XForms/Input Field Width

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[edit] Motivation

Sometimes you want to be able to control the field width, even though the default input text scrolls. This can be done for the entire form or for on a field-by-field basis for all input fields within a form. For example if you have three places that a person's last name occurs they can all be controlled by changing a single CSS file that is imported into the form. This CSS file can also be generated directly from an XML Schema or metadata registry using XML transforms.

[edit] Screen Image

Screen Image of CSS controled field widths using the FireFox XForms extension and the .xf-value selector

[edit] Sample Program

<html
   xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
   xmlns:xf="http://www.w3.org/2002/xforms" 
   xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
   <head>
      <title>Controlling Input Field Width</title>
      <style type="text/css">
   @namespace xf url("http://www.w3.org/2002/xforms");
   body {
      font-family: Helvetica;sans-serif;
   }
 
   label, legend {
      font-weight: bold;
   }
 
   /* The default field width for all inputs */
   .xf-value {
      width: 100px
   }
 
   /* custom field width overrides relative to current font size */
   /* ex is the size of the current lowercase 'x' in pixels */
   /* em is the size of the current "M" character in pixels */
   .PersonGivenName .xf-value {width:20ex}
   .PersonMiddleName .xf-value {width:15ex}
   .PersonSurName .xf-value {width:25ex}
   .LocationCityName .xf-value {width:20ex}
   .LocationStateCode .xf-value {width:2em}
   .LocationPostalID .xf-value {width:10ex}
   </style>
      <xf:model>
         <xf:instance xmlns="">
            <Data>
               <PersonGivenName>John</PersonGivenName>
               <PersonMiddleName>George</PersonMiddleName>
               <PersonSurName>Doe</PersonSurName>
               <LocationCityName>Anytown</LocationCityName>
               <LocationStateCode>MM</LocationStateCode>
               <LocationPostalID>55123-1234</LocationPostalID>
            </Data>
         </xf:instance>
      </xf:model>
   </head>
   <body>
      <fieldset>
      <legend>Name and Address</legend>
       <xf:input class="PersonGivenName" ref="/Data/PersonGivenName" incremental="true">
         <xf:label>First:</xf:label>
       </xf:input>
       <xf:input class="PersonMiddleName"  ref="/Data/PersonMiddleName" incremental="true">
         <xf:label>Middle:</xf:label>
       </xf:input>
       <xf:input class="PersonSurName" ref="/Data/PersonSurName" incremental="true">
         <xf:label>Last:</xf:label>
       </xf:input>
       <br/>
       <xf:input class="LocationCityName" ref="/Data/LocationCityName" incremental="true">
         <xf:label>City:</xf:label>
       </xf:input>
       <xf:input class="LocationStateCode" ref="/Data/LocationStateCode" incremental="true">
         <xf:label>State:</xf:label>
       </xf:input>
       <xf:input class="LocationPostalID" ref="/Data/LocationPostalID" incremental="true">
         <xf:label>Postal:</xf:label>
       </xf:input>
       </fieldset>
 
       <xf:output ref="/Data/PersonGivenName">
         <xf:label>First Name:</xf:label>
       </xf:output>
       <br/>
       <xf:output ref="/Data/PersonMiddleName">
         <xf:label>Middle Name:</xf:label>
       </xf:output>
       <br/>
       <xf:output ref="/Data/PersonSurName">
         <xf:label>Last Name:</xf:label>
       </xf:output>
        <br/>
        <xf:output ref="/Data/LocationCityName">
         <xf:label>City Name:</xf:label>
       </xf:output>
        <br/>
       <xf:output ref="/Data/LocationStateCode">
         <xf:label>State Code:</xf:label>
       </xf:output>
       <br/>
       <xf:output ref="/Data/LocationPostalID">
         <xf:label>Postal Code:</xf:label>
       </xf:output>
       <br/>
   </body>
</html>

[edit] Discussion

There are many tradeoffs as to where to put form width information. Ideally it would be generated by a script from a metadata registry. One of the question concerns if a data element length should only have a default recommended value in a semantic registry and the actual constraints be stored in an constraint schema. We all know that zip codes should be 5 or 9 digits and that a 12 digit zip code may only have meaning in a specific context.

This example has been tested using the FireFox browser. The use of the .xf-value class selector may not work on other systems.

NOTE:
Inline styles within an input field:

<xf:input style=".xf-value {width: 10em}">

does not work.

[edit] References

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