XForms debugging test case

This page illustrates an unexpected behavior in XSLTForms beta3. There are four copies of this page. Two of them (the first two created) have no xf:group around the xf:repeat nodeset="eee element:

• One that calls XSLTForms beta-3RC
• One that calls XSLTForms beta-3

The other two differ from the first pair in wrapping an xf:group element around the xf:repeat nodeset="eee element:

• One that calls XSLTForms beta-3RC
• One that calls XSLTForms beta-3

The first two exhibit a difference in behavior; the second two do not.

Expected behavior

Initially, the input document contains a series of s elements, numbered here for reference. Each s element contains an aaa element, followed by one or more eee elements.

The purpose of the form is to support the task of adding three elements named bbb, ccc, and ddd to each s element. These are to appear after the aaa element and before the eee elements. In many cases, the content of bbb will be very similar to that of aaa, so the form should initialize its value to that of aaa. Similarly, the content of ddd will often have some things in common with that of eee, so the form should initialize the value of ddd appropriately.

So the expected behavior is as follows:

• At initial page load, all aaa and eee elements should display. If the parent s element has children bbb, ccc, and ddd, they should display, too, together with an Edit button. If the parent s element has no children bbb, ccc, and ddd, then a button labeled Add children! should display.
• When the user clicks an Edit button, the elements bbb, ccc, and ddd in the appropriate s element should be made available for editing, in text widgets, the button clicked should disappear, and a new button labeled Done should appear. The aaa and eee elements should remain visible, as should all the other s elements.
• When the user clicks a Done button, the widgets for elements bbb, ccc, and ddd in the appropriate s element should disappear (as should the Done button, and their values should be displayed in read-only form, with an Edit button, just as at the initial page load (modulo any changes in the data). The aaa and eee elements should remain visible, as should all the other s elements.
• When the user clicks an Add children! button, elements named bbb, ccc, and ddd should be added to the appropriate s element with appropriate initial values. Text widgets for editing the new elements should appear, together with a Done button. The aaa and eee elements should remain visible, as should all the other s elements.

Observed behavior

The initial display seems to be as expected in all browsers.

When version beta-3RC is used, all browsers tested behave as expected.

When version beta-3 is used, all browsers tested behave in unexpected ways. In Safari, Firefox 7.0.1, and Chrome 15.0.874 (all running under Mac OS X 10.6.8):

• The Add children! button behaves as expected.
• The Edit button on the first s element behaves as expected. The Done button on the first s element also behaves as expected.
• The Edit button on other s elements opens up the text widgets, as expected, but also makes all eee elements in the document disappear. (Once they have disappeared, clicking on a different s element's Edit button makes them reappear. They then disappear and reappear again in a pattern I haven't fully understood, but which appears to vary based on which buttons get pressed in which order.

In Firefox 3.6 and Opera 11.52 (again running under Mac OS X 10.6.8):

• The Edit and Done buttons on the first s element behave as expected.
• The Edit button on other s elements does not open up the text widgets, as expected; instead it makes all eee elements in the document disappear. Clicking a second time on the same Edit button causess the text widgets to appear (but does not cause the eee elements to reappear. The eee elements do reappear if a different button (Edit or Add children!) is pressed.
• The Add children! buttons do not open up the text widgets as expected; instead they make all the eee elements disappear. A second click on the same button opens up the text widgets and sometimes (but not always) makes the eee elements reappear. (I have not yet figured out whether the difference depends on whether it's the first or another Add children! button, or on the sequence of actions.)