Clik here to view.
Autosave
Glitches happen. While you're filing a form, your browser might crash, your computer be disconnected from the power or run out of power, your Internet connection might go down, or the server might...
View ArticleCoffeeScript: Create objects referencing other properties
In CoffeeScript, you can easily create an object and set the value of some of its properties: section = title: 'My section' element: $('.my-section') width: $('.my-section').width() The width property...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More dynamic control bindings in Form Builder
Recently, a user asked us why, in Form Builder, there is a separate Number control in the toolbox. Is this the same as an Input Field set it to a Decimal datatype? Our answer was, unfortunately: "Not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unification of the relational persistence layers
XForms by itself doesn't fully solve the question of how to persist data. It provides solid foundations that we can leverage to persist data, but intentionally doesn't answer questions such as "how is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Supporting permissions in your persistence API implementation
Up to version 4.2, implementations of the persistence API didn't need to worry about permissions; permissions were entirely checked by the part of Form Runner that was calling the persistence API....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Adjusting a dropdown width on IE7 and IE8
At times, the width of a dropdown (aka combo box) is constrained, in the sense that it can't be made wide enough to completely show the text for the selected option. However, with all modern browsers,...
View ArticleOrbeon Forms 4.4
Today we released Orbeon Forms 4.4! This release includes the following new features and major enhancements:Oracle support for autosave and owner/group-based permission. These two features were timidly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saving memory by removing unneeded whitespace
Photo by Brad MontgomeryOrbeon Forms stores form definitions and form data in XML format. When using XML, it is customary to use new lines and indentation to make it easier for humans to read and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inserting and reordering grid rows
Grids are a key ingredient in Form Builder and Form Runner, as they are the main tool you use to layout controls on a page. And since Orbeon Forms 4 they are also repeatable, which means that you can...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Preventing cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) is a type of exploit of your web site whereby a malicious party may be able to perform operations posing as a given user of your site, without that user having...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Detecting login pages in Ajax requests
Way back when, in Orbeon Forms 3.9, we introduced an improved retry mechanism that kicks in when an Ajax request to the server fails. A request might fail either because the browser didn't get a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Repeated sections
In addition to repeated grid rows, Form Builder and Form Runner now support repeated section content. Repeating section content is very similar to repeating a group of grid rows, except that the entire...
View ArticleOrbeon Forms 4.4.1 PE
Today we released Orbeon Forms 4.4.1 PE. This is a bug-fix update for Orbeon Forms PE only. For more details about the 4.4 release in general, see Orbeon Forms 4.4. This release includes the following...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Improving how we show help messages
Before Orbeon Forms 4.5, we've been using modal dialogs to show help messages. This was a rather heavy handed approach which prevented users from filling out the field while seeing the help message....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The new Duplicate button
We have just implemented a new Duplicate button, available on the Summary page of both Form Builder and Form Runner.This button allows you to copy:an existing form definition, when used from Form...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hints for checkboxes and radio buttons
With Form Builder, form authors can provide a help message for every form field, and we recently discussed how we improved the visual appearance of help messages. For radio buttons and checkboxes, it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Form versioning
What versioning doesForm versioning is an important new feature in Orbeon Forms 4.5. In the past, Orbeon Forms was only keeping track of one form definition for every published form. This meant that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fun with dropdown menu titles
As we were recently fixing a few issues with the Dropdown Menu control, we started thinking more seriously about the behavior of that control in Form Builder and Form Runner, and it turned out to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Choices editor improvements
Orbeon Forms 4.5 introduces two features related to repeated content, discussed in other posts:Inserting and reordering grid rowsRepeated sectionsWork on these enhancements also benefits the Form...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Storing configurations outside of the Orbeon Forms war file
RationaleIf you're reading this, you're most likely already familiar with the properties-local.xml file used to configure Orbeon Forms. This file typically goes inside the Orbeon Forms web app, in...
View Article