Thread View: comp.groupware
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Started by Jonathan Edwards
Thu, 06 Aug 1992 14:27
form/structured email
Author: Jonathan Edwards
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1992 14:27
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1992 14:27
25 lines
1724 bytes
1724 bytes
Are there any standards (defacto or dejure) for specifying the representation of forms? I define a form as a structured document, which contains various editable fields in a matrix of constant text. A 3270 screen is a degenerate case of a form (and 3270 data stream is one standard for representing such simplistic forms). ANSI FIMS generalizes this, but my impression is that this is a 'private' standard of DEC and is being otherwise ignored. A more modern approach to forms would be as a sort of compound document. Most word processors can build forms, but these are in their proprietary formats (I guess that means Wordperfect (gag) files are a candidate defacto standard). I am interested in sending forms through email (or a centralized groupware system) as a basis for implementing transaction processing systems. To be viable, there needs to be a standard way of encoding forms. Is there any indication of an emergeing standard for form-structured documents? There seem to be dozens of proposed groupware/email/distributed-object standard efforts. E.g., Apple OLE, Microsoft MAPI and WOSA, Lotus/Novell et. al. VIM, Borland OEX, etc. Can anyone tell me if these are at all relevant? Any comments or references are welcome. THanks - Jonathan. Jonathan Edwards edwards@intranet.com IntraNet, Inc. 617-527-7020
form/structured email
Author: Lee D. Rothstein
Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1992 21:03
Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1992 21:03
37 lines
2293 bytes
2293 bytes
In article <BsKG5z.8L0@world.std.com>edwards@world.std.com writes: >Are there any standards (defacto or dejure) for specifying the representation >of forms? I define a form as a structured document, which >contains various editable fields in a matrix of constant text. A 3270 screen >is a degenerate case of a form (and 3270 data stream is one standard for >representing such simplistic forms). ANSI FIMS generalizes this, but my >impression is that this is a 'private' standard of DEC and is being otherwise >ignored. A more modern approach to forms would be as a sort of compound >document. Most word processors can build forms, but these are in their >proprietary formats (I guess that means Wordperfect (gag) files are a >candidate defacto standard). If you count EDI (electronic data interchange), there's X12 and EDIFACT. This si usually interenterprise communication where it is literally at the enterprise level. That is, it is NOT different indiviuals in different enterprises communicating. It is used for supplier to vendor and venor to customer communication. The EMA (Electronic Messaging Association--X.400 oriented) has created standards for directory interchange as part of email, and now is working on calendaring interchange. These are really forms of form interchange. You might want to contact them. I don't know their address. ... >Jonathan Edwards edwards@intranet.com >IntraNet, Inc. 617-527-7020 /-------------------------------------------------------\ /Lee D. Rothstein 603-424-2900\ / New Science Associates, Inc. Fax: 603-424-8549 \ \ 7 Merrymeeting Drive Email: ldr@merrymeeting.mv.com / \Merrimack, NH 03054-2934 IEEE Computer Society, NH/ \-------------------------------------------------------/
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