eForms SDK Roadmap

eForms SDK 1.0.0

On August 5 2022, we plan to release eForms SDK 1.0.0. This is a major milestone for the eForms SDK that is meant to stabilise its structure and allow implementers to continue receiving and using future versions of the SDK without having to modify their applications.

What the SDK 1.0.0 is

SDK 1.0.0 is the result of our final attempt to clean-up, rationalise and stabilise the kinds of information that are included in future SDK releases, as well as the format that this information is encoded in. This does not mean that what we came up with is perfect, but it means that it is reasonable and usable enough for us to refrain from making any further corrections or improvements to it for the foreseeable future.

What SDK 1.0.0 is not

  • SDK 1.0.0 is not the final version of the eForms SDK. There will be several releases that update it. However, they will all be under the same major version (1.x.x) which means that all future releases will be backwards compatible for all the eSender applications that read and use the eForms SDK 1.0.0.

  • SDK 1.0.0 is not the version that will be active when eForms goes live on November 14, 2022. There will be several updates released during the Fall of 2022 that will incrementally correct and improve the eForms metadata (rules, translations, etc.) included in the SDK. However, as pointed out in the previous paragraph, all these updates will be under the major version 1.x.x and therefore they will be backwards compatible for your applications.

  • SDK 1.0.0 is not free of errors in the eForms metadata. To the contrary, there are several mistakes, omissions and possibly even inconsistencies in the metadata contained in this version of the SDK. As stated in the previous paragraphs these issues will be corrected in several subsequent releases of the SDK that will always be backwards compatible.

Why release SDK 1.0.0 before its eForms metadata content is final?

It is reasonable for someone to expect that a version labelled 1.0.0 is "perfect in every way". However, waiting for the eForms metadata to be production-ready before releasing SDK 1.0.0 was not an option, as it would not leave enough time for applications to adapt to it before the November 14 go-live deadline. Our goal was therefore to provide every developer with a version of the SDK that is structurally stable as soon as possible. From a developers perspective the correctness or completeness of the eForms metadata is irrelevant as their metadata driven applications are (or at least should be) designed to be agnostic of the actual eForms metadata content of each SDK release.

How is SDK 1.0.0 different than 0.7.0?

The release notes of SDK 1.0.0 will give you complete list of the changes that we have made since 0.7.0. However, I can already give you a general idea on what has changed:

  • We added some new information in existing files. For example information on what fields can be changed by a change notice is now provided in fields.json.

  • We added a few "index" files in SDK folders that provide more metadata on the content of each folder. For example the view-templates folder now contains a view-templates.json file that better describes each view template.

  • We changed the names of a few concepts to improve consistency and clarity. For example the decoration|name labels are now identified as auxiliary|text.

  • Most importantly though, we added several features in the eForms Expression Language (EFX) that allow us to improve the view templates as well as the business rules that we provide. This is probably the most impactful change for developers that have already implemented their own EFX transpilers or interpreters.

What is next

Our next goals are:

  • to continuously expand and improve the SDK documentation as the documentation of SDK 1.0.0 that will be available on the day of its release will not be at the level we want it to be.

  • to continuously correct and improve the eForms metadata provided with the SDK and release them for use by your applications as often as possible.

  • to expand and improve the sample applications that we provide in Github. Apart from the "Notice Viewer" sample application which is already available, we have a "Notice Editor" as well as a "Notice Validator" sample which we want to make publicly available.

  • to streamline and improve the process of releasing future versions of the SDK so that we can get future updates of metadata to your applications as quickly as possible.

  • to listen to you, our developer community, and to help you to the best of our ability to get your metadata driven applications up and running.