Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL) is a high-level
computer language
A computer language is a formal language used to communicate with a computer. Types of computer languages include:
* Construction language – all forms of communication by which a human can specify an executable problem solution to a compu ...
that facilitates defining a form as a single, stand-alone object using elements and attributes from
the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Technically, it is a class of XML originally specified in a
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 and led by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working to ...
(W3C) Note. See Specifications below for links to the current versions of XFDL. XFDL It offers precise control over form layout, permitting replacement of existing business/government forms with electronic documents in a human-readable,
open standard
An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definition ...
.
In addition to precision layout control, XFDL provides multiple page capabilities, step-by-step guided user experiences, and
digital signature
A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for verifying the authenticity of digital messages or documents. A valid digital signature, where the prerequisites are satisfied, gives a recipient very high confidence that the message was created b ...
s. XFDL also provides a syntax for in-line mathematical and conditional expressions and data validation constraints as well as custom items, options, and external code functions. Current versions of XFDL (see Specifications below) are capable of providing these interactive features via open standard markup languages including XForms, XPath, XML Schema and XML Signatures.
XFDL not only supports multiple digital signatures, but the signatures can apply to specific sections of a form and prevent changes to signed content.
These advantages to XFDL led large organizations such as the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
and
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
to migrate to XFDL from using forms in other formats. Later, though, the lack of portable software capable of creating XFDL led them to investigate moving away from it. The Army migrated to
Adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
fillable
PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
s in 2014.
[http://armypubs.army.mil/news/Memo_Army_Migrating_to_Adobe_Fillable_Forms_10Jul13_Redacted.pdf ]
References
External links
Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition) W3C Recommendation, 26 NOV 2008.
United States Army Publishing DirectorateUSAF webpage with public downloadable XFDL reader: see "items of interest" link on right side of page for viewer download.
* See also XML Paper Specification ( XPS)
Specifications
Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL) 8.0Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL) 7.7Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL) 4.0
Editors
* IBM Forms Designer
*''See XML editor
An XML editor is a markup language editor with added functionality to facilitate the editing of XML. This can be done using a plain text editor, with all the code visible, but XML editors have added facilities like tag completion and menus and but ...
'' for XML editors and other editing tools.
{{W3C Standards
XML markup languages
Markup languages
World Wide Web Consortium standards
Technical communication
Computer file formats
Open formats
Data modeling languages