Islandora and Ingest Forms

Each Islandora Solution Pack comes pre-packaged with at least one ingest form. This is the form that users with appropriate permissions will see when they are adding (ingesting) new items into a collection.

This section will describe how Islandora's forms and content models work together, and introduce the functions of the XML Form Builder modules. For additional information, including how to install the XML Form Builder modules, please see the XML Form Builder, XML Forms, and How to Edit/Create Ingest Forms.

This section assumes that you are either using the Virtual Machine image or http://sandbox.islandora.ca OR that you have followed instructions for installing and activating the XML Form Builder modules. Note that use of the Form Builder, particularly advanced use of the builder, will require a knowledge of XPath, and the schema that you are using (and the XSD that defines that schema). Additional information is presented later in this guide.

Example forms:

It is possible to export and import forms from Islandora.  One way to explore XML forms is to install forms onto your site by importing them.

Here are some sources for forms:

• Islandora Foundation's forms repository: A community repository of Islandora Ingest forms is maintained in the Islandora Foundation's Github account. 
• DiscoveryGarden's forms repository:  https://github.com/discoverygarden/xml_forms
• Florida Virtual Campus' forms repository:  https://github.com/FLVC/fl_islandora_forms

About Ingest Forms in Islandora

Ingest forms are affiliated with content models. This means that a collection object that subscribes to a given model will make available to users, on ingest, any forms that are associated with the content model. Forms are associated with content models, not collections. The collection has no effect on what forms are offered when someone goes to upload.

When you use Islandora solution packs, each solution pack will come with a built in form for that content model.  These forms that ship with the content models cannot be deleted, nor can the association with that content model be deleted.  Instead, the association to a content model can be disabled, then later enabled.

Note: To learn more about objects in Islandora, please review the introduction.

There may be times when you would like to edit a form. To do this, you can Copy the default, existing form, and then affiliate it with the appropriate content model (so that this form becomes available to users as part of the ingest workflow). 

Note that all the forms you create and affiliate with a content model will be available in any collection that subscribes to that content model. This is not ideal in all situations; for example, if you have made a collection-specific form, it will be available on ingest in other collections. However, in a multisite configuration, the form will not be available across multiple websites accessing the same Fedora.