Working with Smart Forms

Ektron’s Smart Forms give you access to the power of XML by separating Web content from presentation. By hiding the XML tags from users, Ektron serves content to various presentation devices (PDAs, mobile phones, etc.), saving users from of creating duplicate content. Review and revision are reduced because the accuracy and format of your Web content are managed using XML schema validation. Use Smart Forms to define the necessary files to display, save, and validate the content properly.

Smart Form benefits

Using Smart Forms with Ektron provides the following benefits:

Strictly enforce content and page layout with Ektron's editor, XSLT, and WYSIWYG templates for content contributors
Deliver content to multiple devices (for example, PDAs, mobile phones, etc.)
Easily share content across B2B transactions
Advanced XML authoring: Ektron's highly-acclaimed XML editor lets developers hide XML tags from content contributors and provides an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editing interface

The following are examples of industries that can benefit from XML Indexing.

Health Care—A cardiologist whose practice is located in your city
Human Resources—Sick time policy
Real Estate—A house with a zip code of 03031 priced under $200,000
Hospitality—A hotel in the city
Online Retail—Fleece gloves for men
Educational—A course in .NET programming

Using XML instead of HTML

You should use XML content whenever possible because of the following advantages.

Standardized format for capturing content
- You can create an XML Smart Form then require anyone creating content in a folder to use the form. The result is more uniform and consistent information.
- Within an XML Smart Form, you can require authors to complete fields in a specified format. So, for example, if you want the author to enter a date, XML can ensure that it’s captured in a standard format. Several standard formats are provided (email address, zip code), and you can create your own.
Superior control over content display
- Authors contribute XML content but have virtually no control over its format. The Web administrator determines the format through an XSLT file. By customizing the XSLT, you can exert maximum control over your Web site’s appearance.
- Since one file controls several (even hundreds of) pages, you can update just that file to efficiently change the look of all pages whose content is based on the Smart Form.
Improved search capabilities
- Because XML data is captured in individual fields, you can focus a search on relevant fields. For example, if your XML content captures data about books, you can place an author search on your Web site. Since that search only looks through content in the Author field, it is much faster and returns more reliable results than a search of HTML content.

Prerequisite: Smart Forms can be created only by members of the Administrators group or those defined in Manage Members for Role: Smart Forms Admin screen.

To access the Smart Form section of the Workarea, go to Settings > Configuration > Smart Form Configuration. The View Smart Forms screen appears.

Show me.

When you click a Smart Form to view its information, you can do the following:

Edit ()—Edit a Smart Form.
Data Design ()—Open Data Designer.
Add Smart Form—Create a new Smart Form from scratch or based on an existing one.
View XSLT ()—Display a Smart Form’s XSLT.
Delete ()—Delete a Smart Form.
Back ()—Return to previous screen.

-^- Properties tab

Title—Name given to Smart Form.
ID—ID number assigned by Ektron upon creation of the configuration.
Description—Detailed description of configuration given by creator or last editor.

If the Smart Form was created using external XML files (instead of the Data Designer), the following information also appears:

Edit XSLT—XSLT applied to the content when being edited.
NOTE: If no edit XSLT is specified, the Edit Data Design option is enabled in the toolbar.
Save XSLT—XSLT used to transform the XML created in the editor when the Smart Form is saved to the database.
Advanced Configuration—XML file that contains display information, schema validation, and other advanced XML data.
XML Schema—Specify the .xsd file used to validate the XML content that the Smart Form will be assigned to.
Target Namespace—Specify the default namespace used for outgoing XML.

-^- Display Information tab

The display information tab lists the XSLTs that are used when displaying XML in the respective environment.

XSLT1—Display XSLT 1
XSLT2—Display XSLT 2
XSLT3—Display XSLT 3
XSLT (Packaged)—Display XSLT Package (created using the Data Designer)
XPaths—Location of the XSLT.

NOTE: When a Smart Form is created using the Data Designer, a default display XSLT is also created which looks similar to the edit XSLT created in the editor. This default XSLT can be applied to the XML content.

The asterisk (*) denotes the default XSLT for the Smart Form.

-^- Preview tab

The Preview tab displays the XSLT applied to the editor when XML content is created. This is the XSLT that was created for the Smart Form.