Is there a markup language for forms?

Question

I've been coding web and mobile apps for 12 years and I've worked on countless forms. It seems like there should exist a formal way to define them (field names, data types, validation, endpoints, etc.), compatible with backend and frontend languages. Then a library, in each given language to render the form. Anyway, I'd like to define a form once and render it or process it without any extra work. Do any hackers know of such a thing?

sheeeep86 · Accepted Answer

I've seen several decent implementations based on https://json-schema.org/implementations.html#web-ui-generati...Json schema also has many tools for validation, which is nice if you're passing the form data around.

andrei_says_ · Answer

I ended up creating my own, in yaml, with rails backend.
Includes multiple nested field sets, fields shown/activated by other fields etc.
The gist is: structure in yaml/json, then field code templates in partials, and validations on the back end. Included Salesforce list validations which was pretty neat.
The code is nowhere near reusable unfortunately.

ughitsaaron · Answer

This might not be exactly what you&rsquo;re looking for &mdash; it&rsquo;s meant more for interactive editorial features than simple forms &mdash; but Idyll looks really cool and is worth a look.https://idyll-lang.org/

kkreuning · Answer

XForms https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XForms

zzo38computer · Answer

I once started inventing such a thing called FORMCARD, which supports paper forms as well as computer, and also includes transport protocol to submit the forms, as well as the file format to describe the form, but not much has been done with that since then.

tyzerdak · Answer

Use html5 and make code snippets in editor. So when typing form it will create form with all input elements and you del not needed.

benkarst · Answer

Dream Features - one to many

Is there a markup language for forms?

I've seen several decent implementations based on https://json-schema.org/implementations.html#web-ui-generati...
Json schema also has many tools for validation, which is nice if you're passing the form data around.

This might not be exactly what you’re looking for — it’s meant more for interactive editorial features than simple forms — but Idyll looks really cool and is worth a look.
https://idyll-lang.org/

XForms https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XForms

I once started inventing such a thing called FORMCARD, which supports paper forms as well as computer, and also includes transport protocol to submit the forms, as well as the file format to describe the form, but not much has been done with that since then.

Use html5 and make code snippets in editor. So when typing form it will create form with all input elements and you del not needed.

Dream Features - one to many