Paloose Forms

The Paloose Forms (PForms) framework is loosely based on JXForms (now deprecated) which in turn was based on XForms. There are sufficient differences with PForms to make the latter to be of only loose help. It is worth reading the FAQ entry on flows for some background information on why Paloose Forms do not use CForms.

The use of PForms is described elsewhere, this page just gives the PForm elements.

Basic Structure

A Paloose form is enclosed by the <form> in the namespace "http://www.paloose.org/schemas/Forms/1.0":

<pf:form id="addUserForm" flow="addUser" continuation="{flow:continuation.id}" session="{flow:__flowId}"> <pf:label>Text associated with the form</pf:label> ... </pf:form>

where:

id — the identity of this form (used mainly in the CSS,
flow — the flow being used,
continuation — the continuation identity used to navigate the flow,
session — the current flow session id.

For more explanation of these see the PForms example. Within the form structure there are a set of items that reflect the various components within a form.

Simple Input Field (Input).

Input fields contain a single line entry field (cf HTML <input> input field). It has the following example structure:

<pf:input ref="username" class="usernameField"> <pf:label>...</pf:label> <pf:value>...</pf:value> <pf:hint>...</pf:hint> <pf:violations/> </pf:input>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,
class — the id for the CSS style.

Simple Password Field (secret).

Secret fields are identical to input fields except that text entered only displays as "*". They have identical structure to input fields:

<pf:secret ref="password" class="passwordField"> <pf:label>...</pf:label> <pf:value>...</pf:value> <pf:hint>...</pf:hint> <pf:violations/> </pf:secret>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,
class — the id for the CSS style.

Hidden Field (hidden).

Hidden fields allow the transmission of information that is hidden from the user. The only enclosed data is the initial value:

<pf:hidden ref="password"> <pf:value>...</pf:value> </pf:hidden>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,

Output Field (output).

Output fields allow display of data to the user in a read-only field for giving the user information. For example the following would display the value of the flow variable username:

<pf:output ref="username"> <pf:label>Username:</pf:label> <pf:value>{flow:username}</pf:value> </pf:output>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,

Form button (submit).

Submit entries define how the form is treated, for example would produce an HTML form button:

<pf:submit class="button" id="next"> <pf:label>Next</pf:label> <pf:hint>Go to optional details entry</pf:hint> </pf:submit>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,
class — the id for the CSS style.

Multiple Select Fields.

When it is required to select several of a set of choices the multiple select is used. This is the equivalent of the checkbox HTML form field. Each choice is entered as a set of fields

<pf:select appearance="full|compact" ref="roles"> <pf:value>...</pf:value> <pf:choices> <pf:item checked="false|true"> <pf:label>...</pf:label> <pf:value>...</pf:value> <pf:hint>...</pf:hint> </pf:item> <pf:item> ... </pf:item> </pf:choices> </pf:select>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,
appearance — the style of the mutiple selection. full denotes a set of checkboxes, and compact is a multiple selection list. If appearance is omitted then compact is assumed.
checked — whether the checkbox is checke at page load time. If checked is omitted then false is assumed.

For example:

<pf:select appearance="full" ref="roles"> <pf:value>{flow:roles}</pf:value> <pf:choices> <pf:item> <pf:label>Edit Pages</pf:label> <pf:value>editPage</pf:value> <pf:hint>Can edit pages within the Web site</pf:hint> </pf:item> <pf:item> <pf:label>Display Users</pf:label> <pf:value>displayUsers</pf:value> <pf:hint>Can manage users: change password, delete/add users, change roles</pf:hint> </pf:item> <pf:item> <pf:label>Add/update/delete Users</pf:label> <pf:value>manageUsers</pf:value> <pf:hint>Can manage users: change password, delete/add users, change roles</pf:hint> </pf:item> </pf:choices> </pf:select>

would display as:

while a compact version would display as (assuming items 1 and 3 are selected):

Single Select Fields.

When it is required to select several of a set of choices the multiple select is used. This is the equivalent of the checkbox HTML form field. Each choice is entered as a set of fields

<pf:select1 appearance="full|compact" ref="..."> <pf:value>...</pf:value> <pf:choices> <pf:item> <pf:label>...</pf:label> <pf:value>...</pf:value> <pf:hint>...</pf:hint> </pf:item> <pf:item> ... </pf:item> </pf:choices> </pf:select>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,
appearance — the style of the mutiple selection. full denotes a set of checkboxes, and compact is a multiple selection list.

For example:

would display as:

Text Area

text area fields allow multi-line

<pf:textarea ref="..."> <pf:label>...:</pf:label> <pf:hint>...</pf:hint> <pf:value>...</pf:value> </pf:textarea>

where the attributes are:

ref — how the flowscript references this field,

For example:

<pf:textarea ref="comments" class="commentField"> <pf:value>{flow:comments}</pf:value> <pf:hint>Any special comments outside of the above</pf:hint> </pf:textarea>

Label Field

Label fields contain text that is associated with the field. For example:

<pf:input ref="username" class="usernameField"> <pf:label>User name</pf:label> ... </pf:input>

which would typically output

Value Field

Value fields contain predefined data that is loaded into the field when the page is first displayed. For example:

<pf:input ref="username" class="usernameField"> <pf:value>Please enter username</pf:value> ... </pf:input>

would put the text "Please enter username" into the field when the page is loaded. If the PXTemplateGen is used then it is possible to use sitemap variables, for example:

<pf:input ref="username" class="usernameField"> <pf:value>{flow:username}</pf:value> ... </pf:input>

Hint Field

Hint field contains text that is output when the cursor is hovered above the field. For example:

<pf:input ref="username" class="usernameField"> <pf:hint>The user's login username</pf:hint> ... </pf:input>

Violations Field

Violations fields are empty place holders used when continuations require to report. Any tags within here will be ignored. For example:

<pf:input ref="username" class="usernameField"> <pf:violations/> ... </pf:input>