Improved simple data migration

What is simple data migration

Orbeon Forms 2018.2 introduced Simple Data Migration (see also the original blog post). This feature allows the form author to make changes to a published form, including adding and removing form fields, grids, and sections, without creating a new form version.

New enhancements

While Simple Data Migration is very useful, we realized that it needed improvement. Specifically, there is no reason that you shouldn’t be able to also move form controls in a form and still preserve data compatibility.

So we have done just that, and with Orbeon Forms 2022.1, you can move form controls within the form as long as they remain within the same nesting of repeated content, republish the form over the existing version, and things will just work. For example:

• Move controls at the top-level of a form, even across grids and sections.
• Move controls within a given level of repeated grids or repeated sections, even across nested grids.

Simply moving a form control this way allows you to reorganize your form while keeping access to existing data.

Moving a control across section boundaries

For more information, see also the documentation.

We hope you will find this Orbeon Forms 2022.1 feature useful.