Form definitions and form data Zip Export
Last updated
Last updated
Orbeon Forms includes a few ways to export form definitions and form data. This page documents a very specific capability: exporting form definitions and form data in a batch, that is, multiple form definitions and their data are exported at once. The result is stored in a zip file which downloads to your computer.
For a different type of export, see also Excel and XML export.
The feature is available on the Form Runner Forms Admin page. There, an "Export" button is available at the top of the page.
Exporting can be done in two different modes. You can either export the forms that were explicitly selected:
Or you can export forms by specifying a list of application, form, and version filters:
The application filter can either be set to "All applications" or to a specific application. When a specific application is selected, the form filter can either be set to "All forms" or to a specific form. The version filter can always be set to "All versions" or "Latest version" and when a specific form is selected, it can also be set to a specific version.
The "Form definition / data" dropdown allows you to choose whether you want to export form definitions, form data, or both.
The "Current data / revision history" dropdown allows you to choose whether you want to export the current data, the revision history, or both.
Finally, it's possible to specify a date range using the "From" and "Until" date pickers. This allows you to export only the data that was modified after and/or before the specified dates. Both the "From" and "Until" dates are inclusive.
Orbeon Forms makes a distinction between:
Admin permissions or Form Builder permissions: These are defined in form-builder-permissions.xml and control special access to form definitions in Form Builder and on the Admin page. For details, see Access control for editing forms and Forms Admin page - Permissions.
Deployed forms permissions: These permissions are associated with a form definition using the Form Builder UI or configuration properties. These permissions mainly regard accessing the form data, although they also impact whether the form definition can be presented to the user, and if so in which mode. For details, see Access control and permissions - Deployed forms.
The list of application names and form names made available to the Zip Export, either through the "Export selected forms" or "Export following forms" modes, is restricted to the list of application names and form names that the current user can see on the Admin page. If the user currently accessing the Admin page doesn't have access to certain application names and form names based on the form-builder-permissions.xml configuration, those will not be:
listed as available in the Export dialog
exported if "All applications" or "All forms" are selected
For details on what application names and form names are accessible on the Admin page, see Forms Admin page - Permissions.
When a particular application name/form name/form version is selected for export, whether explicitly or through the "All applications" or "All forms" options, and "Form data" is selected for export, deployed forms permissions are ignored for the purpose of the export of the form data, and all form data associated with the given form is exported, regardless of the permissions associated with the form definitions.
WARNING: From this perspective, the Zip Export works like a superuser feature, and you should know that users with access to the Admin page will by extension have access to additional form data in the exported zip file.
The exported zip file contains all selected form definitions and data, as well as associated attachments.
The form data are stored in data.xml files, located in paths following the structure below:
[app]/[form]/[version]/data/[document ID]/[last modified date/time]/data.xml
Example:
orbeon/acme-order-form/2/data/06ae53279bd3b74d20ee58e6a2a3240ab03206fa/2023-11-30T13:29:03.919Z/data.xml
Form definitions are stored in form.xhtml files, located in similarly structured paths:
[app]/[form]/[version]/form/latest/form.xhtml
Example:
orbeon/acme-order-form/2/form/latest/form.xhtml
Attachments are stored alongside the form data and definitions. Examples:
test-app/test-form/2/data/8679184c2b13c55fe74e84fa5c76b3aa643ca7f2/latest/b7dfdf7fa55954548c4bf1c3f1964f9cb276d20f.bin
orbeon/pta-remittance/1/form/latest/4ccffb5e691d8b2ec4c29f9bea88feb2e625580c.bin
Form data, form definitions, and attachments can have metadata, in which case .metadata.xml files will be included as well. Example:
orbeon/bookshelf/1/data/5bba537614484bd9e33c97bfc7649889/2023-08-21T09:16:09.914Z/data.xml.metadata.xml
Metadata include information such as:
the user/group who created the data
the user who last modified the data
the workflow stage
The export feature exports forms and data regardless of the permissions of the user who performs the export, as long as that user has access to the Forms Admin page. Therefore, it is very important to control access to the Forms Admin page.
At the moment, once the "Export" button has been clicked, the dialog will be closed and the export will be performed in the background. This means that you won't be able to see the progress of the export, and you won't be able to cancel it. This also means you shouldn't leave the current page until the zip file has been downloaded. This will be improved in a future version.
