • keys for dynamic xf:output resources
    • HMAC for server-side uploaded files

Name
oxf.cache.size
Purpose
set the size of the Orbeon Forms object cache
Type
xs:integer
Default Value
1000
Orbeon Forms uses an efficient caching system. Orbeon Forms automatically determines what can be cached and when to expire objects. This size is reasonable for most applications. A bigger cache tends to make the application faster, but it uses more memory. To tune the cache size, see the suggestions in the Performance and Tuning section.

Access to environment variables with the environment-variable() function is disabled by default. If you wish to make this XPath function available, set the following property to true.
<property
as="xs:boolean"
name="oxf.xpath.environment-variable.enabled"
value="true"/>

Name
oxf.cache.xpath.size
Purpose
set the size of the Orbeon Forms XPath cache
Type
xs:integer
Default Value
5000
This property configures the maximum number of compiled XPath expressions to keep in the XPath cache. To tune the cache size, see the suggestions in the Performance and Tuning section.
NOTE: A profiler run shows that 2000 cache entries takes, for fairly typical XPath expressions, about 5 MB of memory.

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 4.6.1]
This property controls whether Orbeon Forms outputs its version number to the client web browser:
  • at the bottom of pages, in particular with Form Runner
  • in the <xh:meta name="generator" content="…"> element
  • in combined JavaScript and CSS resource files built by the XForms engine
<property
as="xs:boolean"
name="oxf.show-version"
value="false"/>
Default:
  • prod mode: false
  • dev mode: true

During development, the following XSLT transformer configuration helps with line number errors. The following values are allowed:
  • none: no XSLT output line number information provided. This is recommended for deployment.
  • dumb: minimal XSLT output line number information provided.
  • smart: maximal XSLT output line number information provided. This is recommended for development.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:builtin-saxon"
name="location-mode"
value="none"/>
​
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:unsafe-builtin-saxon"
name="location-mode"
value="none"/>
Default:
  • prod mode: none
  • dev mode: smart

The following property specifies whether the server is allowed to send detailed error and exceptions messages to the browser:
<property
as="xs:boolean"
name="oxf.http.exceptions"
value="false"/>
Default:
  • prod mode: exceptions are not sent to the browser
  • dev mode: exceptions are sent to the browser

Name
oxf.epilogue.theme
Purpose
specifies the theme stylesheet
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value
oxf:/config/theme-examples.xsl
This can be overwritten for a given app by placing a file theme.xsl inside the app directory.

Name
oxf.epilogue.theme.embeddable
Purpose
specifies the theme stylesheet to use when within a portlet or in embeddable mode
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value
oxf:/config/theme-portlet-examples.xsl
This can be overwritten for a given app by placing a file theme-embeddable.xsl inside the app directory.

Name
oxf.epilogue.theme.renderer
Purpose
specifies the theme stylesheet to use when using the XForms filter, whether in integrated or separate deployment mode
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value
oxf:/config/theme-plain.xsl

Name
oxf.epilogue.theme.error
Purpose
specifies the theme stylesheet to use on the error page
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value
oxf:/config/theme-error.xsl

Name
oxf.epilogue.use-theme
Purpose
whether a theme stylesheet must be applied
Type
xs:boolean
Default Value
true

Name
oxf.epilogue.output-xhtml
Purpose
whether to output XHTML to the browser or not
Type
xs:boolean
Default Value
false

Name
oxf.epilogue.renderer-rewrite
Purpose
whether the XForms renderer used in separate deployment must rewrite URLs
Type
xs:boolean
Default Value
false

Name
oxf.epilogue.process-svg
Purpose
whether SVG content must be converted server-side to images
Type
xs:boolean
Default Value
true

Configure the SMTP host for all email processors. This global property can be overridden by local processor configurations.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="smtp-host"
value="mail.example.org"/>

Configure the SMTP port for all email processors. This global property can be overridden by local processor configurations.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="smtp-port"
value="25"/>

Configure the SMTP username for all email processors. This global property can be overridden by local processor configurations.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="username"
value="john"/>

Configure the SMTP password for all email processors. This global property can be overridden by local processor configurations.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="password"
value="secret"/>

Configure the SMTP encryption for all email processors. This global property can be overridden by local processor configurations.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="encryption"
value="tls"/>

Configure a test SMTP host for all email processors. This global property when specified overrides all the other SMTP host configurations for all email processors, whether in the processor configuration or using the smtp-host property.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="test-to"
value="[email protected]"/>
This property can easily be commented out for deployment, or placed in properties-local-dev.xml (see also Run Modes).

Configure a test recipient email address for all email processors. This global property when specified overrides all the other SMTP recipient configurations for all email processors.
<property
as="xs:string"
processor-name="oxf:email"
name="test-to"
value="[email protected]"/>
This property can easily be commented out for deployment, or placed in properties-local-dev.xml (see also Run Modes).

Name
oxf.log4j-config
Purpose
specify the location of the Log4j 1.x configuration file
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value in Properties
oxf:/config/log4j.xml
For details about logging, see Logging.
NOTE: You don't usually need to modify this property and the default location for log4j.xml should be preserved.

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1, 2020.1.6, 2019.2.4, 2019.1.2, 2018.2.5, 2018.1.4]
Name
oxf.log4j2-config
Purpose
specify the location of the Log4j 2.x configuration file
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value in Properties
oxf:/config/log4j2.xml
For details about logging, see Logging.
NOTE: You don't usually need to modify this property and the default location for log4j2.xml should be preserved.

Name
oxf.pipeline.processors
Purpose
specify the URL of the XML file with processor definitions for the XPL pipeline engine
Type
xs:anyURI
Default Value
oxf:/processors.xml
NOTE: You don't usually need to modify this property.

Name
oxf.validation.processor
Purpose
control the automatic processor validation
Type
xs:boolean
Default Value
Enabled
Many processors validate their configuration input with a schema. This validation is automatic and allows meaningful error reporting. To potentially improve the performance of the application, validation can be disabled in production environments.
NOTE: It is strongly discouraged to disable validation, as validation can highly contribute to the robustness of the application.

Name
oxf.validation.user
Purpose
control user-defined validation
Type
boolean
Default Value
Enabled
User-defined validation is activated in the XML Pipeline Definition Language with the attributes schema-href and schema-uri. To potentially improve the performance of the application, validation can be disabled in production environments.
NOTE: It is strongly discouraged to disable validation, as validation can highly contribute to the robustness of the application.

Name
sax.inspection
Purpose
enable inspection SAX events
Type
xs:boolean
Default Value
false
SAX is the underlying mechanism in Orbeon Forms by which processors receive and generate XML data. Given only the constraints of the SAX API, it is possible for a processor to generate an invalid sequence of SAX events. Another processor that receives that invalid sequence of events may or may not be able to deal with it without throwing an exception. Some processors try to process invalid SAX events, while others throw exceptions. This means that when a processor generating an invalid sequence of SAX events is used in a pipeline, the problem might go unnoticed, or it might cause some other processor downstream to throw an exception.
To deal more efficiently with those cases, the sax.inspection property can be set to true. When it is set to true, the pipeline engine checks the outputs of every processor at runtime and makes sure that valid SAX events are generated. When an error is detected, an exception is thrown right away, with information about the processor that generated the invalid SAX events.
There is a performance penalty for enabling SAX events inspection. So this property should not be enabled on a production system.
NOTE: You don't usually need to enable this property.
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On this page
Default values
URL rewriting
oxf.url-rewriting.service.base-uri
Encryption properties
oxf.crypto.password
oxf.crypto.key-length
oxf.crypto.hash-algorithm
Global properties
oxf.cache.size
oxf.xpath.environment-variable.enabled
oxf.cache.xpath.size
Showing the Orbeon Forms version number
XSLT output location mode
HTTP Server
Errors and exceptions
HTTP Client
Epilogue and theme properties
oxf.epilogue.theme
oxf.epilogue.theme.embeddable
oxf.epilogue.theme.renderer
oxf.epilogue.theme.error
oxf.epilogue.use-theme
oxf.epilogue.output-xhtml
oxf.epilogue.renderer-rewrite
oxf.epilogue.process-svg
Email processor properties
Global SMTP host
Global SMTP port
Global SMTP username
Global SMTP password
Global SMTP encryption
Test SMTP host
Test recipient
Rarely used properties
oxf.log4j-config
oxf.log4j2-config
oxf.pipeline.processors
oxf.validation.processor
oxf.validation.user
sax.inspection