Custom control: dropdown values from XML file - orbeon

Question

Here is my custom control:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xbl:xbl xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:xforms="http://www.w3.org/2002/xforms"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:ev="http://www.w3.org/2001/xml-events"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
xmlns:xxi="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/xinclude"
xmlns:xxforms="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/xforms"
xmlns:fr="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/form-runner"
xmlns:saxon="http://saxon.sf.net/"
xmlns:xbl="http://www.w3.org/ns/xbl">
<metadata xmlns="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/form-builder">
<display-name lang="en">Custom Controls</display-name>
</metadata>
<xbl:binding id="fb-input-country-selector" element="xforms|country-selector">
<metadata xmlns="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/form-builder">
<display-name lang="en">Country Selector</display-name>
<icon lang="en">
<small-icon>/forms/orbeon/builder/images/dropdown.png</small-icon>
<large-icon>/forms/orbeon/builder/images/dropdown.png</large-icon>
</icon>
<datatype>xforms:string</datatype>
<template>
<xforms:select1 id="" appearance="minimal" ref="" xmlns="">
<xforms:label ref=""/>
<xforms:hint ref=""/>
<xforms:help ref=""/>
<xforms:alert ref="$fr-resources/detail/labels/alert"/>
<xforms:item>
<xforms:label>[Select...]</xforms:label>
<xforms:value/>
</xforms:item>
<xforms:itemset nodeset="doc('oxf:/apps/xforms-controls/services/countries.xml')/countries/country">
<xforms:label ref="name"/>
<xforms:value ref="us-code"/>
</xforms:itemset>
</xforms:select1>
</template>
</metadata>
</xbl:binding>
</xbl:xbl>
The problem is that the data items are not grabbed from the XML, but if I introduce the template itself in the form structure, it works.
Anyone have any ideea?

Answer 1

Creating XBL components is tricky. At least the first time you do it. A few things:
To avoid confusions, I recommend you define components in your own namespace. In the example below, I used xmlns:my="http://www.example.com/".
The content of fb:template is how using the component looks like, not its implementation. So, it should look like:
<fb:template>
<my:country-selector>
<xforms:label ref=""/>
<xforms:hint ref=""/>
<xforms:help ref=""/>
<xforms:alert ref=""/>
</my:country-selector>
</fb:template>
The implementation is inside xbl:template.
So the component can be found at runtime, you need to place it in a directory xbl/my/country-selector/country-selector.xbl. The my part of the directory is mapped to the namespace by you adding the following property in your properties-local.xml:
<property as="xs:string" name="oxf.xforms.xbl.mapping.my"
value="http://www.example.com/"/>
(Often, we use the same name for the directory and the prefix, but they don't need to be the same. E.g. the fr:* components are in a directory called orbeon.)
So Form Builder shows your component in the sidebar, you need to add a property like:
<property as="xs:string" name="oxf.fb.toolbox.group.other.uri.*.*"
value="oxf:/xbl/my/country-selector/country-selector.xbl"/>
And here is the full source for country-selector.xbl:
<xbl:xbl xmlns:xh="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:xforms="http://www.w3.org/2002/xforms"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:ev="http://www.w3.org/2001/xml-events"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
xmlns:xxi="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/xinclude"
xmlns:xxf="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/xforms"
xmlns:my="http://www.example.com/"
xmlns:saxon="http://saxon.sf.net/"
xmlns:fb="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/form-builder"
xmlns:xbl="http://www.w3.org/ns/xbl"
xmlns:xxbl="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/xbl">
<metadata xmlns="http://orbeon.org/oxf/xml/form-builder">
<display-name lang="en">Custom Controls</display-name>
</metadata>
<xbl:binding id="my-country-selector" element="my|country-selector" xxbl:mode="lhha binding value">
<fb:metadata>
<fb:display-name lang="en">Country Selector</fb:display-name>
<fb:icon lang="en">
<fb:small-icon>/forms/orbeon/builder/images/dropdown.png</fb:small-icon>
<fb:large-icon>/forms/orbeon/builder/images/dropdown.png</fb:large-icon>
</fb:icon>
<fb:datatype>xforms:string</fb:datatype>
<fb:template>
<my:country-selector>
<xforms:label ref=""/>
<xforms:hint ref=""/>
<xforms:help ref=""/>
<xforms:alert ref=""/>
</my:country-selector>
</fb:template>
</fb:metadata>
<xbl:template>
<xforms:select1 appearance="minimal" ref="xxf:binding('my-country-selector')">
<xforms:item>
<xforms:label>[Select...]</xforms:label>
<xforms:value/>
</xforms:item>
<xforms:itemset nodeset="doc('oxf:/forms/orbeon/controls/service/countries.xml')/countries/country">
<xforms:label ref="name"/>
<xforms:value ref="us-code"/>
</xforms:itemset>
</xforms:select1>
</xbl:template>
</xbl:binding>
</xbl:xbl>