For example, a page of a form may be omitted if there is no data for it.

Dynamic forms may also be designed to change structure to accommodate changes in the structure of the data supplied to the form. Dynamic form requires rendering of its content on file opening. XFA recognises two types of static forms: 'old-style static forms' (using 'full XFA') and XFAF (a subset of full XFA, defined since XFA 2.5).ĭynamic forms (defined since XFA 2.1 or 2.2) can change in appearance in several ways in response to changes in the data. By default, static forms do not require re-rendering. Any unfilled fields are present in the form. In a static form the form’s appearance and layout is fixed, regardless of the field content. XFA defines static forms (since XFA 2.0 and before) and dynamic forms (since XFA 2.1 or 2.2). XFA forms are synonymous with SmartForms in the Australian government. One of XFA approaches to pagination duplicates the pagination logic and much of the syntax of XSL-FO. XFA supports the use of XSLT to transform the XML data before it is loaded to XFA Data DOM or after it is unloaded from XFA Data DOM. The XFA specification includes an appendix that discusses details of the Adobe-specific XFA implementation and behaviors of Adobe products that deviate from the XFA specification.ĭata filled in an XFA form may be submitted to a host using an HTTP POST operation in XDP format, PDF format, XFDF format, XML 1.0 format or as an URL-encoded format. XDP provides a mechanism for packaging form components within a surrounding XML container.Īlthough XFA can make use of PDF, XFA is not tied to a particular page description language. XFA forms are saved internally in PDF files or as XDP ( XML Data Package) files which can be opened in Adobe's LiveCycle Designer software.Īn XDP can package a PDF file, along with XML form and template data. In 2002, the JetForm Corporation was acquired by Adobe Systems, and the latter introduced XFA forms with PDF 1.5 and the subsequent Acrobat releases (6 and 7) in 2003. Another major advantage of XFA is that its data format allows compatibility with other systems, and with changes to other technology, applications and technology standards.Īccording to JetForm's submission to the World Wide Web Consortium, 'XFA addresses the needs of organizations to securely capture, present, move, process, output and print information associated with electronic forms.' The XFA proposal was submitted to the W3C in May 1999. In addition, all instances created from a given XFA form template keep the specification of data capture, rendering, and manipulation rules from the original. XFA's main extension to XML are computationally active tags.

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