Availability

This feature is available since Orbeon Forms 2018.2.

Rationale

Orbeon Forms supports services and actions. With Orbeon Forms 2018.2, a first step towards more powerful actions is introduced. There is no interface for it yet, but instead an XML configuration which you can paste into the form definition via the "Edit Source" dialog.

Enhancements

In addition to the features available through the "Actions" dialog, the following enhancements are available:

• Call an action in response to multiple events.

• Support more event types.

• Call an arbitrary number of services.

• Run actions without calling services.

• Clear repeated grid or repeated section repetitions.

• Add repeated grid or repeated section repetitions.

• Repeatedly run parts of an action. [SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

• Conditionally run parts of an action. [SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

Updating the form definition

You place listeners and actions within the source code, preferably before the end of the main <xf:model> content. For example:

    <!-- other Form Builder code here -->
​
    <fr:listener
        version="2018.2"
        .../>
​
    <fr:action name="my-action" version="2018.2">
        ...
    </fr:action>
​
    <!-- Put `<fr:listener>` and `<fr:action>` just above this. -->
</xf:model>

Example

The following example:

• listens to an activation event on the button my-button

• in response, calls the my-action action, which

  • sets values from controls into the my-service service request

  • calls the my-service service

• when the service call completes

  • the my-repeated-grid repeated grid is cleared

  • iterating over the XML response, for each iteration

    • adds a repetition at the end of the my-repeated-grid repeated grid

    • sets the value of controls on the new repetition

  • finally, all the result-dropdown dropdown control items are updated

    <!-- other Form Builder code here -->
​
    <fr:listener
        version="2018.2"
        events="activated"
        controls="my-button"
        actions="my-action"/>
​
    <fr:action name="my-action" version="2018.2">
​
        <fr:service-call service="my-service">
            <fr:value control="foo" ref="/*/foo"/>
            <fr:value control="bar" ref="/*/bar"/>
        </fr:service-call>
​
        <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-repeated-grid"/>
​
        <fr:data-iterate ref="/*/row">
            <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="end"/>
            <fr:control-setvalue value="@field" control="result-field" at="end"/>
            <fr:control-setvalue value="@dropdown" control="result-dropdown" at="end"/>
        </fr:data-iterate>
​
        <fr:control-setitems
            items="/*/response/item"
            label="@label"
            value="@value"
            control="result-dropdown"/>
​
    </fr:action>
​
    <!-- Put `<fr:listener>` and `<fr:action>` just above this. -->
</xf:model>

Listeners

Basic syntax

A listener looks like this:

<fr:listener
    version="2018.2"
    modes="..."
    events="..."
    controls="..."
    actions="..."
>

NOTE: It is not recommended to mix and match, in a single listener, events for which a control name is required and events for which a control name is not required. Instead, use multiple listeners.

Modes supported

• new

• edit

• view

• pdf

Events supported

Controls:

• enabled: the control has become enabled

• disabled: the control has become disabled

• visible: the control has become visible (for example in a wizard page)

• hidden: the control has become hidden (for example in a wizard page)

• value-changed: the value of an enabled control has changed

• activated: the control has been activated (clicked, or enter in text field)

• item-selected: an item of an enabled control has been selected

• item-deselected: an item of an enabled control has been deselected

Form load:

• form-load-before-data: run before the data's initial values are calculated

• form-load-after-data: run when the data is ready

• form-load-after-controls: run after the controls are ready

See also Running processes upon page load for the detail of the form load events.

Actions

Basic syntax

An action looks like this:

<fr:action
    version="2018.2" 
    name="my-action" 
>

Control structures

Iterating over data

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

Basic usage

<fr:data-iterate ref="...expression...">
    ...
</fr:data-iterate>

<fr:data-iterate> allows you to iterate over data. The contained actions are executed once for each value returned by the expression.

Containing actions can include one or more calls to services.

In the following example, each repetition adds a row to the grid, calls a service, passing the attachment id, and sets the attachment value on the last row.

<fr:action name="populate-attachments" version="2018.2">
​
    <fr:service-call service="get-attachments-list"/>
    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-grid"/>
​
    <fr:data-iterate ref="/*/row">
        <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-grid" at="end"/>
        <fr:service-call service="get-attachment">
            <fr:url-param name="text" value="attachment-id"/>
        </fr:service-call>
        <fr:control-setattachment control="my-attachment" at="end"/>
    </fr:data-iterate>
​
</fr:action>

Nesting of iterations

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.2]

Calls to <fr:data-iterate> can be nested. This allows, for example, filling nested repeated sections and/or grids with the result of a service call that returns hierarchical data.

Example:

<fr:action name="my-action" version="2018.2">
    <fr:service-call service="get-nobel-prizes"/>
    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="prizes"/>
    <fr:data-iterate ref="/*/prizes/_">
        <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="prizes"/>
        <fr:control-setvalue value="year"     control="year"     at="end"/>
        <fr:control-setvalue value="category" control="category" at="end"/>
        <fr:repeat-clear repeat="laureates"/>
        <fr:data-iterate ref="laureates/_">
            <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="laureates"/>
            <fr:control-setvalue value="firstname"  control="firstname"  at="end"/>
            <fr:control-setvalue value="surname"    control="surname"    at="end"/>
            <fr:control-setvalue value="motivation" control="motivation" at="end"/>
        </fr:data-iterate>
    </fr:data-iterate>
</fr:action>

Conditions

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

<fr:if condition="...boolean expression...">
    ...
</fr:if>

<fr:if> allows you to conditionally run a block of actions.

In the following example, with the repetition performed by <fr:data-iterate>, the call to the service that retrieves an attachment depends on whether there is a non-blank attachment id provided.

<fr:action name="populate-attachments" version="2018.2">
​
    <fr:service-call service="get-attachments-list"/>
    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-grid"/>
​
    <fr:data-iterate ref="/*/row">
        <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-grid" at="end"/>
        <fr:if condition="xxf:non-blank(attachment-id)">
            <fr:service-call service="get-attachment">
                <fr:url-param name="text" value="attachment-id"/>
            </fr:service-call>
            <fr:control-setattachment control="my-attachment" at="end"/>
        </fr:if>
    </fr:data-iterate>
​
</fr:action>

Individual actions

Calling a service

<fr:service-call service="...service name...">
    <fr:value value="..." ref="..."/>
</fr:service-call>

<fr:service-call> calls a service by name.

Passing a value

<fr:value value="..." ref="..."/>

When calling an HTTP service, you can set XML request body values using nested <fr:value> elements.

Passing a URL parameter

<fr:url-param name="..." value="..."/>

When calling an HTTP service, you can pass URL parameters using nested <fr:url-param> elements.

Passing a SQL parameter

<fr:sql-param index="..." value="..."/>

When calling a database service, you can pass parameters using nested <fr:sql-param> elements.

Removing all repetitions of a repeat

<fr:repeat-clear
    repeat="..."
    at="..."/>

This action starts by identifying a single repeated grid or section with the repeat attribute. See <fr:repeat-add-iteration> for details. The only difference is that with this action, at is only used to identify the ancestor repeated sections if any.

With my-repeated-grid nested within my-repeated-section:

• Remove all repetitions of my-repeated-section:

    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-repeated-section"/>

• Remove all repetitions of the last my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="end"/>

• Remove all repetitions of the first my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="start"/>

• Remove all repetitions of the second my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-clear repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="2"/>

Adding repetitions to a repeat

<fr:repeat-add-iteration
    repeat="..."
    at="..."/>

This action starts by identifying a single repeated grid or section with the repeat attribute. If the repeated grid or section is at the top-level, there is only one possible match. If the repeated grid or section is nested within one or more repeated sections, then a single repetition of the ancestor repeated sections is determined using the optional at attribute.

With my-repeated-grid nested within my-repeated-section:

• Insert a new repetition at the end of the last my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="end end"/>

  or:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="end"/>

  or:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid"/>

• Insert a new repetition at the end of the first my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="start end"/>

• Insert a new repetition at the start of the first my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="start start"/>

• Insert a new repetition after repetition 2 of the third my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="3 2"/>

• Insert a new repetition at the end of my-repeated-section:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-section" at="end"/>

  or:

    <fr:repeat-add-iteration repeat="my-repeated-section"/>

Removing repetitions from a repeat

<fr:repeat-remove-iteration
    repeat="..."
    at="..."/>

This action starts by identifying a single repeated grid or section with the repeat attribute. See <fr:repeat-add-iteration> for details.

With my-repeated-grid nested within my-repeated-section:

• Remove the last repetition of the last my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-remove-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="end end"/>

  or:

    <fr:repeat-remove-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="end"/>

  or:

    <fr:repeat-remove-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid"/>

• Remove the last repetition of the first my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-remove-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="start end"/>

• Remove repetition 2 of the third my-repeated-grid:

    <fr:repeat-remove-iteration repeat="my-repeated-grid" at="3 2"/>

Setting the value of a control

<fr:control-setvalue/>

<fr:control-setvalue/> sets the value of a form control.

<fr:control-setvalue
    control="my-control"
    value="current-date()"/>

Clearing the value of a control

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2020.1]

<fr:control-clear/>

<fr:control-clear/> clears the value of a control. For attachment controls, this clears the file but also the file metadata (filename, mediatype, and size).

Example:

<fr:control-clear control="my-control"/>

Setting the choices of a selection control

<fr:control-setitems/>

<fr:control-setitems/> sets the choices (or "itemset") of a selection control such as a dropdown or radio buttons.

NOTE: Hints are only supported for checkboxes and radio buttons as of Orbeon Forms 2020.1.

Writing to a dataset

<fr:dataset-write
    name="..."/>

This action takes the latest service result and saves it to the dataset specified by name. Example:

<fr:dataset-write
    name="my-dataset"/>

Calling a process

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

<fr:process-call
    scope="oxf.fr.detail.process"
    name="send"/>

Navigating to a page or URL

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

<fr:navigate
    location="https://www.bbc.com/news"/>

Setting the value of an attachment control

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

<fr:control-setattachment
    control="..."/>

When the response of a service is binary, this action allows setting the value of an attachment control to the content of the service response:

<fr:control-setattachment
    control="my-attachment"/>

This supports the following controls:

• <fr:attachment>

• <fr:image-attachment>

The mediatype and received by the service and the actual size of the attachment are automatically set. However, the filename is not set automatically.

See also the following actions:

• <fr:control-setfilename>

• <fr:control-setmediatype>

Setting the filename of an attachment control

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

<fr:control-setfilename
    control="..."
    value="..."/>

This action allows setting the filename of an attachment control. Example:

<fr:control-setfilename
    control="my-attachment"
    value="'My Image.png'"/>

This supports the following controls:

• <fr:attachment>

• <fr:image-attachment>

Setting the mediatype of an attachment control

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

<fr:control-setmediatype
    control="..."
    value="..."/>

This action allows setting the mediatype of an attachment control. Example:

<fr:control-setmediatype
    control="my-attachment"
    value="'image/png'"/>

This supports the following controls:

• <fr:attachment>

• <fr:image-attachment>

Note that the <fr:control-setattachment> action automatically sets a mediatype.

Error handling

With Orbeon Forms 2018.2, errors when running services are silently ignored and the action continues.

With Orbeon Forms 2019.1, errors:

1. cause the entire action to stop.

2. run the oxf.fr.detail.process.action-service-error process

The default implementation of the service error process is as follows:

<property as="xs:string"  name="oxf.fr.detail.process.action-service-error.*.*">
    error-message("service-error")
</property>

You can provide your own service error process in properties-local.xml.

Evaluation context of XPath expressions

The context item used for XPath evaluations is set as follows:

• At the beginning of an action, it is the root element of the form data.

• Within an <fr:data-iterate>, and until a service response is available, it is the current iteration item.

• After a service call, whether at the top-level or within an <fr:data-iterate>, it is the root element of the preceding action response.

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2019.1]

You can explicitly set the XPath evaluation context to the current iteration item within a <fr:data-iterate> with the expression-context attribute set to current-iteration.

In the following example, without the expression-context="current-iteration" attribute, the second <fr:value> would evaluate within the context of the first service call's response.

<fr:data-iterate ref="/*/row">
    <fr:service-call service="my-first-service">
        <fr:value
            value="foo"
            ref="/some/path"/>
    </fr:service-call>
    <fr:service-call service="my-second-service">
        <fr:value
            expression-context="current-iteration"
            value="bar"
            ref="/some/other/path"/>
    </fr:service-call>
</fr:data-iterate>

To be more explicit, the attribute can also be set on the first <fr:value>:

<fr:data-iterate ref="/*/row">
    <fr:service-call service="my-first-service">
        <fr:value
            expression-context="current-iteration"
            value="foo"
            ref="/some/path"/>
    </fr:service-call>
    <fr:service-call service="my-second-service">
        <fr:value
            expression-context="current-iteration"
            value="bar"
            ref="/some/other/path"/>
    </fr:service-call>
</fr:data-iterate>

See also

• ​Editing the source code of the form definition​

• ​Actions​

• ​HTTP services​

• ​Database services​