Run form in the background API

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Availability
Since Orbeon Forms 2017.2.
This is an Orbeon Forms PE feature.
Purpose
The purpose of this service is to run a form definition, either in "new" mode or in "edit" mode, but in the background, optionally running one or more processes in addition to the regular execution of the form.
This allows scenarios such as:
create new form data in the database
read, modify and update existing form data
Usage
HTTP request and response
URLs:
/fr/service/$app/$form/new
/fr/service/$app/$form/edit/$document
Method: POST
Where:
$app is the form definition's application name
$form is the form definition's form name
$document is the form data's document id
Optional request body when using /new:
Content-Type: application/xml
XML data to POST to the form, like when POSTing to the detail page​
When not POSTing any XML data, just POST an empty request body to the service.
By default, the latest published and available form definition version is used. You can request a specific form definition version using the form-version parameter. For example:
/fr/service/acme/order/new?form-version=2
/fr/service/acme/order/edit/fc4c32532e8d35a2d0b84e2cf076bb070e9c1e8e?form-version=3
Response body:
Content-Type: application/xml
contains
the newly created or existing document id
whether all processes were successful
Example response body:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response>
    <document-id>9eff349bfd95aab8d4d5e048bd25a815</document-id>
    <process-success>true</process-success>
</response>
Running processes
The following property controls what process(es) to run:
oxf.fr.detail.process.
  after-controls|after-data|before-data.
  background.
  new|edit.
  $app.
  $form
where $app and $form represent a Form Runner application name and/or form name or * wildcards, as is usual with Form Runner configuration properties.
For detail on the process names and more, see Running processes upon page load .
Returning form data
[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1]
This must first be enabled with the following property:
<property 
    as="xs:boolean"
    name="oxf.fr.detail.service.background.enable-return-data.*.*" 
    value="true"/>
Then, if you pass the URL parameter return-data=true to the service, form data is returned:
<response>
    <document-id>9eff349bfd95aab8d4d5e048bd25a815</document-id>
    <data>
        <form>
            <my-section>
                <my-control>Cat</my-control>
            </my-section>
        </form>
    </data>
    <process-success>true</process-success>
</response>
By default, the data is returned in the 4.0.0 data format. You can override this by passing the data-format-version parameter:
data-format-version
edge: send the data in the latest internal format
2019.1.0: send the data in the Orbeon Forms 2019.1-compatible format
4.8.0: send the data in the Orbeon Forms 4.8-compatible format
4.0.0: send the data in the Orbeon Forms 4.0-compatible format (the default)
The prune-metadata parameter can be used to control production of metadata:
true to remove all occurrences of fr:-prefixed elements and attributes
false to leave such occurrences
default
false when data-format-version is set to edge
true otherwise
Testing whether the form is running in the background
[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1]
See the fr:is-background() function.
Disabling formula evaluation
[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1]
The following URL parameters, passed to the service, allow disabling the evaluation of some categories of formulas when the form runs:
disable-default=true: disable the evaluation of initial values
disable-calculate=true: disable the evaluation of calculated values
disable-relevant=true: disable the evaluation of visibility values
Examples
Create initial data
The following example saves new instance data to the database for the form acme/sales when the service is called with /fr/service/acme/sales/new:
<property 
    as="xs:string" 
    name="oxf.fr.detail.process.after-controls.background.new.acme.sales">
    save
</property>
Update existing data
The following example updates existing instance data with the current time for the form acme/sales and saves it to the database when the service is called with /fr/service/acme/sales/edit/$document, where $document represents an existing form data document id:
<property 
    as="xs:string" 
    name="oxf.fr.detail.process.after-controls.background.edit.acme.sales">
    xf:setvalue(ref ="//current-time", value = "current-dateTime()") then save
</property>
Validate data
The following process allows you to POST XML data to the page:
<property as="xs:string" name="oxf.fr.detail.process.after-controls.background.new.*.*">
    validate("error")
</property>
NOTE: Make sure you use validate("error") instead of require-valid, as the latter always returns a success value.
Using curl
The following examples use the curl command-line utility, on a form a/a (i.e. with app name = a and form name = a), and where relevant document id 123. Along with using the appropriate server name, you'll want to replace those by your actual form name, app name, and document id.
The new background service: curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/orbeon/fr/service/a/a/new
The edit background service: curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/orbeon/fr/service/a/a/edit/123
Permissions
The caller must either call the service internally or have authorized the service.
Appropriate container or permission headers must also be set to allow accessing the form definition and data.
See also
​Running processes upon page load​
​fr:is-background()​
Publish form definition API
Data formats
Last modified 8mo ago
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On this page
Availability
Purpose
Usage
HTTP request and response
Running processes
Returning form data
Testing whether the form is running in the background
Disabling formula evaluation
Examples
Create initial data
Update existing data
Validate data
Using curl
Permissions