# Terminology

## Rationale

This page explains some terms which occur often in the Orbeon Forms documentation.

## Form definitions and form data

We make a distinction between:

* A **Form definition** is the description of a given form, including which sections, grids, and fields it contains, and all associated properties. You typically create a form definition using Form Builder. With Orbeon Forms, a form definition is encoded as an XML document using XHTML and XForms. Examples of form definitions include an "Address" form, or a "Claim" form.
* **Form data** is a set of data entered by a user via a form definition. For example, Hillary might have used the "Claim" form to file a claim. With Orbeon Forms, form data is encoded as an XML document.

## Application name and form name

In Form Builder, a form definition is identified by a two-level hierarchy of names:

* **Application name**: a name which allows grouping form together. The application name (or app name) can be, for example:
  * a company name such as "orbeon" or "acme"
  * a company entity such as "hr" or "sales" or "engineering"
  * a project name such as "mercury", "foobar"
* **Form name**: a name which is local to an application name, for example "address" or "claim".

This two-level hierarchy allows for easy grouping of forms, and allows using a single instance of Form Builder to host distinct applications.

Form data is identified by a three-level hierarchy which includes:

* the **application name/form name** couple that identifies the form definition
* plus a **unique form data id** or **document id** provided by Form Runner for each instance of form data

## Summary Page, Detail Page and Home Page

Form Runner and Form Builder have a few pages (or screens) which are referred to as follows:

* Form Builder
  * **Summary Page**:
    * This page is for *form authors*.
    * It lists and allows searching the *form definitions* created with Form Builder. These might not have been *published* yet.
    * It is also the starting point for the Form Builder Detail Page (see below).
  * **Detail Page**:
    * This page is for *form authors*.
    * It is the actual Form Builder editor, which allows you to create, edit and publish form definitions.
* Form Runner
  * **Summary Page**:
    * This page is usually for *end users*.
    * It lists and allows searching *form data* for a given form definition.
    * It is also the starting point for the Form Runner Detail Page (see below).
  * **Detail Page**:
    * This page is usually for *end users*.
    * This page allows creating, editing, viewing, saving, and submitting *form data*.
  * **Home Page**:
    * This page shows *published form definitions*.
    * This page is useful for *end users* to see which *form definitions* they have access to.
    * It can be a starting point to create new form data or to access the Form Runner Summary page.
    * This page is also useful for *administrators*, who can set form availability, move them between servers, and more.
    * See [Form Runner Home Page](https://doc.orbeon.com/~/revisions/-LFrzxlvP9UXA6_RDYI9/form-runner/features/home-page) for more.

See also [The Form Builder summary page and Form Runner home page](http://blog.orbeon.com/2014/06/the-form-builder-summary-page-and-form.html).