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<title>rxform — XLSForm to ODK XForm, in Rust</title>
<meta name="description" content="rxform converts XLSForm spreadsheets into ODK XForm XML. A Rust implementation of pyxform with output validated form-by-form, and error messages that point at the sheet, row and column.">
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<meta property="og:title" content="rxform — XLSForm to ODK XForm, in Rust">
<meta property="og:description" content="Spreadsheets in. XForms out. Validated against pyxform, with errors that point at the exact cell.">
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<a href="#" class="font-display text-xl font-bold tracking-tight">rxform</a>
<span class="font-mono text-xs text-(--muted) hidden sm:inline">v0.1</span>
<span class="flex-1"></span>
<a class="font-mono text-sm text-(--muted) hover:text-(--accent) transition-colors" href="#features">features</a>
<a class="font-mono text-sm text-(--muted) hover:text-(--accent) transition-colors" href="#how">internals</a>
<a class="font-mono text-sm text-(--muted) hover:text-(--accent) transition-colors hidden sm:inline" href="https://docs.rs/rxform">docs.rs</a>
<a class="font-mono text-sm text-(--muted) hover:text-(--accent) transition-colors" href="https://crates.io/crates/rxform">crates.io</a>
<a class="font-mono text-sm text-(--muted) hover:text-(--accent) transition-colors" href="https://github.com/milkway/rxform">github</a>
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<section class="sheet-grid relative overflow-hidden">
<div aria-hidden="true" class="pointer-events-none absolute inset-y-0 left-0 hidden w-10 border-r border-(--rule) bg-(--surface)/60 lg:flex flex-col items-center pt-28 gap-[15px] font-mono text-[11px] text-(--muted)/60 select-none">
<span>1</span><span>2</span><span>3</span><span>4</span><span>5</span><span>6</span><span>7</span><span>8</span><span>9</span><span>10</span><span>11</span><span>12</span><span>13</span><span>14</span>
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<div class="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-5 pt-20 pb-16 lg:pt-28 lg:pb-24">
<p class="rise-1 font-mono text-[13px] tracking-[0.18em] uppercase text-(--accent)">A1 · fx =convert(survey)</p>
<h1 class="rise-2 font-display mt-4 max-w-3xl text-5xl font-semibold leading-[1.04] tracking-tight sm:text-6xl lg:text-7xl">
Spreadsheets in.<br><span class="text-(--accent)">XForms</span> out.
</h1>
<p class="rise-3 mt-6 max-w-2xl text-lg leading-relaxed text-(--muted)">
<strong class="text-(--text) font-semibold">rxform</strong> converts
<a class="underline decoration-(--rule) underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-(--accent)" href="https://xlsform.org">XLSForm</a>
workbooks into ODK XForm XML — the format ODK Collect, Enketo and KoboToolbox speak.
A Rust implementation of pyxform: one fast static binary, output checked
form-by-form against the original, and error messages that point at the exact cell.
</p>
<div class="rise-4 mt-9 flex flex-wrap items-center gap-3">
<button data-copy="cargo install rxform"
class="group flex items-center gap-3 rounded-md border border-(--rule) bg-(--surface) px-4 py-2.5 font-mono text-[15px] shadow-[0_1px_0_var(--rule)] transition-colors hover:border-(--accent) cursor-pointer">
<span class="text-(--accent)">$</span> cargo install rxform
<span class="copy-label text-xs text-(--muted) group-hover:text-(--accent)">copy</span>
</button>
<a href="https://github.com/milkway/rxform"
class="rounded-md border border-transparent px-4 py-2.5 font-mono text-[15px] text-(--muted) underline decoration-(--rule) underline-offset-4 transition-colors hover:text-(--text) hover:decoration-(--accent)">
source ↗
</a>
</div>
<div class="rise-5 mt-16 grid items-stretch gap-0 lg:grid-cols-[1fr_56px_1fr]">
<figure class="overflow-hidden rounded-t-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--surface) lg:rounded-l-lg lg:rounded-tr-none">
<figcaption class="flex items-center gap-2 border-b border-(--rule) bg-(--cellhead) px-4 py-2 font-mono text-xs text-(--muted)">
<span class="inline-block h-2.5 w-2.5 rounded-sm bg-(--color-green)"></span> survey.xlsx — sheet <b class="text-(--text)">survey</b>
</figcaption>
<div class="overflow-x-auto">
<table class="w-full border-collapse font-mono text-[13px]">
<thead>
<tr class="bg-(--cellhead) text-(--muted)">
<th class="w-8 border border-(--rule) px-2 py-1.5 font-normal"></th>
<th class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5 text-left font-medium">type</th>
<th class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5 text-left font-medium">name</th>
<th class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5 text-left font-medium">label</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-2 py-1.5 text-center text-(--muted)">2</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5 text-(--color-blue)">select_one yes_no</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5">good_day</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5">Good day today?</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-2 py-1.5 text-center text-(--muted)">3</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5 text-(--color-purple)">begin repeat</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5">visit</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5">Each visit</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-2 py-1.5 text-center text-(--muted)">4</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5 text-(--color-green)">geopoint</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5">spot</td>
<td class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-1.5">Where are you?</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</figure>
<div class="flex items-center justify-center py-2 font-mono text-2xl text-(--accent) lg:rotate-0 rotate-90">⟶</div>
<figure class="overflow-hidden rounded-b-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--color-term) lg:rounded-r-lg lg:rounded-bl-none">
<figcaption class="flex items-center gap-2 border-b border-white/10 px-4 py-2 font-mono text-xs text-(--color-termtext)/60">
<span class="inline-block h-2.5 w-2.5 rounded-sm bg-(--color-blue)"></span> form.xml — ODK XForm
</figcaption>
<pre class="overflow-x-auto p-4 font-mono text-[13px] leading-relaxed text-(--color-termtext)"><code><<span class="text-sky-300">select1</span> <span class="text-amber-200/80">ref</span>=<span class="text-emerald-300">"/data/good_day"</span>>
<<span class="text-sky-300">itemset</span> <span class="text-amber-200/80">nodeset</span>=<span class="text-emerald-300">"instance('yes_no')/root/item"</span>>
<<span class="text-sky-300">value</span> <span class="text-amber-200/80">ref</span>=<span class="text-emerald-300">"name"</span>/>
</<span class="text-sky-300">itemset</span>>
</<span class="text-sky-300">select1</span>>
<<span class="text-sky-300">repeat</span> <span class="text-amber-200/80">nodeset</span>=<span class="text-emerald-300">"/data/visit"</span>>…</<span class="text-sky-300">repeat</span>>
<<span class="text-sky-300">bind</span> <span class="text-amber-200/80">type</span>=<span class="text-emerald-300">"geopoint"</span> <span class="text-amber-200/80">nodeset</span>=<span class="text-emerald-300">"/data/visit/spot"</span>/><span class="caret-blink text-(--accent)">▌</span></code></pre>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="rule-y bg-(--surface)">
<div class="mx-auto grid max-w-6xl grid-cols-2 divide-x divide-(--rule) lg:grid-cols-4">
<div class="px-5 py-6 text-center">
<p class="font-display text-3xl font-semibold">34<span class="text-(--muted)">/</span>34</p>
<p class="mt-1 font-mono text-xs text-(--muted)">reference forms identical to pyxform 4.5.0</p>
</div>
<div class="px-5 py-6 text-center">
<p class="font-display text-3xl font-semibold">100%</p>
<p class="mt-1 font-mono text-xs text-(--muted)">of the xlsform.org specification</p>
</div>
<div class="px-5 py-6 text-center">
<p class="font-display text-3xl font-semibold">65</p>
<p class="mt-1 font-mono text-xs text-(--muted)">tests pinning output & diagnostics</p>
</div>
<div class="px-5 py-6 text-center">
<p class="font-display text-3xl font-semibold">1</p>
<p class="mt-1 font-mono text-xs text-(--muted)">static binary — no Python required</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-5 py-20 lg:py-28">
<div class="grid items-center gap-10 lg:grid-cols-2">
<div class="reveal">
<p class="font-mono text-[13px] tracking-[0.18em] uppercase text-(--accent)">B7 · when forms break</p>
<h2 class="font-display mt-3 text-4xl font-semibold tracking-tight">Errors that name<br>the cell, not the stack.</h2>
<p class="mt-5 max-w-md leading-relaxed text-(--muted)">
A typo in row 3 should not read like a crash report. Every rxform error
carries the <em>sheet, row and column</em> where it happened — plus a probable
cause: the closest question type, the choice list you probably meant,
the <code class="font-mono text-[0.9em] text-(--text)">begin</code> row a stray
<code class="font-mono text-[0.9em] text-(--text)">end group</code> forgot about.
</p>
<ul class="mt-6 space-y-2 font-mono text-sm text-(--muted)">
<li><span class="text-(--color-green)">✓</span> misspelled types & ${references} → “did you mean …?”</li>
<li><span class="text-(--color-green)">✓</span> unclosed groups point at their begin row</li>
<li><span class="text-(--color-green)">✓</span> ambiguous names caught at the place of use</li>
<li><span class="text-(--color-green)">✓</span> entities, triggers & choice lists cross-checked</li>
</ul>
</div>
<figure class="reveal overflow-hidden rounded-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--color-term) shadow-[0_18px_50px_-24px_rgba(27,42,65,0.5)]">
<figcaption class="flex items-center gap-1.5 border-b border-white/10 px-4 py-2.5">
<span class="h-2.5 w-2.5 rounded-full bg-[#f26d5b]"></span>
<span class="h-2.5 w-2.5 rounded-full bg-[#f2c14b]"></span>
<span class="h-2.5 w-2.5 rounded-full bg-[#5fc26a]"></span>
<span class="ml-2 font-mono text-xs text-(--color-termtext)/50">terminal</span>
</figcaption>
<pre class="overflow-x-auto p-5 font-mono text-[13.5px] leading-relaxed text-(--color-termtext)"><code><span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> rxform household_survey.xlsx
<span class="text-red-400">error:</span> [sheet 'survey', row 12, column 'type'] unknown question type 'selct_one districts'
<span class="text-amber-300">probable cause:</span> did you mean 'select_one'?
<span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> rxform household_survey.xlsx
<span class="text-red-400">error:</span> [sheet 'survey', row 48, column 'relevant'] '${distrct}' does not match
the name of any question or group
<span class="text-amber-300">probable cause:</span> did you mean 'district'?
<span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> rxform household_survey.xlsx
household_survey.xml<span class="caret-blink text-(--accent)">▌</span></code></pre>
</figure>
</div>
</section>
<section id="features" class="rule-y sheet-grid">
<div class="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-5 py-20 lg:py-24">
<p class="reveal font-mono text-[13px] tracking-[0.18em] uppercase text-(--accent)">C2 · sheet “features”</p>
<h2 class="reveal font-display mt-3 text-4xl font-semibold tracking-tight">The whole spec. In one sheet.</h2>
<p class="reveal mt-4 max-w-2xl leading-relaxed text-(--muted)">
Everything on <a class="underline decoration-(--rule) underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-(--accent)" href="https://xlsform.org">xlsform.org</a> converts —
each row below was verified against pyxform’s own output.
</p>
<figure class="reveal mt-8 overflow-hidden rounded-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--surface)">
<div class="overflow-x-auto">
<table class="w-full border-collapse font-mono text-[13px]">
<thead>
<tr class="bg-(--cellhead) text-(--muted)">
<th class="w-8 border border-(--rule) px-2 py-2 font-normal"></th>
<th class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-2 text-left font-medium">type</th>
<th class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-2 text-left font-medium">name</th>
<th class="border border-(--rule) px-3 py-2 text-left font-medium">label</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="[&_td]:border [&_td]:border-(--rule) [&_td]:px-3 [&_td]:py-2 [&_tr:hover]:bg-(--cellhead)/50">
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">2</td>
<td class="text-(--color-blue) whitespace-nowrap">select_one spec</td>
<td>question_types</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">Every type: text → geo traces, ranges, media, barcodes, rank, calculate, audit, metadata preloads</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">3</td>
<td class="text-(--color-purple) whitespace-nowrap">begin repeat</td>
<td>structure</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">Groups, repeats (+ counts), legacy loops, table-list, flat forms — nested arbitrarily</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">4</td>
<td class="text-(--color-green) whitespace-nowrap">select_multiple langs</td>
<td>multilanguage</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">label::Idioma (código), translated hints, media & messages via <itext>, guidance hints</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">5</td>
<td class="text-(--color-blue) whitespace-nowrap">select_one_from_file</td>
<td>external_data</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">CSV/XML/GeoJSON selects, pulldata(), search(), last-saved, select_one_external + itemsets.csv</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">6</td>
<td class="text-(--color-purple) whitespace-nowrap">text</td>
<td>entities</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">Create & update entity lists: save_to, create_if/update_if, offline version tracking</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">7</td>
<td class="text-(--color-green) whitespace-nowrap">calculate</td>
<td>logic</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">${refs} → xpaths, cascading choice_filter, dynamic defaults, trigger actions, randomize</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="text-center! px-2! text-(--muted)">8</td>
<td class="text-(--color-blue) whitespace-nowrap">note</td>
<td>settings</td>
<td class="font-body text-(--muted)">Titles, ids, versions, styles, encryption keys, namespaces, custom attributes, SMS compact tags</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</figure>
</div>
</section>
<section id="how" class="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-5 py-20 lg:py-24">
<p class="reveal font-mono text-[13px] tracking-[0.18em] uppercase text-(--accent)">D4 · under the hood</p>
<h2 class="reveal font-display mt-3 text-4xl font-semibold tracking-tight">A pipeline you can point at.</h2>
<p class="reveal mt-4 max-w-2xl leading-relaxed text-(--muted)">
Workbook → normalized cells → question tree → validation with locations → XForm XML,
printed with pyxform’s conventions so existing tooling sees familiar output.
</p>
<div class="reveal mt-8 space-y-8">
<figure class="overflow-x-auto rounded-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--surface) p-4">
<img src="pipeline.svg" alt="rxform pipeline: xlsx workbook through parser, validation and generator to XForm XML" class="mx-auto min-w-[720px] max-w-[980px] w-full">
</figure>
<figure class="overflow-x-auto rounded-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--surface) p-4">
<img src="mapping.svg" alt="Mapping from XLSForm sheets to the parts of the generated XForm document" class="mx-auto min-w-[720px] max-w-[980px] w-full">
</figure>
</div>
</section>
<section class="rule-y bg-(--surface)">
<div class="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-5 py-20 lg:py-24">
<p class="reveal font-mono text-[13px] tracking-[0.18em] uppercase text-(--accent)">E9 · quick start</p>
<h2 class="reveal font-display mt-3 text-4xl font-semibold tracking-tight">CLI or crate. Your call.</h2>
<div class="reveal mt-8 grid gap-6 lg:grid-cols-2">
<figure class="overflow-hidden rounded-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--color-term)">
<figcaption class="border-b border-white/10 px-4 py-2 font-mono text-xs text-(--color-termtext)/60">command line</figcaption>
<pre class="overflow-x-auto p-5 font-mono text-[13.5px] leading-relaxed text-(--color-termtext)"><code><span class="text-slate-500"># install once</span>
<span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> cargo install rxform
<span class="text-slate-500"># convert — writes survey.xml next to the input</span>
<span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> rxform survey.xlsx
<span class="text-slate-500"># or choose the destination / print to stdout</span>
<span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> rxform survey.xlsx -o out/form.xml
<span class="text-emerald-300">$</span> rxform survey.xlsx --stdout</code></pre>
</figure>
<figure class="overflow-hidden rounded-lg border border-(--rule) bg-(--color-term)">
<figcaption class="border-b border-white/10 px-4 py-2 font-mono text-xs text-(--color-termtext)/60">library — docs.rs/rxform</figcaption>
<pre class="overflow-x-auto p-5 font-mono text-[13.5px] leading-relaxed text-(--color-termtext)"><code><span class="text-slate-500">// cargo add rxform</span>
<span class="text-sky-300">use</span> std::path::Path;
<span class="text-sky-300">let</span> conversion = rxform::<span class="text-amber-200">convert</span>(Path::new(<span class="text-emerald-300">"survey.xlsx"</span>))?;
std::fs::<span class="text-amber-200">write</span>(<span class="text-emerald-300">"form.xml"</span>, &conversion.xml)?;
<span class="text-sky-300">if let</span> Some(csv) = conversion.itemsets_csv {
std::fs::<span class="text-amber-200">write</span>(<span class="text-emerald-300">"itemsets.csv"</span>, csv)?; <span class="text-slate-500">// external selects</span>
}</code></pre>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<footer class="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-5 py-14">
<div class="grid gap-8 sm:grid-cols-3">
<div>
<p class="font-display text-lg font-semibold">rxform</p>
<p class="mt-2 text-sm leading-relaxed text-(--muted)">
Open source under the <a class="underline decoration-(--rule) underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-(--accent)" href="https://github.com/milkway/rxform/blob/main/LICENSE">BSD-2-Clause license</a> —
the same license as <a class="underline decoration-(--rule) underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-(--accent)" href="https://github.com/xlsform/pyxform">pyxform</a>,
whose behavior it reimplements and whose test forms it reuses.
</p>
</div>
<div class="font-mono text-sm">
<p class="text-(--muted) uppercase tracking-[0.15em] text-xs">links</p>
<ul class="mt-3 space-y-1.5">
<li><a class="hover:text-(--accent)" href="https://github.com/milkway/rxform">github.com/milkway/rxform</a></li>
<li><a class="hover:text-(--accent)" href="https://crates.io/crates/rxform">crates.io/crates/rxform</a></li>
<li><a class="hover:text-(--accent)" href="https://docs.rs/rxform">docs.rs/rxform</a></li>
<li><a class="hover:text-(--accent)" href="https://xlsform.org">xlsform.org</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="text-sm">
<p class="font-mono text-(--muted) uppercase tracking-[0.15em] text-xs">cite</p>
<p class="mt-3 leading-relaxed text-(--muted)" id="cite">
Leite, A. <em>rxform: a Rust implementation of pyxform.</em>
Citation metadata in <a class="underline decoration-(--rule) underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-(--accent)" href="https://github.com/milkway/rxform/blob/main/CITATION.cff">CITATION.cff</a>;
archived releases via Zenodo.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="mt-12 border-t border-(--rule) pt-6 font-mono text-xs text-(--muted)">
© 2026 André Leite · built in Recife 🌴 · row 14 of 14 — end of sheet
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