XForms Actions Elements

Release 2.0 - ...

This section defines the controller layer of XForms, an XML Events-based common set of actions that can be invoked in response to events.

All form controls as well as other elements defined in the XForms specification have a set of common behaviors that encourage consistent authoring and look and feel for XForms-based applications. This consistency comes from attaching a common set of behaviors to the various form controls.

In conjunction with the event binding mechanism provided by XML Events, these handlers provide a flexible means for forms authors to specify event processing at appropriate points within the XForms user interface. XForms Actions are declarative XML event handlers that capture high-level semantics. As a consequence, they significantly enhance the accessibility of XForms-based applications in comparison to previous Web technologies that relied exclusively on scripting.

XForms Action Elements

The table below shows an overview of the action elements.

Action Element	Attributes	Minimal Content Model
action	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes	Action
setvalue	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, Single Node Binding, value	PCDATA
insert	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, Node Set Binding, context, at, position, origin	EMPTY
delete	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, Node Set Binding, context, at	EMPTY
setindex	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, repeat, index	EMPTY
toggle	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, case	case element (optional)
setfocus	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, control	control element (optional)
dispatch	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, name, targetid, delay, bubbles, cancelable	name, targetid and/or delay element (optional)
rebuild	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, model	EMPTY
recalculate	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, model	EMPTY
revalidate	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, model	EMPTY
refresh	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, model	EMPTY
reset	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, model	EMPTY
load	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, Single Node Binding (optional), resource, show	resource element (optional)
send	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, submission	EMPTY
message	Common, XML Events, Common Action Attributes, Single Node Binding (optional), level	PCDATA \| UI Inline

All these action elements also make up the Action Content Set.

Attributes from the Common Attributes group, the Common Action Attributes group and the XML Events group are always optional.
Attributes from the Single Node Binding Attributes group and the Node Set Binding Attributes group are always required, unless stated otherwise.

The model attribute is always of type xsd:IDREF, which means it needs to reference an existing model's id attribute.

Specification

Link to the XForms specification: XForms Actions.

Topics

Seneca XForms Engine