Working with multiple datasets

One of the formfeed blog commenters ("mo") asked about preserving data during an import operation.   I gave her (him?) a flippant reply with some hand-waving about saving/restoring data before/after import. Then I tried it myself and discovered it was not nearly as easy as I thought.

Here's the problem description:  Your data arrives in two separate data files.  You need to import them both into your form.  Problem is that importing new data replaces existing data.  Loading the second data file will discard the data from your first import. 

Let's set up a specific example -- Suppose my data looks like:

<multidata>
  <set1> ... </set1>
  <set2> ... </set2>
</multidata>

We want to be able to load set1 and set2 from different data files.

There are a couple of solutions to this problem.   But first some review on dataset handling within XFA/PDF forms.  Normally form data gets stored under $data -- which is a shortcut to: xfa.datasets.data.  If the root node of your form is "multidata", then your data appears under xfa.datasets.data.multidata.

The XML hierarchy looks like this:

<xfa:datasets xmlns:xfa="http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/">
  <xfa:data>
    <multidata>
      <set1> ... </set1>
      <set2> ... </set2>
    </multidata>
  </xfa:data>
</xfa:datasets>

When Acrobat performs a data import, it replaces the <xfa:data> element. But it *appends to* any other datasets. 

Solution 1: Preserve/Restore data before/after import

If during import you could arrange your data to look like:

<xfa:datasets xmlns:xfa="http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/">
  <xfa:data>
    <multidata>
      <set2> ... </set2>
    </multidata>
  </xfa:data>
  <set1> ... </set1>
</xfa:datasets>

In this case, <set1> would be preserved and only <set2> would be replaced.  Then after the import is complete,  you'd move <set1> back where it belonged.  The way to control the import is to use the Acrobat script function: importXFAData();  Here's the outline of the script to import set2:

1. Copy set1 data to be a child of xfa:datasets
2. Remove the set1 subform
3. Call importXFAData() to load set2
4. Move the set1 data back under <multidata>
5. Re-add the set1 subform

There are a number of tricky parts:

• When importXFAData() is successful, it causes a remerge.  When remerge happens, any script commands after the call to importXFAData() will not execute.  The workaround is to perform steps 4 and 5 in a separate form:ready script.
• importXFAData() does not return a status.  You have no way of knowing if the user cancelled.  If they did cancel, you need to restore set1 without depending on the form:ready script.
• If the user is running in Reader, then importXFAData() will throw an error.  We need to catch this error and restore set1 data.
• If the user imports data from the Acrobat menu (Forms/Manage Form Data/Import Data) then all your clever script won't run and set1 data will get cleared.  You need to figure out how to remove this option from the Acrobat menu.

Note that this specific example assumes you are loading data in the order set1 then set2.  The form could be coded more generally to load the data in any order.  It would just be a bit more complicated.  You'd need to move both set1 and set2 and then after the load you'd figure out which one(s) need to be moved back.

Here is a sample form.  Here is sample set2.xml data you can load.  Have a look at the button click and form:ready events for all the gory details.

Solution 2: Bind set1 outside of xfa:data

Instead of temporarily arranging your data so that set1 is under <xfa:datasets>, you could permanently arrange your data this way.  In the binding expression for the set1 subform, specify "!set1" -- which is a shortcut for xfa.datasets.set1.  Now whenever you import data for set2, it will leave set1 untouched.  However, this introduces a new problem.  Whenever you import new set1 data you will end up with multiple copies of set1.  You need a form:ready script that will delete all but the last copy.  This also means that the data file holding set1 needs to include the <xfa:datasets> element so that it can correctly specify the location for set1. 

Here is a sample file with set1 data and set2 data. The script to trim back the extra copies of set1 data is found in the multidata form:ready event.

My personal preference would be to use Solution 2.  The script is simpler.  The user can use the menu commands for loading the data.  But this approach might not be possible if your data is bound to a schema.