Form Online Analyzer and Manager (FOAM) presents ranked suggestions for completing web-based forms based on cross-field models learned from previous form-filling episodes. This contextualized learning enables more accurate suggestions for forms with dependencies among fields.
If you use FOAM, it is your responsibility to comply with all applicable privacy and data protection laws. Failure to comply with such laws may result in severe penalties, including criminal penalties. For more information about FOAM data privacy, see FOAM User Guide.
Overview
The PAL Form Online Analyzer and Manager (FOAM) presents ranked suggestions for completing online forms based on cross-field models learned from previous form-filling episodes. The contextualized learning is based on a Naive Bayes approach that enables more accurate suggestions for forms with dependencies among fields. Using the results of learning, FOAM presents ranked suggestions in drop-down boxes beside form fields to enable more rapid completion of complex forms. Learning can be configured for an individual user or to work collectively across a collection of users.
- The plugin transparently listens for form-filling/submission events on any webpage and presents suggested fill values for empty fields.
- The server
- receives data from each plugin for each form submission
- updates a database containing a probabilistic model of the relationships among form fields
- sends form-field predictions to the plugin
Example
The figure below shows an example of how FOAM can improve the efficiency of a form-filling episode. Here, the user is partially through the process of completing a travel authorization form. The fields in white were entered by the user while the fields in orange were suggested by FOAM.
The entering of the user’s email address led FOAM to suggest additional personal information (first and last names, id, org, supervisor email). The entry of the cities “Boston” and “Washington” led to suggestions of corresponding states and purpose values. For the segment of the trip to Washington, FOAM also made correct suggestions for who was to be visited.
Prerequisites
Server
- Java 1.5 or above
- Servlet container (Jetty 6.1)
- SQL database (either H2 or MySQL 5.1)
- XML serialization library XStream
Client
- Firefox 2.0+ for browser plugin
Limitations
The FOAM plugin works only for Firefox, not for other common browsers such as Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera.