Chiba is an Open Source Java Implementation of the W3C XForms standard ‘that represents the next generation of forms for the Web’. [Abstract of the XForms PR]
XForms purpose and justification might be explained best by the official statements in the Specification:
„ Forms are an important part of the Web, and they continue to be the primary means for enabling interactive Web applications. Web applications and electronic commerce solutions have sparked the demand for better Web forms with richer interactions. XForms 1.0 is the response to this demand, and provides a new platform-independent markup language for online interaction between a person (through an XForms Processor) and another, usually remote, agent. XForms are the successor to HTML forms, and benefit from the lessons learned from HTML forms. “ [Chapter 1.1 of the XForms PR]
This looks very intresting. I think MyEclipse gods should take a look at Chiba for XForms support in MyEclipse. It looks very nice and not too hard to incorporate into MyEclipse (I think!).