XFA Specification
Chapter 1, Introduction to XML Forms Architecture (XFA)
Family of XFA Grammars
17
XFA subelement, an XML
element
datasets
Description
Contains the data used with the form. The data in datasets may reflect
data entered by the user or data provided as default values in the
template.
Describes the appearance and behavior of the form.
Page layout and other information described by a PDF object.
Although PDF is not an XML format, it is represented as a stream within
an XML object. If such a form is displayed or printed, the template
objects are drawn on top of the PDF content.
The XFA grammar defines other subelements to define such
information as Web connections and localization information.
May be used for application-specific information.
template
PDF (optional)
Other XFA-related
subelements (optional)
Other XML (optional),
provided
it does not use
XFA-related namespaces.
PDF may contain XFA. When
Adobe® Acrobat® opens such a
document, it invokes the XFA
plug-in, which supports XFA
grammars.
PDF
Content
XFA
datasets
template
Other
XFA-derived
packages
XML
data
Packaging an XFA Form for Application Interchange
When the family of XFA grammars used for an XFA form are moved from one application to another, they
must be packaged as an XML Data Package (XDP) or as a PDF document.