Release Notes for Preview Version 6 - July, 2006

Table of Contents

1. Hardware/Software Requirements
2. HTTP Server Requirements
3. W3C XForms - Document Structure
4. W3C XForms - Processing Model
5. W3C XForms - Datatypes
6. W3C XForms - Model Item Properties
7. W3C XForms - XPath Expressions in XForms
8. W3C XForms - Form Controls
9. W3C XForms - XForms User Interface
10. W3C XForms - XForms Actions
11. W3C XForms - Submit
12. Security and Cross Domain Submission
13. Styling XForms
14. Comments and Filing Bugs
15. Where to Find More Information

1. Hardware/Software Requirements

Windows (Client)

Operating Systems:	98 Second Edition, Millenium Edition, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
Processor:	Pentium 233MHz (or faster)
Memory:	64MB
Disk Space:	52MB

Linux (Client)

Operating Systems:	RedHat 7.0 (or later), Debian 3.0 (or later), SuSE 7.2 (or later) Or a version of Linux with kernel 2.2.14 (or later) and the following library versions (or compatible): glibc 2.2 GTK 1.2.x (1.2.5 preferred) XFree86 3.3.x libstdc++ 2.9.0
Processor:	Pentium 233MHz (or faster)
Memory:	64MB
Disk Space:	52MB

Mac (Client)

Operating Systems:	Mac OS X 10.1.x Mac OS X 10.2.x (or later)
Processor:	G3 266MHz
Memory:	64MB
Disk Space:	72MB

2. HTTP Server Requirements

The HTTP server must be able to serve XHTML (i.e., application/xhtml+xml) content.

3. Document Structure

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
3.1	Namespaces	supported
3.2.1	Common Attributes	supported
3.2.2	Linking Attributes	supported
3.2.3	Single-Node Binding Attributes	supported
3.2.4	Node-Set Binding Attributes	supported
3.2.5	Model Item Property Attributes	partial	In some cases a loop error can occur on valid bindings	302168;
3.3.1	model	supported
3.3.2	instance	partial	instance element with two child element does not trigger exception	337302;
3.3.3	submission	partial	No support for @indent and complex schema validation	278761; 278762;
3.3.4	bind	partial	Using the index() function in binds does not work.	292333;
3.4	MustUnderstand Module	unsupported		300757;
3.5.1	Extension Module	unsupported		300760;

4. Processing Model (Events)

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
4	Processing Model (Events)	partial	A submission resulting in HTTP 4xx/5xx errors do not dispatch xforms-submit-error. The xforms-recalculate, xforms-revalidate, and xforms-refresh events are not as seperated as they should be.	278448; 310125; 338146;
4.2	Initialization Events	supported
4.2.1	xforms-model-construct	supported
4.2.2	xforms-model-construct-done	supported
4.2.3	xforms-ready	supported
4.2.4	xforms-model-destruct	supported
4.3.1	xforms-next xforms-previous	supported
4.3.2	xforms-focus	supported
4.3.3	xforms-help xforms-hint	supported
4.3.4	xforms-refresh	supported
4.3.5	xforms-revalidate	supported
4.3.6	xforms-recalculate	supported
4.3.7	xforms-rebuild	supported
4.3.8	xforms-reset	supported
4.3.9	xforms-submit	supported
4.4	Notification Events	partial	We need to set context information for some events	280423;
4.4.1	DOMActivate	supported
4.4.2	xforms-value-changed	supported
4.4.3	xforms-select xforms-deselect	supported
4.4.4	xforms-scroll-first xforms-scroll-last	supported
4.4.5	xforms-insert xforms-delete	supported	We do not set the event context information
4.4.6	xforms-valid	supported
4.4.7	xforms-invalid	supported
4.4.8	DOMFocusIn	supported
4.4.9	DOMFocusOut	supported
4.4.10	xforms-readonly	supported
4.4.11	xforms-readwrite	supported
4.4.12	xforms-required	supported
4.4.13	xforms-optional	supported
4.4.14	xforms-enabled	supported
4.4.15	xforms-disabled	supported
4.4.16	xforms-in-range	supported
4.4.17	xforms-out-of-range	supported
4.4.18	xforms-submit-done	supported
4.4.19	xforms-submit-error	partial	This event will not be generated if the request returns an error page. We also do not set context info on the event, yet.	310125;
4.5.1	xforms-binding-exception	supported
4.5.2	xforms-link-exception	supported
4.5.3	xforms-link-error	partial	Not yet generated by load.	333782;
4.5.4	xforms-compute-exception	supported	We do not set the context info on the event, yet
4.6.1	Event Sequencing For input, secret, textarea, range, upload	supported
4.6.2	Event Sequencing For output	supported
4.6.3	Event Sequencing For select, select1	partial
4.6.4	Event Sequencing For trigger	supported
4.6.5	Event Sequencing For submit	supported
4.6.6	Sequence: Selection w/o Value Change	supported
4.6.7	Value Change w/Focus Change	supported
4.6.8	Activating a Trigger	supported
4.6.9	Submission	supported

5. Datatypes

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
5.1	XML Schema Built-in Datatypes	partial	Problems with multiple schema types for one node, and whitespace facet not supported.	310962;
5.2.1	xforms:listItem	supported
5.2.2	xforms:listItems	supported
5.2.3	xforms:dayTimeDuration	supported
5.2.4	xforms:yearMonthDuration	supported

Supported types: string, normalized string, token, language, boolean, gDay, gMonth, gYear, gYearMonth, gMonthDay, date, time, datetime, duration, integer, nonPositiveInteger, negativeInteger, positiveInteger, long, int, short, unsignedLong, unsignedInt, unsignedShort, byte, unsignedByte, float, decimal, anyURI, base64Binary, hexBinary, qname

6. Model Item Properties

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
6.1.1	type	partial	limited to types mentioned above	313315; 313766;
6.1.2	readonly	supported
6.1.3	required	supported
6.1.4	relevant	supported
6.1.5	calculate	supported
6.1.6	constraint	supported
6.1.7	p3ptype	unsupported		279049;
6.2	Atomic Datatype	partial	We will support simpleType's using length, minlength, maxlength, pattern, maxinclusive, mininclusive, maxexclusive, minexclusive, totaldigits, and fractiondigits

7. XPath Expression in XForms

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
7.1	XPath Datatypes	supported
7.2	Feature string for the hasFeature method call	supported
7.3.1	getInstanceDocument()	supported
7.3.2	rebuild()	supported
7.3.3	recalculate()	supported
7.3.4	revalidate()	supported
7.3.5	refresh()	supported
7.4	Evaluation Context	partial	output value sets wrong context for its children	305196;
7.5.1	Dynamic Dependencies	supported
7.5.2	Model Binding Expressions	supported
7.5.3	UI Binding Expressions	partial	Scenarios exist where controls contained inside other controls inside a repeat won't be bound correctly	333638;
7.5.4	UI Binding in other XML vocabularies	unsupported	no requirements here as of yet
7.5.5	Binding Examples	n/a
7.6	XForms Core Function Library	supported
7.7.1	boolean-from-string()	supported
7.7.2	if()	supported
7.8.1	avg()	supported
7.8.2	min()	supported
7.8.3	max()	supported
7.8.4	count-non-empty()	supported
7.8.5	index()	partial	binds using index() is not working, and calling index() on a wrong id does not return NaN.	292333; 334018;
7.9.1	property()	partial	returns basic for conformance-level, should return full	334333;
7.10.1	now()	supported
7.10.2	days-from-date()	supported
7.10.3	seconds-from-dateTime()	supported
7.10.4	seconds()	supported
7.10.5	months()	supported
7.11.1	instance()	supported
7.12	Extension Functions	unsupported	no requirements here as of yet

8. Form Controls

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
8.1	The XForms Form Controls Module	partial	No support for @navindex
8.1.1	Common Requirements	n/a
8.1.2	input	partial	no binding restriction, and @accesskey not supported for all @appearance values	331984; 339287;
8.1.3	secret	partial	no binding restriction	331984;
8.1.4	textarea	partial	no binding restriction	331984;
8.1.5	output	partial	output @value fails to set correct context for children, and @accesskey not supported for all @appearance values	305196; 339287;
8.1.6	upload	partial	Mediatype attribute limited, doesn't handle relevant/readonly well	313768; 329376;
8.1.7	range	partial		316353; 316354; 316355; 331987; 332221;
8.1.8	trigger	supported
8.1.9	submit	supported
8.1.10	select	partial	@selection does not work.	282840;
8.1.11	select1	partial	There are some resize issues, select/deselect/valuechange firing in wrong order. Also missing some html:select capabilities.	282840; 303351; 303865; 333464; 333529;
8.2.1	choices	supported
8.2.2	item	supported
8.2.3	value	supported
8.3	filename	supported
8.3.2	mediatype	partial		313768;
8.3.3	label	partial	Labels for items inside a choices element has bind problems. Clicking on a label doesn't focus the owning control, and we'd like to expand how we render labels bound to different, unique types	284068; 297083;
8.3.4	help	supported
8.3.5	hint	partial	Precedence order of content is wrong	338135;
8.3.6	alert	supported

9. XForms User Interface

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
9.2.1	switch	supported
9.2.2	case	partial		302497; 329143;
9.2.3	toggle	supported
9.3	Repeat Module	partial		264329; 273706;
9.3.1	repeat	partial	We do not support number attribute	302026;
9.3.2	Creating Repeating Structures Via Attributes	unsupported		280368;
9.3.3	itemset	supported
9.3.4	copy	supported
9.3.5	insert	partial	We need to better handle when @at evaluates to NaN, and we do not generate unique values for xsd:ID nodes.	303198; 339217;
9.3.6	delete	partial	We need to better handle when @at evaluates to NaN	303198;
9.3.7	setindex	supported
9.3.8	Repeat Processing	supported
9.3.9	Nested Repeats	supported
9.3.10	User Interface Interaction	partial	No support for @number	302026;

10. XForms Actions

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
10.1	XForms Action Module	n/a
10.1.1	action	supported
10.1.2	dispatch	supported
10.1.3	rebuild	partial	is dispatching events instead of calling directly	332231;
10.1.4	recalculate	partial	is dispatching events instead of calling directly	332231;
10.1.5	revalidate	partial	is dispatching events instead of calling directly	332231;
10.1.6	refresh	partial	is dispatching events instead of calling directly	332231;
10.1.7	setfocus	supported
10.1.8	load	partial	no xforms-link-error generated if @src invalid	333782;
10.1.9	setvalue	supported
10.1.10	send	partial	send with submission who uses @replace="instance" regressed	332292;
10.1.11	reset	supported
10.1.12	message	supported
10.1.13	insert, delete, setindex	supported

11. Submit

Section	Title	Status	Notes	Bugs
11.1	xforms-submit	partial	We currently limit (for security reasons) submission only back to the server that served the document. But the user can choose to remove this restriction on a site by site basis via a preference. Click for more details.	330557;
11.2	Submission Options	supported
11.3	Serialization as application/xml	supported
11.4	Serialization as multipart/related	supported
11.5	Serialization as multipart/form-data	supported
11.6	Serialization as application/x-www-form-urlencoded	supported
11.7	The post, multipart-post, form-data-post, and urlencoded-post Submit Methods	supported
11.8	put	supported
11.9	get	supported

12. Security and Cross Domain Submission

By default, Mozilla's XForms implementation does not allow cross domain transactions. This means that a XForm loaded from one web domain will NOT be allowed, by default, to load data or submit data to a domain different from the domain that served the XForm. This policy also includes port numbers as well as protocols. So a form loaded from http://www.foo.com:8080 may not access https://www.foo.com:8080, http://www.foo.com:9080, or http://www.foo.com.

However, Mozilla's XForms implementation does allow the user to override this restriction by using a whitelist.

1. In Mozilla Firefox, open to the browser's preferences by selecting File->Tools->Options... from the browser menubar
2. Choose the "Content" section
3. Check the "Allow XForms to access other domains" checkbox. By selecting this option you are allowing all cross domain transactions made by trusted sites, including submission and external instance loading.
4. Click on the "Allowed Sites" pushbutton for this item
5. Enter each domain that you choose to trust to serve XForms which initiate cross domain transactions, and choose whether it can load or send data (or both). For example, if the form http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xforms/sample1.xhtml needs to to load instance data from http://www.foo.org, then you need to add Load permission for www.mozilla.org on the Allowed Sites list.

Note: you'll see a "XForms Error (14): Security check failed!" error in your JavaScript Console if a cross-domain transaction is initiated by a XForm loaded from a domain that is not whitelisted.

Note also, that the cross domain check also includes forms loaded from file://. Forms loaded from that URL should be local files, and thus trusted, but it is not always the case. So there is not automatic "whitelisting" of local files.

13. Styling XForms

Pseudo classes

In the W3C XForms specification, pseudo-classes can be used to select elements based on XForms criteria.  This release of the Mozilla XForms product does support pseudo-classes, with the exception of :read-only and :read-write. Until Mozilla supports these pseudo classes on elements in general, Mozilla XForms authors may use :-moz-read-only and :-moz-read-write.   For example, to give all inputs values a blue background if they are readonly, the following CSS is used:

	@namespace xf url("http://www.w3.org/2002/xforms");
	xf|input:-moz-read-only .xf-value {
	  background-color: blue;
	}
      

Supported pseudo-classes in this release are :valid, :invalid, :enabled, :disabled, :required, :optional, :-moz-read-write and :-moz-read-only.

Pseudo Elements

There is currently no support for pseudo elements. Instead the author can use the normal classes xf-value, xf-repeat-index and xf-repeat-item.

14. Comments and Filing Bugs

Comments

Please see the Mozilla XForms project page for the latest information about forums being used to discuss Mozilla XForms.

Filing Bugs

If problems are found with the Mozilla XForms product, a bug should be opened against the XForms component, using Mozilla's bug-reporting mechanism.

15. Where to Find More Information

Limitations and Custom Extensions

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/XForms:Mozilla_XForms_Specials

As this is still a preview release, there are still a few bugs and limitations (as can be seen above). This page describes the major limitations and the Mozilla XForms custom extensions to the XForms standard.

Mozilla XForms Project

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xforms/

Information regarding the XForms initiative for Mozilla. It contains the list of contacts for the project, an abstract summary, and a list of features with associated bugs.

W3C XForms

http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/

Site detailing the XForms specifications (1.0 and upcoming 1.1). Details the history of the specification, working group, and supported applications and browsers. Also contains an XForms 1.0 test suite.