Lotus Forms vs. Orbeon Forms

Hi,

 

Could somebody compare Lotus Forms with Orbeon Forms ?

 

Is XFDL a proprietary format or Xforms standard ?

Which files format does Orbeon produce ?

 

 

TIA,

Oleg Konovalov

Email: [hidden email]

 

 

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On Feb 26, 2009, at 2:15 PM, Konovalov, Oleg wrote:

> Could somebody compare Lotus Forms with Orbeon Forms ?
>
> Is XFDL a proprietary format or Xforms standard ?
> Which files format does Orbeon produce ?

You can look at XFDL as the format they use to define how form fields  
are laid out on the screen, or as a container for XForms. XFDL has  
been submitted to the W3C by IBM as a "note", but it is essentially  
their proprietary format. Orbeon Forms uses  XHTML instead of XFDL, so  
your files will be XHTML+XForms documents.

Alex
--
Orbeon Forms - Web 2.0 Forms, open-source, for the Enterprise
Orbeon's Blog: http://www.orbeon.com/blog/
Personal Blog: http://avernet.blogspot.com/
Twitter - http://twitter.com/avernet



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Alex,

>your files will be XHTML+XForms documents

So which file extension will Form Builder generate, form.XHTML ?

BTW, since (as Erik mentioned) Form Builder can not generate/export/save form into file,
We can not use it, it's a killer.
When are you guys planning to implement that feature ?


Any Orbeon vs. Lotus Form docs ?


Thank you,
Oleg.





-----Original Message-----
From: Alessandro Vernet [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 2:46 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [ops-users] Re: Lotus Forms vs. Orbeon Forms

On Feb 26, 2009, at 2:15 PM, Konovalov, Oleg wrote:

> Could somebody compare Lotus Forms with Orbeon Forms ?
>
> Is XFDL a proprietary format or Xforms standard ?
> Which files format does Orbeon produce ?

You can look at XFDL as the format they use to define how form fields are laid out on the screen, or as a container for XForms. XFDL has been submitted to the W3C by IBM as a "note", but it is essentially their proprietary format. Orbeon Forms uses  XHTML instead of XFDL, so your files will be XHTML+XForms documents.

Alex
--
Orbeon Forms - Web 2.0 Forms, open-source, for the Enterprise Orbeon's Blog: http://www.orbeon.com/blog/ Personal Blog: http://avernet.blogspot.com/ Twitter - http://twitter.com/avernet



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>> your files will be XHTML+XForms documents
>
> So which file extension will Form Builder generate, form.XHTML ?

Yes, even though the extension doesn't matter. What matters is what's  
in the file, and that's XHTML and XForms.

> BTW, since (as Erik mentioned) Form Builder can not generate/export/
> save form into file,
> We can not use it, it's a killer.
> When are you guys planning to implement that feature ?

We don't have a precise date at the moment. Check our FAQ on this topic:

   http://www.orbeon.com/ops/doc/home-faq#issue-fixing

Could you explain with more details why export to a file is a big  
issue for you?

If you really need it, I would say that in short you do have options  
if you need this feature: implement it yourself (Orbeon Forms is 100%  
open source), pay somebody to implement it (e.g. Orbeon), or wait  
until it appears.

> Any Orbeon vs. Lotus Form docs ?

Not on our side.

One huge difference is that Orbeon Forms is open source and free and  
focuses on producing forms that run in web browsers, and Lotus Forms  
is a commercial product with less emphasis on web browsers I believe.

-Erik

--
Orbeon Forms - Web Forms for the Enterprise Done the Right Way
http://www.orbeon.com/



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Erik,

>Could you explain with more details why export to a file is a big issue for you?
It is very nice that you organize new forms in a table, it might be useful for us (if we can customize it a bit).
We need to integrate created forms with Java/JSP (e.g. have catalog of forms).
Also it would be useful to have it as files that we can use them as template for forms in other locations
(might be slightly different from original).
I guess, in this case we need to be able to import form into Form Builder. Is it possible ?

Also, can I import XML schema with a set of possible fields (what we have in DB)
And create a Form with fields from that set ?

Can we create custom validations (like check that field1 + field2 + ... =total ?)

Export & Import is mentioned several times in your documentation, so I would expect it to be coming soon.
Will it be in Release 1.0 ?

Thank you,
Oleg.


-----Original Message-----
From: Erik Bruchez [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 8:44 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [ops-users] Re: RE: Re: Lotus Forms vs. Orbeon Forms

>> your files will be XHTML+XForms documents
>
> So which file extension will Form Builder generate, form.XHTML ?

Yes, even though the extension doesn't matter. What matters is what's in the file, and that's XHTML and XForms.

> BTW, since (as Erik mentioned) Form Builder can not generate/export/
> save form into file, We can not use it, it's a killer.
> When are you guys planning to implement that feature ?

We don't have a precise date at the moment. Check our FAQ on this topic:

   http://www.orbeon.com/ops/doc/home-faq#issue-fixing

Could you explain with more details why export to a file is a big issue for you?

If you really need it, I would say that in short you do have options if you need this feature: implement it yourself (Orbeon Forms is 100% open source), pay somebody to implement it (e.g. Orbeon), or wait until it appears.

> Any Orbeon vs. Lotus Form docs ?

Not on our side.

One huge difference is that Orbeon Forms is open source and free and focuses on producing forms that run in web browsers, and Lotus Forms is a commercial product with less emphasis on web browsers I believe.

-Erik

--
Orbeon Forms - Web Forms for the Enterprise Done the Right Way http://www.orbeon.com/



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> It is very nice that you organize new forms in a table, it might be  
> useful for us (if we can customize it a bit).
> We need to integrate created forms with Java/JSP (e.g. have catalog  
> of forms).
> Also it would be useful to have it as files that we can use them as  
> template for forms in other locations
> (might be slightly different from original).
> I guess, in this case we need to be able to import form into Form  
> Builder. Is it possible ?

Yes because Form Runner/Builder use a REST API to access documents.  
You can use this API to read/write form definitions and form data:

   http://wiki.orbeon.com/forms/doc/contributor-guide/form-builder-integration-notes

You can also implement your own persistence layer. For example, you  
could implement one that saves form definitions and/or form data as  
files on disk.

> Also, can I import XML schema with a set of possible fields (what we  
> have in DB)
> And create a Form with fields from that set ?

You mean converting an XML Schema to a form automagically? We don't  
have support for this at the moment, but it could certainly be doine.

> Can we create custom validations (like check that field1 + field2  
> + ... =total ?)

Yes.

> Export & Import is mentioned several times in your documentation, so  
> I would expect it to be coming soon.
> Will it be in Release 1.0 ?

Most likely not unless somebody sponsors this very soon.

-Erik

--
Orbeon Forms - Web Forms for the Enterprise Done the Right Way
http://www.orbeon.com/



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