Chapter 4, Exchanging Data Between an External Application
and a Basic XFA Form
XFA Specification
Basic Data Binding to Produce the XFA Form DOM
159
dataRef
. When used, the value of this property must be a fully-qualified SOM expression referring to a
data value node in the Data DOM. See
“Explicit Data References” on page 176
Simple Example of Data Binding
The simplest kind of form has a unique name for each subform or field and for each corresponding data
group or data value. For example, suppose an online form is being used to edit the registration
information for a registered user. The registration data consists of first and last name and mailing address.
The data retrieved from the registration data base looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<registration>
<first>Jack</first>
<last>Spratt</last>
<apt></apt>
<street>99 Candlestick Lane</street>
<city>London</city>
<country>UK</country>
<postalcode>SW1</postalcode>
</registration>
Data DOM
registration
first
“Jack”
last
“Spratt”
apt
“”
street
“99 Candlestick Lane”
city
“London”
country
“UK”
postalcode
“SW1”
When the registration data is loaded into the Data DOM the
result is as shown (right).
Data DOM with registration data