Consider the XSL-FO snippet below:

      <fo:block margin-left="1cm" margin-right="1cm">Name: <fo:inline
      border="solid 1pt blue" padding="1mm"><sdt:text-field binding="name"
      prompt="[Enter your name here.]" title="Name" /></fo:inline></fo:block>

The sdt:text-field element will be converted by XFC to a plain text SDT, which provides the functionality of a basic text field. The prompt attribute specifies placeholder text to be initially displayed in the field. The sdt:text-field element is wrapped in an fo:inline object that carries presentation properties. The initial display of the whole block in MS-Word 2007 is shown below. The next image shows the appearance of the field when selected, and the last one shows the field once filled.

Figure 1. Text field (initial display)

Figure 2. Text field (selected)

Figure 3. Text field (filled)

The binding attribute of the sdt:text-field element establishes the mapping between the field and an XML element in the Custom XML Data part. In the simplest case the value of this attribute is an XML element name. The Custom XML Data part will be automatically generated by XFC, in the form of a simple XML instance where all elements associated with form fields are children of the root element. Assuming the document contains no other field, XFC will therefore generate the XML instance below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
  <name></name>
</root>

When saving the document after an editing session MS-Word will store the current value of the field as the content of the name element in the Custom XML Data part, as shown below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root>
  <name>John Smith</name>
</root>

Consider the XSL-FO snippet below:

      <fo:block margin-left="1cm" margin-right="1cm">Favorite Animal:
      <fo:inline border="solid 1pt blue" padding="1mm"><sdt:drop-down-list
          binding="favorite-animal" initial-value="cat"
          title="Favorite Animal">
          <sdt:list-entry value="cat" />

          <sdt:list-entry value="dog" />

          <sdt:list-entry value="hamster" />
        </sdt:drop-down-list></fo:inline></fo:block>

The sdt:drop-down-list element will be converted by XFC to a drop-down list SDT, which provides the ability to select a single value from a predefined list. The list entries are specified by the sdt:list-entry children. The initial-value attribute of the sdt:drop-down-list element specifies the initial value of the field. The initial display of the whole block in MS-Word 2007 is shown below. The next image shows the appearance of the field while selecting an entry in the list.

Figure 4. Drop-down list (initial display)

Figure 5. Drop-down list (selecting an entry)

The initial-value attribute differs from the prompt attribute in that the specified value is initially stored in the Custom XML Data part. Assuming the document contains no other field, XFC will therefore generate the Custom XML Data part below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
  <favorite-animal>cat</favorite-animal>
</root>

Sometimes it may be desirable to have form data stored in an XML instance more complex than the default instance generated by XFC. In this case a Custom XML Data template may be specified by inserting an sdt:configuration element before the first fo:page-sequence object in the XSL-FO tree, e.g.:

<sdt:configuration custom-xml-template="custom.xml" />

The custom-xml-template attribute specifies the URL of an XML template to be used as the initial content of the Custom XML Data part. This XML template must be encoded in UTF-8 or UTF-16.

When a Custom XML Data template is specified, the binding attribute of a form field associated with an XML element in the Custom XML Data part references that particular element by means of an XPath 1.0 expression. For instance, consider the XML template below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<order>
  <product>
    <reference />
    <quantity />
  </product>
  <product>
    <reference />
    <quantity />
  </product>
</order>

To associate the reference child of the first product element with a form field one would set the binding attribute value of that field to /order/product[1]/reference. Moreover, when a Custom XML Data template is specified the initial-value attribute of form fields is ignored. If a field is to be initialized the initial value must be stored in the Custom XML Data template as the content of the XML element associated with that field.

Office Open XML documents are basically ZIP archives, so the Custom XML Data part can be easily extracted. In accordance with MS-Word's naming scheme XFC stores the Custom XML Data part in ZIP entry customXml/item1.xml.

The attributes described below apply to all form fields, except for the initial-value and prompt attributes that do not apply to the sdt:picture element.

This element is converted to a plain text SDT, which provides the functionality of a basic text field.

Figure 6. Text field

Attributes:

Content model:

EMPTY

This element is converted to a drop-down list SDT, which provides the ability to select a single value from a predefined list.

Figure 7. Drop-down list

Attributes:

Content model:

(sdt:list-entry)+

This element specifies an entry in the list of possible values of a drop-down list or combo box SDT.

Attributes:

Content model:

EMPTY

This element is converted to a combo box SDT, which combines a text field and a drop-down list.

Attributes:

Content model:

(sdt:list-entry)+

This element is converted to a date SDT, which is a text field with date semantics. This SDT provides a date picker for fast and secure input, though a date value may be typed in as well.

Figure 8. Date

Attributes:

Content model:

EMPTY

This element is converted to a picture SDT, which provides the ability to select, display and edit images. The value of this field - stored as the content of the associated XML element in the Custom XML Data part - is the Base64-encoded image data.

Figure 9. Picture

Attributes:

Content model:

(sdt:image-data)?

This element specifies the initial value of an sdt:picture element. It contains the Base64-encoded image data to be initially displayed in the picture SDT. If this element is omitted an image placeholder will be displayed. This placeholder includes a button to open an image selection dialog.

Attributes:

Content model:

#PCDATA

This element specifies optional parameters related to the Custom XML Data part. If this element is present in the XSL-FO tree it must occur before the first fo:page-sequence object.

Attributes:

Content model:

EMPTY