Orbeon Forms
  • Getting started
  • Installation
    • Logging
    • Configuration banner
    • Docker
    • Azure
    • Tomcat
    • WildFly
    • WebSphere
    • WebLogic
    • GlassFish
    • Caches
    • Replication
    • Upgrading
  • Configuration
    • Properties
      • General
        • HTTP client
      • Form Runner
        • Detail page
          • Attachments
          • Email properties
          • PDF
          • Table of contents
        • Persistence
        • Summary page
      • Form Builder
      • XForms
    • Advanced
      • Workflows
      • Session management
      • State handling
      • Client-side error handling
      • Clustering and High Availability
      • Configuring a Form Runner eXist database
      • Creating a production WAR
      • Environments
      • JavaScript and CSS assets
      • Limiter filter
      • Run modes
      • Security
        • Content-Security-Policy header
      • SAP Hybris Module
      • XForms logging
    • Troubleshooting
      • Troubleshooting with the orbeon.log
      • Memory and threads
      • Relational database logging
      • Misc
  • Form Builder
    • Form settings
      • Time window
    • Form editor
      • Form area
      • Toolbox
      • Buttons bar
      • Control settings
      • Dependent fields and sections
      • Validation
      • Choices editor
      • Publishing
      • Cut, copy and paste
      • Section and grid settings
      • Section settings
      • Grid settings
      • Quick control search
      • Repeat settings
      • Repeated grids
      • Undo and redo
      • Keyboard shortcuts
    • Formulas
      • Examples of formulas
      • Formulas inspector
      • Formulas console
    • Summary page
    • Form localization
    • Advanced
      • Edit source
      • Services and actions
        • HTTP services
        • Database services
        • Simple Actions
        • Action Syntax
        • Action Syntax examples
        • Synchronizing repeated content
      • Testing a form in web mode
      • Testing PDF production
      • Testing offline functionality
      • Email Settings dialog
      • Field-level encryption
      • Messages
      • Section templates
      • Template syntax
      • XML Schemas support
      • Extensibility
        • Extension API
        • Integration
        • Toolbox component metadata
  • Form Runner
    • Overview
      • Terminology
    • Pages
      • Landing page
      • Published Forms page
      • Forms Admin page
      • Summary page
    • Components
      • Alert dialog
      • Attachment
      • Autocomplete
      • Captcha
      • Character counter
      • Checkbox input
      • Currency
      • Date
      • Dropdown date
      • Static and dynamic dropdown
      • Error summary
      • Grid
      • Handwritten signature
      • Hidden field
      • Image
      • Image annotation
      • Image attachment
      • Number
      • Open selection
      • Repeater
      • Formatted Text / Rich Text Editor
      • Section
      • Single-selection tree
      • Source code editor
      • Time
      • US phone
      • US state
      • Video
      • Video attachment
      • Wizard
      • XForms inspector
      • Yes/No answer
    • Features
      • Automatic calculations dependencies
      • Datasets
      • Excel and XML import
      • Excel and XML export
      • Summary page Excel Export
      • Form definitions and form data Zip Export
      • Purging historical data
      • Lease
      • Localization
      • Supported languages
      • Mobile support
      • Multitenancy
      • Form Runner navigation bar
      • PDF production
        • Automatic PDF
        • Automatic PDF header and footer configuration
        • PDF templates
      • Responsive design
      • Revision history
      • S3 storage
      • Simple data migration
      • TIFF production
      • Versioning
      • Wizard view
      • Workflow stage
    • Persistence
      • Using a relational database
      • Relational database schema
      • Purging old data using SQL
      • Auditing
      • Autosave
      • Database support
      • Flat view
    • Linking and embedding
      • Linking
      • Java Embedding API
      • JavaScript Embedding API
      • Liferay full portlet
      • Liferay proxy portlet
      • Securing Form Runner access
      • Form Runner offline embedding API
      • Angular component
      • React component
    • Access control and permissions
      • Users
      • Login & Logout
      • Deployed forms
      • Form fields
      • Editing forms
      • Owner and group member
      • Organizations
      • Scenarios
      • Token-based permissions
    • Styling
      • CSS
      • Grids CSS
      • Automatic PDF styling and CSS
    • APIs
      • Authentication of server-side service APIs
      • Persistence API
        • CRUD API
        • Search API
        • List form data attachments API
        • Form Metadata API
        • Lease API
        • Reindexing API
        • Caching
        • Versioning
        • Revision History API
        • Zip Export API
        • Custom persistence providers
      • Other APIs
        • Connection context API
        • Duplicate form data API
        • File scan API
        • Form Runner JavaScript API
        • Generate XML Schema API
        • PDF API
        • Publish form definition API
        • Run form in the background API
      • Data formats
        • Form data
        • Date and time
        • Form definition
    • Architecture and integration
      • Architecture
      • Access form data
      • Integration
    • Advanced
      • Buttons and processes
        • Simple process syntax
        • Core actions
        • Form Runner actions
          • Save action
          • Send action
          • Email action
        • XForms actions
        • Predefined buttons, processes and dialogs
        • Summary page buttons and processes
      • Custom dialogs/model logic
      • Services
      • Singleton form
      • Monitoring HTTP requests
  • XForms
    • Core
      • Attribute Value Templates (AVTs)
      • Binds
      • Validation
      • Variables
      • Keyboard focus
      • XForms JavaScript API
      • Error handling
        • Detailed behavior
      • Model-Bind variables
      • XForms 2.0 support
    • Events
      • Standard support
      • UI refresh events
      • Keyboard events
      • Extension events
      • Extension context information
      • Other event extensions
    • Actions
      • Repeat, insert and delete
      • Scripting actions
      • Extensions
    • Controls
      • Label, hint, help
      • Input
      • Output
      • Text area
      • Button
      • Upload
      • Dialog
    • Submission
      • Standard support
      • JSON support
      • Asynchronous submissions
      • Caching extension
      • Other submission extensions
    • XPath
      • Type annotations
      • Expression analysis
      • Tips
      • Compatibility
      • Standard functions
      • Maps and arrays Functions
      • Extension functions
        • Core functions
        • Utility functions
        • Model functions
        • Controls functions
        • XML functions
        • JSON functions
        • HTTP functions
        • Form Runner functions
        • Other functions
        • Deprecated functions
    • XBL components
      • FAQ
      • Guide
        • XBL Tutorial
        • Bindings
        • XForms models
        • Including content
        • Event handling
        • Conventions
        • Map XBL example
        • Learning from existing components
      • Advanced topics
        • XBL Modes
        • JavaScript companion classes
        • XBL library
        • Extensions
        • Attachment controls
    • XForms tutorial
      • Introduction
      • Installation
      • The Hello application
      • The Bookcast application
        • The basic app
        • Database access
        • Polishing the app
        • Adding a feed
    • Using XForms from Java apps
  • XML Platform
    • Page Flow Controller
      • Basics
      • XML submission
      • Navigating between pages
      • Paths and matchers
      • Other configuration elements
      • Typical combinations of page model and page view
      • Examples
      • Authorizing pages and services
    • Processors
      • URL generator
      • Request generator
      • PDF to image converter
    • Resources
      • Resource managers
      • Setting up an external resources directory
    • Other
      • Binary and text documents
  • FAQ
    • Licensing
    • PE and Dev Support
    • Form Builder and Form Runner
    • Resources and support
    • Other technical questions
  • Contributors
    • Automated tests
    • Building Orbeon Forms
    • Localizing Orbeon Forms
    • Validation functions
    • Contributor License Agreement
  • Release notes
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.9
    • Orbeon Forms 2024.1.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.7
    • Orbeon Forms 2024.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.6
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.5
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.11
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.8
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.4
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.3
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.7
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2023.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.6
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.10
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.5
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.9
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.4
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.3
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.8
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2022.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.7
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.6
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.5
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.4
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.3
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2021.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1.6
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.2.4
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.1.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2018.2.5
    • Orbeon Forms 2018.1.4
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1.5
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1.4
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1.3
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.2.3
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2020.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.2.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.2.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.1.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.2
    • Orbeon Forms 2019.1
    • Orbeon Forms 2018.2.4
  • Release history
  • Use cases
  • Product roadmap
  • Index of features
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • What can component do?
  • What does a component implementation look like?
  • How do you use a component?
  • Why not implement components in Java?
  • Why use XBL and not simply XSLT?
  • What's special about the XBL 2 implementation in Orbeon Forms?
  1. XForms
  2. XBL components

FAQ

What can component do?

A lot! Among other things, they can:

  • behave like regular XForms controls (such as <xf:input>), including handling bindings, labels, and events

  • keep local state using local models and instances

  • run their own submission to talk to the outside world, with <xf:submission>

  • integrate with JavaScript code, for example to expose cool widgets to XForms authors

  • copy and/or modify XForms and HTML markup provided by the component user

  • use nested components

What does a component implementation look like?

That's the cool part: a component implementation looks very much like regular XForms within HTML!

A component is really a way of packaging and reusing a piece of XForms and HTML markup. So when writing a component, you can leverage all your knowledge of XForms and HTML.

How do you use a component?

This is even easier: each component is assigned an element name. For example, must built-in Orbeon Forms components are in the "fr:" namespace (for Form Runner), and so you write things like:

<fr:fields-date ref="my-date">
  <xf:label>Birth Date</xf:label>
</fr:fields-date>

Most components try to follow the XForms philosophy: for example, they use common attributes like ref, and usually allow nesting <xf:label>, <xf:help>, etc.

Why not implement components in Java?

This could be attractive, but then:

  • A component author would have to know Java, how to run a compiler, deploy the code, etc.

  • Orbeon Forms would have to define APIs to provide access to the low-level workings of the components. This is a lot of work!

  • We think it is much easier to write HTML and XForms!

  • This would raise the question of which template language to use to produce the resulting markup. On the other hand, XBL is its own template language, and you can even combine it with XSLT.

Why use XBL and not simply XSLT?

Using XSLT to implement components is not always a good alternative:

  • Components may be used (instantiated) multiple times, and identifiers (the "id" attribute often used in HTML and XForms) must be handled accordingly:

    • Each component instantiation must produce unique ids in the browser

    • Id resolution must depend on where ids are used

    • Ids in different repeat iterations must be unique as well

  • XSLT does not enforce any encapsulations rules, including:

    • Visibility of objects from inside or outside a component

    • Containment of event flows within the component

  • Local models and instances are better handled natively

    • Each instantiation requires new models and new instances

    • Within repeats, model/instance duplication occurs at runtime

Using XBL addresses all these issues.

Convinced? If not, read on! In the section about extensions, you'll find out that you can embed XSLT transformations within Orbeon Forms XBL components.

What's special about the XBL 2 implementation in Orbeon Forms?

  • Support for components is implemented at the XForms engine level.

  • Components can therefore be used within XForms pages, but not within non-XForms page (such as plain XHTML pages).

  • Because the XBL specification does not detail how it can be used in conjunction with XForms, Orbeon Forms uses XBL in a particular way, but it is not necessarily the only possible way.

  • Orbeon Forms implements a superset of a subset of XBL!

PreviousXBL componentsNextGuide

Last updated 4 months ago

Orbeon Forms components are inspired by . XBL in this case is implemented server-side, not on the client!

XBL 2