FormEngine

The shape Engine is a Java framework for dynamic generation of complex forms for use in web applications.

Overview

The objective pursued by this target framework can be based on play by two points:

Properties

The FormEngine Framework has been designed so that it can be used in existing or new web applications. It runs on any Servlet Engine, and thus under the Java Standard Edition.

The processing of the form logic is executed in form sessions. In this case, when the form is loaded by the user a session with one of the form definition corresponding data model is created. This will be made available for calculations and validations, as well as for the representation of the data until the processing of the form completed by the user or the form - session after a predefined period of inactivity a user is automatically closed. In a form session the user is allowed to edit the current data. The data itself lie on the server, the form engine uses AJAX for client - server communication during a form session. The form definition is used as a framework for more, even at the same time held form sessions. The context in which takes place each form session, therefore, each working with their own form instance according to the underlying form definition.

All performance calculations and logic to validate data need only be implemented on the server side. Display components for the different types of form data are thread -safe can be implemented and used in parallel in different instances of the form. The software design of the FormEngine framework is designed for a small footprint runtime.

History

The shape Engine as a Java project is developed since 2007. From the experience with other form frameworks showed up in different areas, that these were not sufficiently flexible. Since 2007, the form engine can be used in a BPM Suite ( *) as a substitute for the Chiba Engine, a Java framework for execution of XForms definitions. The FormEngine Java Framework was published in December 2009 under a slightly modified MIT license as open use software.

Articles and other information

Several technical articles have been published about the form engine to date, including " FormEngine: Multi Dynamic Forms". More information can be found in the list of external links.