AX2134
When a user opens an Axiom file as an Axiom form, a copy of the source file is opened on the Axiom Application Server using the Web spreadsheet engine. The Axiom form settings in the source file are read by the application server and rendered as a web page using the HTML5 markup language. The user's browser must support HTML5 in order to properly view the Axiom form and use form functionality.
The end user viewing the Axiom form does not see the source file; they only see the web form. The source file is used to query the data to be provided to the Axiom form, and to support other form functionality such as component interactivity and saving to the database. The source file is opened read-only and is not locked to the user—other users can also open the file as an Axiom form, and the source file is still eligible to opened read/write in the Desktop ClientGeneral term for using either the Excel Client or the Windows Client, both of which are installed to the user's desktop. by a user with the appropriate rights.
When the user first opens the Axiom form, the source file is refreshed and the initial state of the form is determined. The Axiom form is subsequently updated in response to changes to interactive components (if set to Auto-Submit) or if the user clicks a Button component. This behavior is described in more detail in Update and save behavior for Axiom forms. The form contents can also be changed by using the filter panel—see Defining refresh variables for Axiom forms.
Certain events will cause the Axiom form to "reset," thereby causing the user to lose the current state of the form (including any unsaved data):
- The user closes the browser window or the tab for the form, or navigates to another page (within the same tab).
- The user refreshes the Axiom form using the browser functionality (for example, pressing F5) instead of by using a Button component.
- The user reloads the Axiom form from the address bar (for example, the user places their cursor in the address bar and presses Enter to reload), or the user clicks a hyperlink to the same Axiom form from within another file or form.
- The network connection to the Axiom Application Server is interrupted for over five minutes. In this case the forms session is lost along with the current state of the form.
In the first three cases, if the Axiom form is configured to save data and unsaved data is detected, the user will be warned about the unsaved data and prompted to confirm that they want to continue. This warning only applies to data that has been submitted from the Axiom form to the source file but not yet saved to the database—unsubmitted changes in the form web page will not trigger the warning. Note that this warning is not available when using Axiom forms on an iPad.
