XForms and Internet Applications: XForms and Ajax Languages

Mark Birbeck points out that the goals that were the anvil which Ajax was forged on - actually can be accomplished with less technology/complexity using XForms.

Ajax prescribes certain technologies. Everyone who is an Ajax programmer or done a little reading on the subject knows these are:

• XHTML+CSS for presentation/styling
• DTHML - using DOM API, to manipulate the view
• XSLT and XML for data transfer/manipulation
• asynchronous data retrieval - using XMLHttpRequest
• Javascript - as logical glue to integrate the model, view, controls, submission, and retrieval

Mark abstracts these things to meet the goal down to just the purpose of each part of the solution, rather than focusing on the particular technology that was selected to solve that part.

When he does that, he find that XML fits. And, well, XForms requires a whole lot fewer moving parts. With XForms, you basically just design the form - and it runs itself.

XForms and Internet Applications: XForms and Ajax Languages:

When Jesse James Garrett coined the term 'Ajax' he summed up perfectly where we are at in terms of building web applications:Ajax isn't a technology. It's really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways. Ajax incorporates:standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;and JavaScript binding everything together.But if you put aside the specific technologies that Jesse refers to, and instead focus on what he is suggesting we should achieve, you are left with:standards-based presentation;dynamic display and interaction;data interchange and manipulation using XML;asynchronous data retrieval;and something binding everything together.

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