If you've read my blog, you might've noticed that I list XForms as one of my skills. A lot of visitors to this blog have enquired as to what XForms are. With this in mind, here is a brief explanation.
In essence, XForms are XML driven forms. I know it sounds too simple, but this really is what all the fuss is about. To understand the benefits that XForms have over standard web forms you have to look at it in deeper detail though.
Forms are an important part of many web applications today. Most of these forms are HTML based and until now they have been doing a good job. The XForms guys are trying to tell us that standard HTML is starting to struggle with complex transactions. I don't know that I agree fully with them on this, but I do say is that all web based (and indeed other) data gathering/user input systems share a lot of commonality.
XForms is a well thought out (by the W3C with extensive consultation), extensible standard that can define the implementation of a data gathering/user input system. The system will still have to be implemented by the device that you are using but XForms define how it should be implemented in a standard way.
I guess in C# terms you could almost say that it works in the same way that an interface would. In the same way that implementation is not part of an interface, implemantion is not part XForms. The implemantion is for the class/device. This means that any XForms compliant device can handle user input whether this is a web browser, a windows form, a telephone system, a mobile application, server-side, client-side or even HTML itself. Again note the similarity with OO interfaces.
I got involved with XForms, through an indirect predecessor called ISML and I have built my own XForms renderer, but some big guns (Adobe, Mozilla, IBM etc) have now commited their massive weight behind their own renderers. Microsoft, rather predictably, are sofar touting their own Infopath as something similar, but there is a rumour that they have started taking XForms more seriously.
To be brutally honest, I don't think XForms will be anything more than a good standard if Bill & His Boys don't come to the party. I also think that it is a good enough standard and has enough use for them to want to come to the party.
My final thought: If your organisation requires a lot of user input and you have the standard maintainability issues, then watch this space. The support isn't quite there yet, but when it reaches critical mass I think this could become a very useful standard.
See more at the W3C Xforms site.