Question: What does "Use base document structure" really do?
Also, I'm not understanding the bindings anymore. The xml says "Input" instead of "Output" when you click on the "Action Configuration" section for an OUTPUT binding. And if I turn off the "Use base document structure" then I can't edit the xml for the output. It just gives me an error. Where does the xml come from for "base document structure". This stuff is very confusing now.
Screen shots are attached:
Screenshot1 - The "Input" issue. See the label at the top of the xml structure.
Screenshot2 - Output binding XML - base document structure UNCHECKED.
Screenshot3 - Output binding XML - base document structure CHECKED.
The error I get when the xml editor opens per above:
<error xmlns="http://www.hyfinity.com/xstore">The required information was not present in the incoming request.</error>
Also, I'm not understanding the bindings anymore. The xml says "Input" instead of "Output" when you click on the "Action Configuration" section for an OUTPUT binding. And if I turn off the "Use base document structure" then I can't edit the xml for the output. It just gives me an error. Where does the xml come from for "base document structure". This stuff is very confusing now.
Screen shots are attached:
Screenshot1 - The "Input" issue. See the label at the top of the xml structure.
Screenshot2 - Output binding XML - base document structure UNCHECKED.
Screenshot3 - Output binding XML - base document structure CHECKED.
The error I get when the xml editor opens per above:
<error xmlns="http://www.hyfinity.com/xstore">The required information was not present in the incoming request.</error>
Attachment
RE: Base document structure
The Action Configuration section deals with more advanced binding capabilities, and can be confusing. These options haven't changed in v4, but they are more accessible now because they are available for each action. You can hover over the 'i' icons to obtain more hints and also find additional information at:
http://www.hyfinity.net/mvcdocumentation/MVC/FormMaker%20User%20Guide/Page%20Design%20-%20Bindings%20Tab.html
We appreciate there are some aspects that can be confusing and we do have a note to further improve the layout of this panel. I have provided a brief explanation below, which I hope will help clarify the different settings:
Base Document Structure
In most cases you will not need to change anything in the Action Configuration section because by default this is set to use the Base document structure. The base document structure is created by default as you 'paint' your form and this is the document structure that is used to bind your data before submission to the server. You can edit this structure to reflect your requirements.
INPUT instead of OUTPUT
The reason this changes from INPUT to OUTPUT when you click on Action Configuration is because most of the options here deal with more advanced binding capabilities, and what this label is trying to indicate is that you are about to insert additional binding fragments to the base document structure. These fragments can be obtained dynamically at runtime from the OUTPUT data structure returned from the controller, which acts as the INPUT to the page. We will review this confusion.
Maintain Additional Data
The Maintain additional data option works in collaboration with the base document structure if required, and allows you to preserve the data in these additional data fragments between server round-trips. You can determine whether you want to insert these additional fragments to the base document or keep them standalone. If you want the additional data fragments to be combined with the base document structure then also keep the Use base document structure ticked.
When you have the action submission bindings displayed, without the action configuration option open, the OUTPUT document on the right is showing the base document structure, together with any additional fragments you may have requested to insert during execution. This collective, composite document can then be used for binding your data.
Keep previous form data
The Keep previous form data option acts like a single 'Maintain additional data' entry, with the key difference being that data is merged between server round-trips, so you are essentially accumulating your data during different posts to the server.
This all provides great flexibility, but we agree it can be confusing initially. We are looking at this area to improve the layout of these features.
I hope this helps, but please let me know if I can assist further.
Kind Regards
Abdul
[hr][/hr]
Apologies I forgot to directly answer your last question. The reason you receive the error is because you have indicated that you do not want to use the base document structure, but trying to edit it. We have noted that this should provide a helpful message instead of an error.
RE: Base document structure
We have looked further based on additional feedback and I believe you are encountering an issue based on the action bindings that are based on another action. This is a change that was noted under section 2.4 of the product release notes for WebMaker v4, albeit very briefly. Once again, our apologies for that.
The main change noted is the treatment of submissions that are based on another action. With v4, the submission document structure remains the same for each action submission that is selected to use a base action. Prior to v4, the document structure could be changed depending on the options selected under Action Configuration for each dependent action.
In order to achieve similar outcomes, you can either change the submission document structure settings for the base action, which will then be inherited by the dependent actions. This means you will have some redundant data submitted by the base action. Alternatively, you can remove the base action dependency on your dependent actions and provide a separate binding structure for each one.
We 'locked' the document structure for dependent actions to remove the need to edit the configuration for each dependent action, which saves a lot of time.
Kind Regards
Abdul