XFA Specification
Chapter 2, Template Features for Designing Static Forms
Form Structural Building Blocks
29
The following is an example of a
subform
element that encloses two text fields:
<subform
name="Device" x="2" y="3">
<field
name="ModelNo" x="0" y="0" w="1in" h="12pt"/>
<field
name="SerialNo" x="0" y="16pt" w="1in" h="12pt"/>
</subform>
For more information, please see the syntax description of the
subform
Area
An area is a grouping of form container elements. The grouping itself is not visible, although the elements
themselves may be visible. For example, in the diagram
“A simple XFA form” on page 19,
the vendor name
and address data entry elements, along with the corresponding static text elements might be grouped
into an area. Areas provide the designer with a means of organizing elements on a form, so that they may
be moved or manipulated as a whole.
An area is itself a container of containers.
The following is an example of an area element that encloses two text fields:
<area
x="1" y="2">
<field
name="ModelNo" x="0" y="0" w="1in" h="12pt"/>
<field
name="SerialNo" x="0" y="16pt" w="1in" h="12pt"/>
</area>
For more information, please see the syntax description of the
area
Exclusion Group
See “Exclusion Group” on page 27.
Containers That Represent Physical Surfaces and Regions
The process by which displayable content is allocated to particular places on the display surface(s) is called
layout. The containers and content that are placed onto the display surface have been introduced above.
This section introduces the elements which represent display surfaces and regions of display surfaces.
Content Area
A
contentArea
element represents a rectangular region of a display surface. This always has a fixed size
and a fixed position upon the page.
Page Area
A
pageArea
element represents a single display surface, for instance one side of a printed page. It should
be noted that
pageArea
elements are agnostic towards duplex printing, inasmuch as pageArea elements
are not labelled as front and back (sidedness) or left and right (handedness). When printed on a simplex
printer the same sequence of
pageArea
elements prints, but only one per sheet of paper. However it is
possible to make
subform
elements and
subformSet
elements sensitive to sidedness or handedness
using the
break
property.
TBD - Rewrite for DuplexXFAV23Proposal.
It is the responsibility of the form creator, and the user when printing, to ensure that each individual page
is big enough to hold the
contentArea
regions within it.
It is the responsibility of the form creator to ensure that the template contains at least one
pageArea
element with a
contentArea
inside it.