The XML generated from a ColdFusion cfform tag and its children are described here. It provides a building block toward creating your own XSL skins.
XML namespace use
The XML that ColdFusion generates for forms uses elements and attributes in several XML namespaces. Namespaces are named collections of names that help ensure that XML names are unique. They often correspond to a web standard, a specific document type definition (DTD), or a schema. In XML, the namespace name and a colon (:) precede the name of the tag that is defined in that namespace; for example xf:model for the XForms namespace model tag.
ColdFusion uses several standard XML namespaces defined by the World Wid Web Consortium (W3C). These namespaces correspond to specifications for standard XML dialects such as XHTML, XForms, and XML Events. ColdFusion XML forms also use a custom namespace for skinnable forms XML extensions. The following table lists the namespaces in the XML that ColdFusion generates.
Prefix |
URL |
Used for |
|---|---|---|
html |
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml |
Form tag information, including action, height, width, and name. XHTML compliant. |
xf |
http://www.w3.org/2002/xforms |
XForms model (including initial field values) and XForms elements that correspond to cfform tags. |
ev |
http://www.w3.org/2001/xml-events |
System events. Used for the cfinput type="reset". |
cf |
|
All ColdFusion extensions, including passthrough of attributes that do not correspond to XForms elements or attributes. |
XML structure
For each CFML tag, ColdFusion converts attributes and element values to XML in the XForms xf:model element, or in individual control elements, such as the XForms xf:input, xf:secret, or xf:group elements.
ColdFusion generates XForms XML in the following format. The numbers on each line indicate the level of nesting of the tags.
1 form tag |
Data model
The XForms data model specifies the data that the form submits. It includes information on each displayed control that can submit data, including initial values and validation information. It does not contain information about cfformgroup or cfformitem tags. The data model consists of the following elements and their children:
- One xf:instance element
- One xf:submission element
- One xf:bind element for each form control that can submit data
xf:instance element
The XForms xf:instance element contains information about the form data controls. Any control that can submit data has a corresponding instance element. If the control has an initial value, the instance element contains that value.
The xf:instance element contains a single cf:data element that contains an element for each data control: cfgrid, most cfinput tag types, cfselect, cfslider, cftextarea, and cftree. Each element name is the corresponding CFML tag's name attribute. For applet and Flash format cfgrid and cftree tags, the element name is the value of the cf_param_name parameter of the tree or grid's Java applet object. Only cfinput tags of types submit, image, reset, andbutton do not have instance data, because they cannot submit data.
The body of each element contains the initial control data from the CFML tag's value attribute or its equivalent. For example, for a cfselect tag, the xf:instance element body is a comma-delimited list that contains the name attributes of all the option tags with a selected attribute. For submit and image buttons, the body contains the name attribute value.
The following example shows the xf:instance element for the form shown in the image in About XML skinnable forms:
<xf:instance> |
xf:submission element
The xf:submission element specifies the action when the form is submitted, and contains the values of the cfform action and method attributes.:
The following example shows the XML for the form shown in the image in About XML skinnable forms:
<xf:submission action="/_MyStuff/phase1/forms/XForms/FrameExamples/Figure1.cfm" |
xf:bind elements
The xf:bind elements provide information about the input control behavior, including the control type and any data validation rules. The XML has one bind element for each instance element that can submit data. It does not have bind elements for controls such as cfformitem tags, or cfinput tags with submit, input, reset, or image types. Each element has the following attributes:
Attribute |
Description |
|---|---|
id |
CFML tag name attribute value |
nodeset |
XPath expression with the path in the XML to the instance element for the control |
required |
CFML tag required attribute value |
Each xf:bind element has an xf:extension element with ColdFusion specific information, including type and validation values. The following table lists the cf namespace elements that are used here.
Element |
Description |
|---|---|
cf:attribute name="type" |
Control type. One of the following: CHECKBOX, FILE, IMAGE, PASSWORD, RADIO, SELECT, SUBMIT TEXT, CFSLIDER.The TEXT type is used for cfinput type="text" and cftextinput. |
cf:attribute name="onerror" |
JavaScript function specified by the control's onError attribute, if any. |
cfargument name="maxlength" |
Value of the control's maxlength attribute, if any. |
cf:validate type="valiadationtype"__ |
Data validation information. Has one attribute, type, the validation type, and one or more cf:argument and cf:trigger children. ColdFusion generates a cf:validate element for each of the following:
|
cf:argument (in the body of a cf:validate element) |
Data validation specification. Has one attribute, name, and body text. Each cf:validate element can have multiple cf:argument children, corresponding to the validation-related CFML tag attribute values, such as maximum length, and maximum and minimum range values. The element body contains the CFML attribute value. Valid name values are as follows. Unless specified otherwise, the name is identical to the corresponding CFML tag attribute name.
|
cf:trigger (in the body of a cf:validate element) |
When to do the validation; specifies a form element validateAt attribute value.Has one attribute, event, which can be one of the following:
|
The following example shows the xf:bind element of the form shown in the image in About XML skinnable forms:
<xf:bind id="firstname" |
Control elements
The XML tags that follow the xf:bind element specify the form controls and their layout. The XML includes one element for each form control and cfformitem or cfformgroup tag.
CFML to XML tag mapping
ColdFusion maps CFML tags to XForms elements and ColdFusion extensions as the following table shows:
CFML tag |
XML tag |
|---|---|
cfinput type="text" |
xf:input |
cfinput type="password" |
xf:secret |
cfinput type="hidden" |
None: instance data only |
cfinput type="file" |
xf:upload |
cfinput type="radio" |
xf:select1 |
cfinput type="checkbox" |
xf:select |
cfinput type="button" |
xf:trigger |
cfinput type="image" |
xf:submit |
cfinput type="reset" |
xf:submit |
cfinput type="submit" |
xf:submit |
cfselect multiple="false" |
xf:select1 |
cfselect multiple="true" |
xf:select |
cftextarea |
xf:textarea |
cfslider |
xf:range |
cfgrid |
cf:grid |
cftree |
cf:tree |
cfformitem type="text" |
xf:output |
cfformitem type="html" |
xf:output |
cfformitem type="*" (all but text, html) |
xf:group appearance="*" |
cfformgroup type="*" |
xf:group appearance="*" |
ColdFusion converts cfformitem tags with text and html type attributes to XForms output elements with the tag body in a <