XFormsDB is an XForms-based, open source framework for simplifying Web application development. It allows authors to build useful, highly interactive multi-user Web applications quickly and easily using purely declarative languages, i.e., does not require authors to write any client-side scripting or server-side programming code at all.

The idea behind XFormsDB is to naturally extend the XForms markup language (can be thought as “XForms Server Pages”) with common server-side and database-related functionalities, such as querying and updating (with or without data synchronization) data stored in data sources, error handling, state maintenance as well as authentication and access control. The extension markup is interpreted by a generic server-side component, which provides the integration services to heterogeneous data sources as well as the aforementioned common server-side functionalities. Thanks to Orbeon Forms, XFormsDB works with all major browsers. Light-weight mobile XForms browsers such as Xfolite enable use of XFormsDB also on low-end mobile devices. For developing XFormsDB-based applications, a Web-based visual tool called XFormsDB IDE (XIDE) can be used.

For more information about XFormsDB, please see Markku Laine’s Master’s Thesis presentation and Markku Laine’s Master’s Thesis (especially Chapter 1: Introduction and Chapter 8: Conclusions), which are available at:

• /doc/theses/Markku_Laine_2010_-_Masters_Thesis_Presentation_with_Details.pdf
• /doc/theses/Markku_Laine_2010_-_Masters_Thesis.pdf