Setting one xf:instance with values from another xf:instance

Hi,

I've been trying to get my head around this problem and I'm hoping maybe someone else has solved a similar problem and can offer some guidance:

In my model, supposing I have an instance like this:


<xf:instance xmlns="" id="an-event">
    <data>
       <username />
       <department />
    </data>
</xf:instance>

What I'd really like to be able to do is get those values (username and department) from another instance that I've loaded by the time the form is ready (xforms-ready); so essentially I'm thinking about something like this:

<username>{instance('user-credentials')//username}</username>
<department>{instance('user-credentials')//department}</department>

Obviously if I do this, or if I use something like <department><xf:output ref="instance('user-credentials')//department" /></department>  I literally get that text inside the instance - which I guess is precisely what should be expected...

I've been thinking about how to best fill those values and I've thought about maybe using events to do this (e.g. xforms-ready combined with xf:setvalue or even looking at checking out xxforms:setvalue), or maybe even updating to the latest nightly build and trying the xxforms:iterate feature...

... I've even thought of setting the values right at a point when a submission event occurs but so far I haven't managed to come up with anything that works well...    

Is there a good 'recommended' way to do such a thing relatively easily?  Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Thanks so much,
A

In case anyone is interested, I've found an immediate solution:

Firstly, the instance should look something like this (so the tags you want to set the values for actually close):


<xf:instance xmlns="" id="an-event">
    <data>
       <username></username>
       <department></department>
    </data>
</xf:instance>

Then later on in the model:

<xf:action ev:event="xforms-ready">
   <xf:setvalue ref="instance('an-event')//username" value="instance('the-source-instance')//username" ev:event="DOMActivate" />
   <xf:setvalue ref="instance('an-event')//department" value="instance('the-source-instance')//department" ev:event="DOMActivate" />
</xf:action>

Once I'd ensured that the instance had tags with both open and closing blocks, everything started working.  Hope this is useful to someone else.

You can also write <username/> and <department/>. Shorter, and  
absolutely identical.

-Erik

On May 20, 2008, at 6:58 AM, Alex Bleasdale wrote:
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> You can also write <username/> and <department/>. Shorter, and  
> absolutely identical.

That's odd; I tried that and the setvalue didn't seem to work at all..

A

> That's odd; I tried that and the setvalue didn't seem to work at all..

Yes, odd indeed, because I could bet a lot of money on this ;-)

-Erik

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http://www.orbeon.com/



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