XFA Specification
Glossary
document order — form template
992
member. For example, a “form node” is an object
belonging to the Form DOM.
document order
The order in which a Form DOM is traversed.
Document order starts at the root of the content
subtree of the Form DOM and traverses the
content subtree depth-first and left-to-right
(oldest-to-newest).
document range
The section(s) of the XML data document that
is/are loaded into the XFA Data DOM.
dynamic form
An XFA form that automatically adds containers
and rearranges its layout depending on the data
being entered into it. In a dynamic form, the
arrangement of the form is determined by the
arrangement of the data supplied to the Form
DOM. A dynamic form is enabled by an XFA
template that specifies subforms that may be
replicated, depending on the data supplied to the
Form DOM. See also
static form.
empty merge
An “empty merge” occurs when a template is
merged with an empty data document (or no data
document at all). The rules for an “empty merge”
are slightly different than the rules for a non-empty
merge. Different attributes of
The Occur Element
are used and default data, if defined by the
template, is inserted.
extended mapping rule
A rule that is not in effect by default but is available
as an override or extension to the default-mapping
rules.
F
fixed content (boilerplate)
Data associated with a draw. Such data is defined
by the template designer and does not vary
throughout the life of the form, with the following
exception: Dynamic forms may omit fixed content
that appears in unused containers. See also
variable content.
form creator
The person and/or software that creates a form
template, possibly along with other information
such as a data description.
form data
The variable data within a form. This is data that
the user can enter or modify and/or that is loaded
from an external source such as a database at the
time the form is presented to the user.
Form DOM
The Form DOM is the tree-structured
representation of the filled-in form. The Form DOM
is created and populated by the data binding
process. The Form DOM is not, however, ready to
display; there is another step required to perform a
physical layout, then another to render the form to
a display or printer. The Form DOM embodies
structural relationships, not physical
representations.
form template
A collection of related subforms and optional
business logic, constraints, and processing rules.
E
element content
XML elements that contain only XML child
elements, optionally separated with white space,
constitute “element content”. See the description
within section “3.2.1 Element Content” of the XML
specification [XML].
element type
The first token within an XML start or end tag
identifies the “element type”. The element type is a
string containing a qualified name. A qualified
name consists of an optional namespace prefix
and colon, followed by a mandatory local name.
See the description within section “3. Qualified
Names” of
Namespaces in XML
[XMLNAMES].
empty element
An XML element that does not enclose any
content.